Cracking The SAT Premium

There’s a subtle difference, however, between STOP and HALF-STOP punctuation: for STOP
punctuation, both ideas have to be complete, but for HALF-STOP punctuation, only the first one does.

Let’s see what this looks like. If we want to link a complete idea and an incomplete idea, we can use
HALF-STOP punctuation as long as the complete idea comes first. For example,

Samantha    studied for the SAT:    all three   sections    of  it.

or

Samantha    studied for the SAT:    the silliest    test    in  all the land.

When you use HALF-STOP punctuation, there has to be a complete idea before the punctuation. So, these
examples wouldn’t be correct:

Samantha    studied for:    the SAT,    the ACT,    and every   AP  test    in  between.

The SAT—Samantha    studied for it  and was glad    she did.

When you are not linking two complete ideas, you can use GO punctuation. So you could say, for instance,

Samantha    studied for the SAT,    the ACT,    and every   AP  test    in  between.

or

Samantha    studied for the SAT,    all three   sections    of  it.

These are the three types of mid-sentence or end-of-sentence punctuation: STOP, HALF-STOP, and GO.
You’ll notice that there is a bit of overlap between the concepts, but the SAT couldn’t possibly make you
get into the minutia of choosing between, say, a period and a semicolon. If you can figure out which of the
big three (STOP, HALF-STOP, and GO) categories you’ll need, that’s all you need to be able to do.

So let’s see what this looks like in context.

Jonah   studied every   day for the big  1 test he  was taking  the SAT that    Saturday.

1.

A) NO CHANGE

B) test,    he  was taking

C) test,    he  was taking,

D) test;    he  was taking

Here’s How to Crack It

As always, check what’s changing in the answer choices. In this case, the words all stay the same. All that