The critical reading section of the SAT Reasoning Test © includes several sentence completion questions. In these questions, students read a long sentence with one or two words left out. They try to select the best words to complete each sentence from a list of possible answers.
Sentence completion questions can be very easy for some students, although other students struggle with them. Many students who do well on sentence completions use the same system: they attempt to guess the correct words before looking at the list of possible answers.
By guessing, students may not come up with the exact correct answer, but they often come up with the correct meanings. From there it is a simple matter of selecting synonyms from the list of choices.
For example, read the following sentence and try to fill in the blanks with your own words.
Frustrated council members noted that some of the strategies designed to ________ traffic congestion only served to ________ the problem.
What word or words come to mind for the first blank space? Obviously, the council hoped to "fix" or "ease" the problem of traffic congestion. When you glance at the list below, you’ll notice that ease is, in fact, one of your possible solutions.
- a) ease; perpetrate
- b) consolidate; fix
- c) alleviate; exacerbate
- d) allay; impede
But there is a problem. Does perpetrate really make sense in the second half of the sentence? Sometimes one word will work but the partnering word will not. If this happens, keep looking!
In this example, there are a few good fits for the first blank, but the partner words exclude the wrong answers. In this sentence, the best answer is:
- c) alleviate; exacerbate
For practice, read the following sentences and try to come up with logical words to complete them. Next, read over the list of possible answers provided at the bottom of the page. See if you on the right track!
1. Because the 2004 election became such a ________ in the end, many say that the electoral college should be abolished.
2. Wishing and hoping for good results is not a ________ strategy if you want to ________ a place in the college of your choice.
3. Because the child star was ________ into signing a bad contract, he worked for many years for a ________ sum.
4. If we can’t ________ our addiction to fuel guzzling vehicles within the next few decades, we will likely ________ our resources.
5) Sally realized she was in trouble when she saw the ___________ on her mother’s face.
6) After skirting around the floor board and making his way to the cheesy puff, the mouse quickly ___________ with his prize.
7) Although Ebenezer Scrooge was clearly a __________ character, Tiny Tim saw a spark of _________ in him.
1) debacle
2) viable; secure
3) coerced; paltry
4) curtail; deplete
5) wrath
6) absconded
7) despicable; beneficence
