SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips

“Parts of speech” is a fancy way of saying that every word in the English language can be put into one of eight categories, depending on how it is used. Of these eight parts of speech, only 7 are tested on the Writing SAT and on ACT English.

Understanding the different parts of speech is absolutely essential to having a firm grasp of English grammar, and in succeeding on the SAT and ACT. Unfortunately, nowadays many schools no longer focus on teaching this type of grammar.

Are you a bit unsure about what, exactly, a preposition is, or can’t tell the difference between an adjective and adverb? Feeling a bit rusty after learning this years ago? This article will provide the foundational information you need before moving on to more complex grammatical concepts. I'll also go over a few important SAT/ACT grammar rules.

You may recall the good ol’ days of elementary school when you learned about adjectives and adverbs. If you had realized that you would have to know about these parts of speech for the SAT, perhaps you would have paid better attention instead of daydreaming about Nickelodeon and The Disney Channel.

Don’t worry. If you’ve forgotten or never learned about these parts of speech, I’ll teach you everything you need to know about them for the SAT Writing section.

We get to add to our grammar knowledge. Get excited! Parallel structure questions on the SAT Writing section are fairly common. Fortunately, parallel structure is a somewhat easy to comprehend grammatical rule. Once you understand the rule, you should be able to correctly answer any parallel structure question on the SAT. 

So, let’s master another rule and boost your SAT Writing score with these tips and strategies.

Pronoun agreement errors are some of the most common on the SAT Writing section, and they can be confusing because people often misuse pronouns, especially when we speak. In fact, I just made a pronoun mistake: can you spot it?

Take a closer look at the second half of my first sentence: "people often misuse pronouns, especially when we speak." Who is "we" referring to here: "people." However, the correct pronoun for the third person plural is they. The correct version is "people often misuse pronouns, especially when they speak."

On SAT Writing, you'll be expected to spot many such errors. We'll be covering both the basic SAT writing rules regarding pronouns you need to know and the common mistakes you'll see on the test:

 

Can you recognize a sentence when you see one?

Most people will automatically answer that they can. But correct sentence structure is one of the most commonly-tested grammatical concepts on the SAT Writing section.

What does it take to make a sentence complete? How can you recognize a fragment or a run-on? Read on to figure out how the SAT manages to trick so many students with this seemingly easy concept.

Are you ready for more grammar fun? Pronoun case is a grammar rule that is regularly tested on the SAT. You know the drill: Learn the SAT Writing rule and you'll raise your score.

There are multiple pronoun rules that are tested in SAT Writing. This one is relatively straightforward and tends to be tested a little less often than the others. However, you will most likely see at least one or two pronoun case questions on the SAT. Let's master this rule, learn tips and strategies to solve these questions, and get you one step closer to your target score.

Subject-Verb Agreement may be the most tested grammatical rule on the SAT. Therefore, just by mastering this rule and its applications, you will be well on your way toward achieving a ridiculously good score on the SAT Reading and Writing.

While the rule itself is relatively simple, the questions related to it can be challenging and a bit tricky. In this article, we’ll teach you how to become a master of all things subject-verb agreement on the SAT.

Are you wondering about the difference between the ACT English and SAT Writing sections? Do you want to know how the two sections are similar? Are you trying to figure out which section would be better for you? (Or maybe you just love reading my guides?)

In this article, we will compare and contrast the ACT English and SAT Writing sections.  We'll compare their formats and content.  Reading this post can inform your studying and help you decide whether the ACT or SAT would be a better match for you and your abilities.

You’ve been studying hard, and now the time has come to really test what you have mastered! Are you ready to try out 12 of the toughest questions to grace the digital SAT’s Reading and Writing section? 

I've combed all the official practice tests to find the absolute hardest SAT Writing questions. If you get all of these right, you're truly a master of this section.

Did you know that some colleges do not require an SAT Writing score on the old SAT? It's true. As you're deciding which colleges to apply to, you should have a clear understanding of the admissions requirements for each school. If you're particularly worried about your SAT Writing score, perhaps this article can alleviate some of your stress.

Which colleges do not require SAT Writing? We will provide you with a complete list, broken down by state. But first, an important note about the new version of the SAT.

There’s nothing harder than trying to figure out what someone else thinks is “the best,” and Improving Sentences asks you to do just that. Luckily, we’ve got a few tricks up our sleeve that allow you to move through these questions with confidence.

In this post, we’ll look at the writing skills these questions are designed to test and how to use those skills to answer the questions correctly.

If you’re not familiar with the design of these questions on every SAT, you should be. Here’s the scoop on Improving Paragraphs (and, bonus, a quick and dirty guide to acing the SAT Essay)!

 In this post, we’ll look at what these questions are designed to test, why those skills are important, and, of course, how to easily take the questions apart on test day.