Confusion between two choices in SC

[saeed]

Hi, guys i am facing problem with SC. I can eliminate 3 wrong choices, but then get confused between the rest two choices. I need your help. Please advice me.
thanks.

[Stacey Koprince]

Lots of people have this problem! Basically, you've narrowed it down to the right answer and the most tempting wrong answer.

The way you get better at this is to study two things:

- how the test can present answers that are very tempting but wrong anyway
- how the test can present answers that don't seem totally right even when they are

Some common traps that people fall into in rejecting the right answer and choosing a very tempting wrong answer instead:
- people rely on their ears; the problem: tempting wrong answers "sound" better than the right answers
- the question tests something very subtle and you miss the point, which happens especially with clarity of meaning (you can actually have wrong answers that are completely grammatically correct but change the original meaning of the sentence in some way!); placement of modifiers and prepositional phrases can often change the meaning in a subtle way
- the question tests some less commonly known grammar error (or just a grammar error that you haven't mastered yet), and so you don't know what to do when that's the only thing you've got left

So go back and study the problems on which you agonized over 2 choices. Read the explanation. For the one that was actually wrong, be able to articulate: exactly why you were so tempted by it, even though it was wrong; why it was actually wrong; and how you are going to remember this in future so that you don't fall into the trap again. For the one that was actually right, be able to articulate: exactly why you thought it might have been wrong, even though it was right; why that thing is actually right; and, again, how you are going to remember this in future.

Take notes as you do this. If you discover that you made the same type of error two or three (or more) times, highlight it or circle it or whatever - but make sure you come back and study whatever that is. If you struggle with articulating the answers to any of the questions I typed above, post the problem here and ask (but make yourself write out the answers to everything that you CAN articulate for yourself, both to make sure you're diligent about doing so, and to check your thinking with us to make sure you're on the right track).

[Hunsi]

Stacy Thanks for the great advice, i just realized the only problems i am getting wrong on SC and sometimes CR is because i am going with my Gut feeling on most of these answer choices.

I know what you are saying above ! And i totally think its the best way to beat the test but how do you prevent your instinct from taking over. Somehow in the practice test due to the time pressures, you end up going with the gut answer. That seems to explain why my verbal scores vary so much in practice as compared to tests. Do you have some tips or methods to prevent this from happening