Gruber's Essential Guide to Test Taking: Grades 6-9 - Gruber Gary R. 2019
Appendix B: The dangers of national school entrance testing
Are the national testing companies—who test hundreds of thousands of students each year—actually destroying our kids’ potential and enthusiasm for learning? This book develops and restores that potential and passion, allowing the student to score markedly higher even though the tests may be flawed.
Here is a question on an actual Secondary School Admission test (SSAT), the test for private high school entrance. This question has also appeared in the company’s official test-preparation guide for more than ten years. It is one of many questions with such ambiguities.
See if you or your child can correctly answer this question.
What is the meaning of the word POLISH?
(A) burnish (B) lighten (C) wax (D) coat (E) clean
The correct answer (according to the testing company) is (A) burnish.
But POLISH as can be seen in any dictionary to mean smooth, brighten, or refine, making all the choices correct!
The Dangers of Ambiguity
When a student who is already anxious about taking a test attempts to answer not one but a series of questions that have ambiguous answers or cannot be answered, the student will get so befuddled that he will do poorly on the rest of the test. However, if a student is armed with the strategies in this book, his confidence will be so heightened that he will see through these flaws and not get discouraged.
Here are some of the erroneous questions in the official book of the SSAT, SSAT: Preparing and Applying. These are taken directly from the Upper Level Practice Test II.
Find the meaning of:
28.ANDROGYNOUS
(A)alien
(B)bisexual
(C)metallic
(D)underground
(E)insecticide
SSAT Answer: B
The definition of androgynous is both male and female in one, not necessarily bisexual!
49.Anesthesiologist is to sedate as
(A)optometrist is to glasses
(B)hypnotist is to spell
(C)agronomist is to plant
(D)economist is to prediction
(E)humanist is to people
SSAT Answer: B
Any person who knows even little about analogies would answer this one as follows: “The purpose of an Anesthesiologist is to sedate as the purpose of a hypnotist is to spell?” It is elementary to realize that “sedate” should not have been used as a verb. In fact, the second word in the stem of the choice (sedate) has to be the same part of speech as all the second words in the choices. Note that in Choice A, glasses is a noun, Choice B is a verb, and the second word in the choices C, D, and E are nouns. This is a totally erroneous analogy question.
45.Happy is to worried as
(A)please is to passion
(B)ecstatic is to panicked
(C)cheerful is to confused
(D)glow is to glare
(E)lively is to dull
SSAT Answer: B
Here the test writer used the following: Happy is to ecstatic as worried is to panicked. The sequence is incorrect for analogies. The question stem should have been “Happy is to ecstatic” and the correct choice should have been (B) worried is to panicked
3.PREVALENT
(A)ahead
(B)common
(C)elected
(D)overlooked
(E)collected
SSAT Answer: B
Prevalent is defined as “widely existent,” or “generally accepted.”
“Common” does not fit.
4.PATHETIC
(A)guidance
(B)trash
(C)poor
(D)direction
(E)wretched
SSAT Answer: E
PATHETIC is an adjective and Choices A, D are nouns, B is either a verb or noun. Choices A, D and B must be modified.
Actual SSAT Questions
Here are actual SSAT questions that takers have found too difficult and unfair. However, the strategies in this book will give your child the confidence to get through the test no matter what. Now, after reading the book, apply the strategies and see how many of these questions your child can correctly answer. You can also use this test as a review of these techniques.
Find the closest meaning to the word in capitalized letters:
Q.DECEIVE: (A) alter (B) examine (C) astonish (D) mislead (E) pretend
A.(D) See Appendix A—these prefixes and roots will give you the meaning of more than 150,000 words!
Since the prefix DE means away from, it is negative. So lets look for a choice that give the feeling of being negative. The only choice is (D) mislead, since the prefix mis is also negative.
Q.COMPASSION: (A) sympathy (B) honor (C) shyness (D) amazement (E) courage
A.(A) Associate words with other words—another strategy you should have learned in this book. Look for some part of the word that you understand. You’ve heard of PASSION. Now look for a choice that has some emotion in it. Choice A is the best one.
Q.REMINISCENCE: (A) limitation (B) contraction (C) moderation (D) recollection (E) removal
A.(D) What word seems to be part of or associated with REMINISCENCE? REMIND. Choice D is the best one.
Q.PROPHESY: (A) defeat (B) annoy (C) foretell (D) testify (E) prompt
A.(C) Look for the prefix to give a clue: PRO which means forward or ahead. Which choice looks like it means something forward? (C) foretell.
Q.ASCERTAIN: (A) give up (B) add to (C) join with (D) follow after (E) find out
A.(E) What word in ASCERTAIN do you recognize: CERTAIN! So look for a choice that is associated closely with the word CERTAIN. Wouldn’t it be (E) find out?
Q.RESIDUAL: (A) surrounded by (B) leftover (C) responsive to (D) finished (E) runaway
A.(B) The prefix RE means “back.” What choice has something to do with “back?” (B) leftover.
Q.ADJUNCT: (A) endeavor (B) impatience (C) ridicule (D) compulsion (E) accessory
A.(E) The prefix AD means “toward” or “to.” What does JUNCT make you think of. Perhaps JUNCTION or JOIN? What joins something? (E) accessory
Q.ENTOURAGE: (A) attendants (B) journeys (C) schedules (D) displays (E) awards
A.(A) This is a difficult one to figure out, but think of TOUR in ENTOURAGE. So you could eliminate choices D and E. You are left to choose either A, B or C, and now you’re chances of getting it correct are one in three, which is better than one in five. (The correct answer is (A) attendants.)
Q.IMPASSE (A) deadlock (B) distortion (C) variance (D) neutrality (E) recklessness
A.(A) The prefix IM usually means “not.” Look at the word PASS in IMPASSE. So you can figure out that the word might mean “not to be able to pass.” So look for a word that means to “stop” or “prevent from passing,” etc. You can see that (A) deadlock fits the bill.
Let’s look at some analogies:
Q.Immaculate is to dirt as
(A)indecent is to person
(B)inclement is to rain
(C)immortal is to heaven
(D)impious is to volume
(E)innocent is to guilt
A.(E) Let’s say you don’t know what the meaning of “immaculate” is. Since it must relate to “dirt,” let’s take a guess and say “immaculate” may mean “not dirty.” So let’s see if we can find an opposite in the choices. Choice E is the only one.
Q.Intangible is to touching as
(A)incisive is to cutting
(B)inadvertent is to seeing
(C)inaudible is to hearing
(D)inarticulate is to reading
(E)incendiary is to burning
A.(C) Just as in Question 10, if you don’t know the meaning of intangible, you could think of it as an opposite to touching and see if you get an opposite in one of the choices. Choice C looks like the one.
Q.Map is to land as
(A)negative is to print
(B)diagram is to machine
(C)camera is to film
(D)crayon is to paint
(E)lens is to glass
A.Let’s get a meaningful sentence that relates map and land. (This is a powerful strategy for cracking analogies.) You can say a map tells you how to get around the land. Now look for a choice that, when you put the words of the choice in the same sentence form, you get a match.Look at Choice A: a negative tells you how to get around a print. No. Look at Choice B: a diagram tells you how to get around a machine. Possible.
Look at Choice C: a camera tells you how to get around a film. No.
Look at Choice D: a crayon tells you how to get around a paint. No.
Look at Choice E: a lens tells you how to get around a glass. No.
Choice B is best.
Q.Recalcitrant is to obedience as insolent is to
(A)luck
(B)stealth
(C)fear
(D)respect
(E)anger
A.(D) Since the “Re” in “Recalcitrant” means “back,” it has a negative connotation, so let’s assume that “recalcitrant” means the opposite of “obedience.” Now let’s look for an opposite to “insolent.” Let’s assume that the “in” means “not” and the word is negative. So look for a positive choice that somewhat relates to behavior. It is Choice D.
Q.Obsessed is to interested as
(A)weak is to ill
(B)ferocious is to unexpected
(C)pristine is to clean
(D)moist is to humid
(E)fashionable is to new
A.(C) What could the word “obsessed” in relation to the word “interested?” Let’s say it is a level of how interested you are. Let’s assume that level is “very” interested. Notice that Choices A, B, D, and E do not have this relation. So even if you didn’t know that the word “pristine” meant “very clean,” you could have still eliminated all the other choices to get Choice C.
Q.Variegated is to color as
(A)polymorphous is to shape
(B)amorphous is to skeleton
(C)quadrilateral is to polygon
(D)aeronautic is to plane
(E)celestial is to planet
A.(A) Even if you don’t know the meaning of “variegated,” you can associate “vary” with that word. So if things are varied, there are many colors. Let’s look for a choice that shows many of something else. “Poly” means many, so (A) is the best choice.
Math—All of these questions can be answered quickly with powerful strategies in this book.
Q.Of the following, 0.49 X 81 is closest to
(A)% of 80
(B)% of 90
(C)% of 80
(D)% of 90 (e) 4 times 80
R.(A) The key word here is “closest to.” So instead of multiplying 0.49 X 81, let’s approximate 0.49 to 0.5—which is %—and 81 to 80. Thus you can see that Choice A is correct.
Q.All of the following are greater than — EXCEPT
(A)101/200
(B)17/33
(C)7/12
(D)600/1000
(E)24/50
R.(E) You should immediately connect ½ with 24/50. ½ = 25/50, so you can see that the quantity in Choice E is less than ½.
Q.For what price is 20 percent off the same as $20 off?
(A)$1
(B)$10
(C)$100
(D)$1000
(E)it is never the same.
A.(C) Try the choices, starting with Choice D. 20% of $1000 is $200. $200 off $1000 gives you $800. For Choice D, $20 off $100 results in $19. Look at Choice C: 20% of $100 is $20. $20 off $100 is $80. For Choice C, $20 off $100 is also $80. Thus Choice C is correct.
Q.If ? N = 12, then ? N =
(A)3
(B)6
(C)24
(D)48
(E)96
R.(C) How do I relate ¼ with ½ ¼ = ½ X ½. So ¼ N = ½ X ½ = 12.
Multiply by 2 and we get: 2 X ? X ? N = 2 X 12 = 24.
Q.Of the following, 15 percent of $8.95 is closest to
(A)$1.95
(B)$1.75
(C)$1.50
(D)$1.35
(E)$1.00
R.(D) Look at the key word “closest.” Round up $8.95 to $9.00. Remember that 15% of a quantity is 10% of the quantity + 1/2 that result. So 15% of $9 is 10% of $9, which equals $0.90, then + ½ of that amount, which is % + 0.90 = 0.45. So the result is $1.35. This is a good way to figure out a 15% tip at a restaurant!
Q.John has x dollars. Ann has $5 more than John. If Ann gives John $10, then, in terms of x, how many dollars will Ann have?
(A)x — 15
(B)x — 10
(C)x — 5
(D)x + 5
(E)x + 15
A.(C) Translate verbal to math. Let J = x. “Has” translates to =, “more” translates to +. Therefore, “Ann has $5 more than John” translates to A = 5 + J. If Ann gives John $10, Ann has A-10. Since A = 5 + J, A —10 = 5 + J —10.
A —10 = J - 5 = x — 5
Q.A store regularly sells books at 20% off the list price. At a sale its regular prices are reduced 10 percent. The sale price is what percent of the list price?
(A)30%
(B)70%
(C)72%
(D)79%
(E)85%
A.(C) Imagine an item at the bookstore that costs an even $100. 20% off $100 gives you $80, and thus the price of the item is $80. Since at a sale the store’s regular price is reduced 10%, let’s take 10% off $80. That gives $8. So the final price is $80 - $8 = $72. The question asks: the sale price is what percent of the list price. We had calculated that the sale price is $72. The list price is $100. Translate “is” to =, “what” to x, “percent” to /100, and “of’ to X (times).
Thus 72 = x/100 X (100) = x, so x = 72. (See Math Strategy 2.)