Directions and timing
This is the English section of Full-Length Practice Test 2. It has fifty questions on five passages, and the time allowed is thirty-five minutes. That is about forty-two seconds a question, so most of the work must be done by recognizing a pattern rather than by deliberating. Sit the section in one go, with a timer, and with nothing open but the questions.
Each passage has underlined portions followed by a numbered marker such as [1]. For each marker, choose the answer that makes the underlined portion correct and effective in the context of the whole passage. Choice A (or the first choice) is NO CHANGE where the underlined portion is already best. Some questions have no underlined portion; they ask about the passage as a whole, such as whether to keep a sentence, where to place it, or which conclusion fits the essay's central point.
How to work it
- Work the five passages in any order. If one passage looks dense, do the others first and return to it.
- Answer every question. Nothing is deducted for a wrong answer, so a blank is always a mistake.
- Mark any postponed question so that it can be found again in the final minutes.
- Read the whole sentence around each underlined portion, not only the underlined words. Most errors in agreement, pronoun use, and punctuation are visible only against the rest of the sentence.
- When the choices differ in length, check concision first: the shortest choice that is grammatical and keeps the meaning is usually right.
Before you start
Do not look at the answers and explanations until all fifty questions are done. When you review, read the explanation for every question you missed and for every one you guessed, then record the cause in your error log: was it a gap in knowledge, or an error in execution?