PSAT Writing Oldies

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
1

<p>Hello,</p>

<p>After exhausting many Collegeboard practice tests, I decided to rummage through the old PSAT test, specifically on Writing. I came upon a few two and wanted opinions, as I can’t find the 2010 PSAT answers anywhere…</p>

<ol>
<li>THERE WAS MUCH speculation among the security staff CONCERNING ABOUT HOW (SOMEONE) had broken into the secure building without setting off ANY alarms.</li>
</ol>

<p>When I read this, B, or concerning about someone, sounds off. But then again it sounds correct when read in the sentence.
and </p>

<ol>
<li>BASING IT on a note FOUND in Dorothy Wordsworth’s diary, Rummer Godden’s the Mousewife tells the STORY OF a housebound mouse that BEFRIENDS a caged dove.</li>
</ol>

<p>I’m going with A here, since found is past tense, so basing it should be based? Again, sounds off.</p>

<ol>
<li>Though we CAN ONLY admire the tennis star FOR his exceptional play, we need NOT be oblivious FROM his rude behavior on the court.</li>
</ol>

<p>C, or not, sounds off here…</p>

<p>James Austen, brother of the novelist Jane Austen and HIMSELF A WRITER, may have played A LARGER role in the development OF HIS SISTER’S SKILLS than HAVE BEEN ACKNOWLEDGED BY SCHOLARS.</p>

<p>Have been acknowledged…should it be had been?</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<ol>
<li>THERE WAS MUCH speculation among the security staff CONCERNING ABOUT HOW (SOMEONE) had broken into the secure building without setting off ANY alarms.</li>
</ol>

<p>Concerning about how … is wrong … try simply concerning how</p>

<ol>
<li>BASING IT on a note FOUND in Dorothy Wordsworth’s diary, Rummer Godden’s the Mousewife tells the STORY OF a housebound mouse that BEFRIENDS a caged dove.</li>
</ol>

<p>Basing it … is wrong … what "who does the “basing”? and what does “it” reference?</p>

<ol>
<li>Though we CAN ONLY admire the tennis star FOR his exceptional play, we need NOT be oblivious FROM his rude behavior on the court.</li>
</ol>

<p>From is wrong … some other preposition is needed here … try to</p>

<ol>
<li>James Austen, brother of the novelist Jane Austen and HIMSELF A WRITER, may have played A LARGER role in the development OF HIS SISTER’S SKILLS than HAVE BEEN ACKNOWLEDGED BY SCHOLARS.</li>
</ol>

<p>"Have been … " is wrong. The subject is role and singular. Strip the sentence to its essence:
James played a larger role than has been acknowledged by scholars.</p>

3

<p>thank you a lot! it reinforced my hunches, and the explanation to three makes sense.</p>

4

<p>oblivious of… for the third one</p>