5 steps for Sentence Correction

CAT Exam
The 5 Steps for Sentence Correction 1. Take a First Glance 2. Read the Sentence 3. Find a Starting Point 4. Eliminate Answers 5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 As with any process, there are times when you will decide to deviate for some good reason. For most questions, though, you’ll follow this same basic process. 1. First Glance When a new problem of any type first pops up on the screen, what do you do? Of course, you need to read the problem—but that’s actually your second step, not your first! First, take a “holistic” glance at the entire screen: let your eyes go slightly out of focus (don’t read!), look at about the middle of whatever text is on the screen, and take in 3 things: – the problem type Right now, you might be thinking: well of course, the first thing you would notice is the problem type. People are so stressed about starting to solve, though, that they myopically focus on the first word of the problem and are “blind” to the full picture right in front of them. – the length of the whole sentence – the length of the underline (or the length of the answers) How does this help? If the answer choices are really short (around 5 words or fewer), then you might actually choose to read and compare them before you read the full sentence up above. If the underline / answers are very long, there’s a good chance the question will test Structure, Meaning, Modifiers, or Parallelism. You won’t always spot a good clue during your First Glance, but most of the time you will—especially when you practice this skill! 2. Read the Sentence Next, read the sentence as a complete sentence, not just a collection of potential grammar issues. Pay attention to the overall meaning that the sentence is trying to convey. In addition, if your first glance gave you a clue, then think about that issue as you read. If you spot a new issue, but you’re not sure what to do with it, keep reading the original sentence. 3. Find a Starting Point 4. Eliminate Answers At some point, either you’re going to spot something that you know is wrong or you’re going to reach the end of the sentence. If you spot something you know is wrong, then immediately cross off answer (A) from your mind. Check that same issue (and only that issue!) in the remaining answer choices; eliminate any answers that repeat the error. If you can’t find a starting point in the original sentence, then start comparing the answer choices. Compare the first word of each answer choice, as well as the last word: do the differences give you an idea of what topic might be at issue? If not, then compare answer (A) to answer (B); do the differences give you any clues? 5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 SC is a bit annoying in that your first starting point often won’t allow you to cross off all three wrong answers. You usually have to find multiple starting points. Once you’ve dealt with one issue, return either to the original sentence or to a comparison of the answer choices, wherever you left off. Whenever you spot a difference that you know how to handle, address it, crossing off any other answers that repeat that error. If you spot a difference that you don’t know how to handle, then ignore it—even if it’s the last possible difference there! If you don’t know it, you don’t know it. Don’t waste time staring at it. At some point, either you will have one answer left or you’ll get stuck. Pick and move on! What do you do when you’re stuck? This can happen at any stage of the game, even at the beginning. You might read the original sentence and not be able to understand what the sentence is trying to say in the first place. If this happens, you can try substituting in another answer (try one that’s quite different, if possible) to see whether that helps you to understand. If not, you’re stuck; guess and move on. If you get down to 2 answers, do compare them to look for differences, but do this just once. Do not go back and forth multiple times. If you don’t know it at the first look, the solution won’t suddenly hit you on the third or fourth look. Don’t waste a second longer; move on. In general, once you get stuck, give yourself one shot to “unstick” yourself. Try comparing different answers to see whether anything new pops out at you. If not,move on.

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