<p>Hi all, </p>
<p>I seem to be struggling with sentence completion question as in I am going too slow. I know all the vocabulary and have got 100% on sentence completions but Im too slow. I am taking 5 mins to do 8 questions, but I hear I should be taking a minute or 30 seconds at most on them. I think I’m missing a strategy or my approach is just too slow. Can somebody help me with this? </p>
<p>Cheers</p>
<p>If you know all the vocabularies, then you need to speed up by immediately identifying what type of word they’re looking for…as in a synonymous word that reinforces a certain point in the sentence or a contrasting antonym that illustrates an opposing point. </p>
<p>For instance,</p>
<p>Negotiations between the two groups soon became so heated that agreement was inconceivable: they had reached ---------------.</p>
<p>(A) a verdict (B) zenith (C) a juggernaut (D) impasse (E) an atonement</p>
<p>I see immediately that I am looking for a word that is parallel with “inconceivable” …as in the argument was not possible because…Hence, I only need look for a negative word</p>
<p>(you should also know that answers after colons and semicolons are parallel with the idea in the first part of the sentences…hence, you look for a synonymous word)</p>
<p>I can see that I’m stuck between (A) verdict and (B) impasse</p>
<p>Now, you will “verdict” used often in a negative way, especially in court rooms, as in hand down a verdict of guilty…or also figuratively in a negative context…but “impasse” which means “barrier” or “obstacle” makes more sense here…because if they couldn’t reach an agreement due to heated negotiations, then they are confronted by an obstacle…</p>
<p>You also need to have a keen sense of collocations (knowing what words go with other words) in order to complete the sentence completions in 1 or 2 minutes…as in we will often say that negotations have reached an impasse…while a verdict is often used as “the verdict on something is…” or “a verdict has been handed down…” </p>
<p>So, for me, I’m almost 90 percent sure as soon as I see negotations that the answer is “impasse,” although I would have to verify.</p>
<p>Thanks for this. I have noticed after doing more sentence completions, the trick as you point out are the ‘clue words’ that indicate an answer choice plus POE. I have sped up quite a bit now. Just did 8 questions in 1.3 minutes :)</p>