SAT Section: Critical Reading

The Gist of it All: What do Critical Reading Passages tell the College Board about our ‘Future Success’ in College?

The main idea behind developing and analyzing ‘American’ literature is to portray an idea with an intended purpose. In general, writing has its tentative purpose in conveying an idea, in which the writer’s purpose in developing such an account is to prove his or her idea. This idea is normally hidden between college-level vocabulary words and figuratively expressed diction in order to make the Critical Reading section more challenging. So, as a reader, one must be able to analyze the author’s intended purpose as well as to be able to differentiate between the author’s feelings toward the idea to those of ‘other people.’ What is meant by ‘other people’ is that whenever the author of a particular account, narrative, piece of non-fiction, or a short story expresses his or her attitude and/or ideas in a coherent manner, he or she sometimes introduces contradictory ideas into the account which become easily apparent as one becomes a “smarter” reader. In this series, we will be able to develop analytical skills that are imperative to becoming successful on the SAT test, especially the Critical Reading section (1/3 of the entire test!). Now, let’s begin analyzing the text and become “smarter” readers!

The Best American Science Writing 2009:

Article #1: The First Ache by Annie Murphy Paul; pages 34-48.

The first thing we do when reading an article is to read “smart.” What I mean by this is to read in such a way that one does not just skim and get not only the gist of it all, but also the author’s intended purpose of writing the article in the first place! So for this article of around 13 or so pages one is to read slowly, but efficiently to be able to track down germane information in regards to the author’s purpose. In The First Ache, the principally depicted character is a Sikh doctor named Kanwaljeet Anand who discovered an innovative idea with regards to improving the stature of the Anti-Abortion (Pro-Lifers) group by initializing a brilliant idea about the pain encountered by fetuses. What you have to understand concerning this topic is the author’s intention in displaying such an indisputable issue such as abortion. That’s not to say that you are not able to analyze such a work, but you can still denote whether or not one of the characters-doctors-is against, for, or neutral on the issue of abortion. In order to ‘denote’ those characteristics and ideals from each of the doctors presented in the article, you should be able to find information regarding Dr. Anand on page 36; he would like to raise awareness of his theory that fetuses do, in fact, feel pain. As a reader, you must understand why he brings up such an idea: In order to convince the people, who are willing to abort their children, should understand that their ‘potential children’ can feel every bit of pain and suffering that goes on during an abortion, thus, making it necessary for anesthesiologists to utilize anesthetics to alleviate pain sensory symptoms, at the least.


 

July 9, 2011 | No Comments »

SAT Review: Critical Reading

The Gist of it All:

Essentially, one of the imperative pieces of information required to be successful on the Critical Reading passages and sentence completion questions is to READ–A lot! I cannot stress the idea that reading is key to becoming successful on not only the SAT, but also in life. However, there is a slight catch to all of this regarding the fact that the questions are very enervating and scrutinizing of the test-takers’ abilities. In other words, even though one test-taker could possibly seem quicker and more agile than another, the latter may be slower, but–indeed–more accurate; hence, making a test-takers alacrity in taking the SAT superfluous and unnecessary. That’s not to say that being a fast test-taker is such a “bad” thing, but the fact that the Critical Reading section–which accounts for one-third of the test–being what of an egregious obstacle, can become a simpler section for the test-takers’ advancements.

In reality, there are no guarantees that test-takers will–inevitably–reach a “desired” score, or even a perfect one; however, to those who are extremely ascetic in nature and tend to be more assiduous in their daily activities, (i.e. studying, sporting, working, etc.), the Critical Reading section, will, undoubtedly, become a breeze. What’s most important to understand–as a test-taker–, when practicing and preparing for the SAT, is that improvement and success are extremely slow processes, (not just slow, but also sloth slow!), that may take several weeks, even months to see. In other words, patience is imperative to consistent improvement. Though paradoxical, it is better to understand than is to dwell on the literary elements of the intended idea.

July 5, 2011 | No Comments »

Chapter 2: The Thirteen Colonies and the British Empire, 1607-1750

The United States had begun from an initial settlement delved by the Western Europeans like those of the English, Spanish, and the Portuguese. Their colonization of the American frontier led to distinctions between each of the different European settlers.

  • For one, corporate colonies, such as Jamestown, were operated by joint-stock companies, at least during these colonies’ early years
  • Secondly, Royal colonies, such as Virginia after 1624, were to be under the direct authority and rule of the king’s government
  • Lastly, Proprietary colonies, such as Maryland and Pennsylvania, were under the authority of individuals granted charters of ownership by the king

The beginning of government started with the English settlers when they brought over their parliamentary representative and independent government ideals to the American Frontier. Tensions began to settle with the English settlers for their yen for independence showed exasperation for the king, in other words means of rebellion.

The Chesapeake Colonies:

Beginning in the year 1632, King Charles I divided the massive area of land which was once been named the Virginia colony. What became interesting to historians studying this time period was the fact that King Charles I started offering many more proprietorships rather than those of colonial charters to joint-stock companies because he believed that this new arrangement would give him the uttermost control. Maryland was seen to be the Catholic Haven, otherwise known as the beginning of religious diversity. The colony was founded in 1634 by Lord Baltimore. Maryland turned out to be the first colony of its kind to be declared a proprietary one as well as being the fourth overall colony being distinguished amongst the thirteen others soon to be sought. It was also seen to be the second plantation colony. The unfortunate happenings in Maryland included the nepotism seen by Lord Baltimore’s actions when he left his proprietorship of Maryland to his son, Cecil Calvert-the second Lord Baltimore. These actions created friction between the Catholic Lord family and the poorer Protestant settlers. The colony itself prospered in Tobacco farming which led to the utilization of indentured servants to work on tobacco plantations. As a result of the use of indentured servants in the mid 1600s, the yearning of economic prosperity was to excavate more and more tobacco. Slave labor increased in popularity in both Virginia and Maryland. Maryland’s statute, the Act of Toleration, guaranteed religious toleration to all Christians, but decreed the death penalty to Jews and atheists and others who didn’t believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ.

Essay Question #1:

How do you account for the fact that while religious freedom was central to the development of some colonies, it was denied in other colonies?

One of the most important things to understand is that religious toleration for one was a branch of The Act of Toleration, which essentially guaranteed religious toleration to all Christians, but indeed reinstated the death penalty to Jews and atheists and others who didn’t believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ. It was notable that religious toleration was a statute in Maryland which was a plantation colony, however. In other colonies such as Georgia, which was founded in 1733 as the thirteenth colony, was a buffer region of land where it was seen to be a safe haven away from the British colonists alongside the hostile Spanish in the Florida region as well as the French in Louisiana. With James Oglethorpe discovering the colony in 1733, his good fortune led as a result of his superior leadership repelled the Spanish from the “Charity Colony”. Generally, Religious freedom wasn’t necessarily denied in other colonies, but rather it was semi-permitted in all the plantation colonies for their motives consisted of maximizing profits and minimizing commission. On the other hand, other colonies dealt with religious toleration in a different light. This light became the principle of an entire colony (i.e. statute of Maryland). The plantation colonies, because of the religious toleration practiced there, developed rapidly in the midst of slave labor working in tobacco, rice, and even indigo plantations. The reason for this being is that their sole purpose of religious toleration or freedom (used interchangeably) is so discrimination wouldn’t take people’s time and energy away from performing the task of maximizing profit and prosperity of the colony rather that exiling those who don’t follow the same religion as the plantation master. This evidently led to the prosperity of some colonies and the decline of others based on whether religious freedom/toleration was practiced or not.

April 10, 2011 | No Comments »

Chapter 1: Introduction to Exploration and Settlement

Allocated in this topic and area of study is United States History. To succeed in this course as well as the AP* exam, you must have a strong grasp of the development and the derivation of the United States. Ever since the beginning of time when ancient man set foot across the land bridge however so many years ago all the way up to the late 15th century. Essentially, from the years 1000-1700 A.D with Columbus’s “discovery” of America in 1492 came the beginning of an era filled with exploration and settlement. Many groups came to the Americas seeking God, gold and glory but ended up finding only harsh environments and even death. As soon as the conquistadors from Spain and Portugal began to sail to the Americas, desperation for underutilized lands and ultimate riches soon became an idealistic fortune for the Western Europeans’ rapidly growing culture. Because of the Western European ideology that expanding its frontier to the North American continent was the best thing to do in the middle-late millennium, Europe not only wanted more power, but they wanted to rule the world. This ideology came to be known as Manifest Destiny which will be discussed in later sections of this post.

 

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