Sure, you can write. But can you figure out what’s wrong with another person's writing? (That’s the hard part.)
Contrary to its title, the Writing Skills section (one of three on the PSAT) is not asking you to write anything, per se. It simply identifies whether or not you understand the basics of writing like grammar, usage, mechanics, word choice, coherence, organization, idiom, etc.
You know – all that junk you slept through during English last year.
If you did, that’s okay. Below is a review of the Writing Skills section, and you will (I repeat – you will) be tested on this material if you’re taking the PSAT. If you need help with Critical Reading or Math, I suggest you try to focus on one issue at a time! Sheez!
Writing Skills Basics
This section on the PSAT, will take you about 30 minutes to finish, and can earn you between 20 and 80 points, which accounts for one third of your PSAT score. I know, I know. That’s a lot of points to stake on grammar and word choice, but what can you do? I didn’t make the test.
Here’s the good news: the average Writing Skills score for 2008 was right around a 46 for juniors and a 41 for sophomores, so most of your fellow PSAT-takers are getting about half right, half wrong.
You’ll have one section with 39 questions on this baby, and three different types of questions to answer: identifying sentence errors, improving sentences, and improving paragraphs. So let’s see a breakdown of what those PSAT question types are.
Identifying Sentence Errors
Identifying Sentence Errors Example:
Ordinarily, you’d see parts of the sentence underlined with a letter placed beneath each choice, but since that’s impossible in this format, I will italicize the options for you and list them underneath. All you’ll have to do is bubble in the corresponding circle on the real PSAT.
The fields have soil so rich that corn growing here commonly had stood more than six feet tall. No error
A. so rich that
B. growing here
C. had stood
D. tall
E. No error
The correct choice is C.
Improving Sentences
Improving Sentences Example:
Here’s a hint for solving: if the underlined portion sounds great the way it is, choose answer “A”. “A” will always be an exact replica of the underlined part of the sentence. Again, since I can’t underline, I’ll italicize the portion in question for you.
Certain shipwrecks have a particular fascination for those people which have a belief in finding the treasure in them.
A. which have a belief in finding the treasure in them
B. that belief there is treasure to be found in them
C. who believe they hold treasure and that they can find it
D. who believe that there is treasure to be found in them
E. who believe about treasure to be found in them
The correct choice is D.
