SAT College board Design of Trap Answer Choices

1. Extreme answers such as only/always/never/only – this is only right

given that the passage states.
2. Purpose questions
a. It has to touch upon every part a classic trap is for college board to
mention only half of the passage
3. For inference questions
a. Make sure you double check with “does the action that it stated”
 “can make this correct attitude or opinion”
4. Watch out for words that verbatim used
a. Words that can are used word for word from the passage tend to
be wrong BUT not always
5. There are cases where one word can prove it wrong
a. As in “Scientists chose the experimental plots in order to diversify
the types of angiosperms” but the passage is referring to not
diversifying of types but increasing the number of seeds
6. Watch out for question stems
a. Underline the last part of the question stem to make sure you
know what the question is asking for
b. Sometimes the question could be “identify the reason why Bob
decided to start the experiment regarding plants”
i. The line reference that you may choose where “bob starts to
start the experimental plot” – in lines 35-40 but reason could
be elsewhere “Bob’s grandparents spurred an interest in
botany since he was young leading him to explore his
curiosity” – which is the answer in lines 28-32
7. Watch out for point of view
a. The question can be regarding someone else as in the question can
be
i. “Which of the following reasons drove Angie to start the
school investigation?”
ii. Answer choice can be..
1. “issues with the school’s administrative staff led her to
start the search for solving the school-wide issue” 
 this answer choice however is referring to Bob’s
motivastion not Angie
8. Know whether it is a summary question or a function question
a. Sometimes the answer choice just states the central idea of a
paragraph but actually the questions is asking for its function
i. The purpose of the paragraph is to not to give contextual
information about the variety of birds BUT it’s function is to
set up for the motivation of scientist to explore a feature ofa
bird
9. Answers that contain extra information or are slightly off
10. Answers that represent the opposite of the relationship described
in the passage
11. Answers that are irrelevant or are just a mish-mash of
concepts found in the passage
12. Answers that are plausible interpretations of the passage, but are
not supported by any direct evidence
13. Comparatives and Contrasts
a. The passage doesn’t make any comparison with another topic that
is mentioned and the answer choice decides that it mentions both
topics so it’s a trap answer

Mindset:

INTERPRETATION - Unsupported, or Contradicted

SCOPE - Out of Scope, or Too Narrow (on a Big Picture question)

DEGREE - Extreme modifier or extreme attitude

At the heart of all this is the test writer's goal:

- Make a couple trap answers obviously bad so that the remaining one or two
trap answers deserve a second look. The tempting trap answer(s) often has
some verbatim phrase that was used in the passage. It rings 'familiar'.

- Make the correct answer look initially unappealing, by using synonyms or

unexpected phrasings to convey the same meaning as the passage. It doesn't
as often ring 'familiar'.

Correct answers frequently use wishy-washy and indirect phrasings:

"Building coalitions is not the only political role of newly elected leaders"

.....translation: did the passage identify a political role of new leaders, BESIDES
building coalitions?

"A strategy need not be thoroughly premeditated in order to achieve some

measure of success"

.....translation: did the passage mention a fairly successful plan that was
thrown together quickly?

If an answer choice contains something truly OUT OF SCOPE, i.e. "alien" to the
passage, something word/concept we just never covered, people will usually
identify that weird part and feel like it's "unfamiliar".
The most famous word to introduce OUT OF SCOPE is "other". Let's say we're
reading a passage about Mexican painters and then an answer choices says
something like "Mexican painters are more _____ than other painters". That's
how SAT introduces out of scope without totally showing you an alien word
like 'Turkish painters'.

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Since alien words are usually a quick giveaway, SAT mainly sticks to using
words from the passage, and then makes the answer incorrect by introducing a
word/idea that is

- too strong

- too specific

- comparative

All of that language CAN be correct, but it should always be a red flag. You're
not allowed to pick it until you've found language in the passage that justifies
the strong, specific, or comparative word.

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The type of answer we call Unsupported Interpretation is something I like to

call Word Blender.
It sounds like what you were referring to -- they borrow phrases from
elsewhere in the passage, often cramming two things together that came from
separate parts/contexts of the passage.

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To get better at eliminations you need to

1. Have a decent first read of the passage, so that opposite-direction answers

are obvious. Also, 'alien' ideas should then stick out to you in answers.

2. Sensitize your brain to strong / specific / comparative / conditional wording.

See it, know it's a red flag, defer on it initially, and research it if you're thinking
about picking it.

3. Have a good passage map so that you know approximately where you'd find
any detail/topic.

4. COMPREHEND the meaning of the passage or the sentence you're being

tested on. Trap answers use Word-matches, but give an incorrect meaning.
Correct answers provide Meaning-matches, but use different words.