SAT Prep of the Day 7

Word of the Day:
CONTENTIOUS -- argumentative.
The meeting was a disaster because of the contentious people who wouldn't let anyone else talk.

Question of the Day:

Today's question is from the Critical Reading section... Choose the word that best fits the meaning of the sentence...

The committee’s report was entirely ------- ; those who ------- it did so with the deliberate intent of damaging my reputation.
a) erroneous . . expunged
b) legitimate . . perused
c) infallible . . endorsed
d) spontaneous . . compiled
e) malicious . . circulated

Whatever was in the report, we know that it was damaging to the person's reputation. Thus the first word has to be something pretty negative...NOT spontaneous or legitimate or infallible. Something erroneous could lead to damage but for the damage to happen the report had to be published or spread, NOT expunged (to get rid of). That leaves us with E!

This was rated as a hard question and hopefully you saw that it wasn't too bad!

SAT Prep of the Day 6

Word of the Day
HABITUATE -- to make used to something; accustom; frequent
The lions habituated to their new environment after being removed from the wild and placed into the zoo.

Question of the Day
The following sentence contains either a single error or no error at all. If the sentence contains an error, select the one underlined part that must be changed to make the sentence correct. If the sentence contains no error, select choice E.

Most newer	digital cellular phones have
A

entertainment	programs on	it,	everything from
B		C	D

simple dice-throwing games to memory and

logic puzzles.	No error
	E

The trick in these questions is to not think too hard! Don't over read it and create problems that aren't there... Always start by just reading through the sentence and see if it sounds okay or not. The first thing to do is to look at the different agreements. They always try to get you on those! Check verb-noun agreements, adjective-noun agreements, pronoun-noun agreements!

Here the verb-noun is fine: phones have. Adjective-noun is fine: most newer digital cellular phones. BUT pronoun-noun doesn't work here! Phones have programs on THEM, not IT!!!
So the problem is part C.

A Touching Story of Forgiveness...

This is a really touching story of the power of forgiveness and how important it is to life. Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated nearly 17 years ago but recently, his daughter Priyanaka reached out to a woman who was part of the conspiracy and is currently serving a life sentence in prison. She met with the woman, named Nalini, and spent some time with her. This is a touching real-life story that shows that hatred and anger are not the solution! We must learn to forgive and love everyone, the way Mahatma Gandhi did in his life. I hope you read the story and share it with others because it is truly powerful. Here are a few quotes from it....
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1732217,00.html
Priyanka: "I don't believe in anger, hatred, and violence. And I refuse to allow it to overpower my life." Nalini: "all my sins have been washed off by Priyanka's visit... I feel she has pardoned me by calling on me at the prison... I am indebted to her all my life." "If the people of this earth could learn how to cry, to bring back tears in the eyes... that would help because tears in the eyes is a real human virtue." "Forgive you will be forgiven." -- Pope John Paul II

In the News...

Sorry I was not able to go to other sources this time so all of the articles are from Time.com but the articles are good so I hope it makes up for it! Some really interesting things are going on in the world and these articles will give you a glimpse and a brief understanding without going too into the details...but if you are interested, challenge yourself to learn more and look into it!

The Pope was in America and it was headline news everyday but what exactly was he here for? What did he do? For those of you who missed it, here is a recap of his trip...

Israel and Palestine have been fighting for decades now and one American president has been trying his best to bring peace -- Jimmy Carter. Now he has made new progress but is Israel willing to work this one out? Will America support Carter and make this happen? Hamas has actually agreed to accept Israel and this progress should truly be applauded and recognized!

I am sure all of you have seen China-Tibet on the headlines a lot recently. In case you're totally unsure about what is going on, basically the debate is about whether Tibet is its own country or not. The Chinese believe that Tibet is a part of China and they do not recognize the Dalai Lama (in fact they have exiled him). Tibetans are fighting for their independence and their own rights. It might be easy to think that one side is right and the other is wrong but challenge yourself to see it from both perspectives before you decide... Isn't it unfair that the Tibetans are making such an issue of it after all these years just when China is on the global stage and about to host the Olympics? Aren't the Tibetans and the Dalai Lama peaceful and tolerant? Why are the Chinese treating them so poorly? This article is just about China's view on what is going on... This second article is about how China isn't necessarily excited about all the patriotism that is arising...

SAT Prep of the Day 5

Word of the Day:
DEARTH ~ lack of something.
Students who do not wear socks on cold days suffer from a dearth of common sense.

Question of the Day:
Today's question is from the Math Section...
In a supermarket, Shakira bought 5 items from aisles 1 through 7, inclusive, and 7 items from aisles 4 through 10, inclusive. Which of the following could be the total number of items that Shakira bought?

1. 9
2. 10
3. 11

a) II only
b) I and II only
c) I and III only
d) II and III only
e) I, II, and III

So this problem is tricky and its one that is sure to make you stop and second-guess yourself. But let's think about it... so 5 objects from aisles 1-7 and 7 from aisles 4-10. Thus, we have four aisles that potentially overlap (aisles 4-7). However, they have given us NO information as to which aisle different objects are in and thus we can make any assumptions we want. So it could happen that none of the objects came from aisles 4-7, in which case there would be 12 total items. Or there could be one object from aisles 4-7, in which case there would be 11 total items. Or two, for 10 total items. Or three, for 9 total items. And so on and so forth. An interesting thing to think is the LEAST number of total items. Suppose they were all in aisles 4-7. How many total items would there be? There has to be a minimum of 7 items in that case.

But in any case back to the original question, you could potentially have 9, 10, or 11 total items and therefore the correct answer is E.

SAT Prep of the Day 4

Word of the Day:
Idiosyncratic --- Having highly individual qualities and characteristics (this is a word you will actually see used a lot so know it!)
My sister is an idiosyncratic artist, so she needs to find a partner who can let her be herself and deal with all her odd habits.

Question of the Day:
Today's question is from the Critical Reading section... Choose the word that best fits the meaning of the sentence...

The professor asked the students to make sure they read the entire novel, both the twelve regular chapters and the extensive ----- materials that the author included at the beginning of the book.
a) proleptic
b) redacted
c) prefatory
d) orthographic
e) conjunctive
So you want to start here by first reading the sentence and coming up with a word that you yourself would use. At first glance, I thought the word would be an adjective that describes the materials as being background info or detailed, historic info, etc. Then I read it again and I noticed the "at the beginning of the book"...
Suppose you have no clue in the word as to what the five words there mean. Well where do you start? I thought to myself that the prefix "pre-" means coming before something and since here we were dealing with material at the beginning of the book that might work. Then when I looked at the word "prefatory," I realized that it sounded a lot like preface, which most of you know is the part at the beginning of all your books that you hope the teacher does not assign! And so it clicked and sure enough C was the right answer!

In the News...

I thought I'd follow up this time with some fun and light news that still has some important issues...

The first is about India and Pakistan. For the first time in a long time, a Pakistani produced film is being shown commercially in India and it's making big news. Pakistanis have always been big on Bollywood but this could be an important step in improving our relations with our neighbors. It is interesting to note the power of the arts in bringing people together. Just last month, the New York Philharmonic went to North Korea and also helped the US build a new bridge with an enemy nation... I wanna see this movie!!! http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/16/world/asia/16india.html?_r=1&ref=world&oref=slogin

J.K. Rowling is in court apparently because some guy who was a big fan created a fan website and now wants to publish his own book. He wants to publish some kind of Harry Potter encyclopedia or something and she is arguing that this violates her copyrights and rights of authorship... For Harry Potter fans it will probably also excite you to know that she wants to publish her own encyclopedia with all sorts of details for the obsessed fan... http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1730629,00.html

Want pure materialism? Check these pictures out of 10 new gadgets that came out at the CES Show earlier this year... Definitely makes you awed of the way things are changing...and slightly greedy too... Warning: That 55" LCD may not seem so nice anymore! http://www.newsweek.com/id/86841