SHSAT

When you are revising for punctuation on the SHSAT, the most important guide to remember is that most punctuation errors are from either the wrong punctuation or from too much punctuation. The biggest culprit is the comma!  You might feel the need to use a comma every time you see an “and,” “but,” or “or”. […]

So far, we’ve looked at how verbs agree with each other in sentences (See Verb Tense, part 1 and part 2).  But it’s important to remember that verbs also have to agree with their subjects.  To level up your SHSAT game, dust up on your basic rules, and remember how to best revise for subject/verb […]

Lots of the revisions you have to make on the ELA section of the new SHSAT exam revolve around knowing how to use verbs.  We’ve looked at the Good & the Messy versions of the present tense and the past tense (see Verb Tense, Part 1), but now we’ll tackle the future tense as well […]

Sometimes the most common mistakes on the SHSAT happen when students overlook the most basic things.  Verbs are pretty basic.  You’ve mastered them years ago. But, on an ELA revision question, incorrect verb tense can make a seemingly-correct answer turn out to be wrong.  In this module, we’re going to figure out how to revise […]

Think about your favorite fiction book.  What makes the bad guy the villain?  Is it a tough answer?  Maybe.  There are lots of reasons why a bad guy could be a villain—he could have a maniacal laugh, kidnap the good guys, rob banks, steal the moon, or just be a bully. Just like there are […]

You’ve already seen three ways SHSAT writers on the ELA might try to trip you up on revising clumsy words (see “Clumsy Words, Part 1”).  Clumsy words can change the logic, structure, and meaning of a sentence, and so using clumsy word phrasing is an easy way for the test writers to pull a fast […]

When you’re prepping for the SHSAT, make sure that you don’t make common mistakes.  Here’s the thing:  you aren’t common!  You’re on a path to going to the school of your choice, and you have an uncommon future ahead of you.  What’s the best way to make sure you set yourself apart from everyone else […]

You’re on your way to figuring out how to keep from making common mistakes on the SHSAT.  Part of stepping out of common mistakes is to be ready to avoid words that are frequently confused with other words.  Sometimes they sound the same, and sometimes they look the same.  Knowing which words to look out […]