*** Side note! *** It still makes logical sense for the snow goose to react with fear. But remember that we have to work with the answer choices we are given! If fear was your first thought, you should immediately notice that none of these words mean, or even suggest, that. Don’t waste time trying to make a word fit the first idea you had. You need to have a second logical reaction in mind in case your first was wrong.

Takeaways

1. Break the sentence down by asking yourself questions. For example: What is the situation that is being described? What kind of word am I being asked to fill in the blank with?

2. Connotation and context are your friends! Pay attention to what the words imply, especially the key nouns and verbs. Focus on them to see what kind of situation is being described. Connotation can be applied to the answer choices, too, as a way to work through some of the uncommon words.

3. Sometimes SE questions are open to possible interpretations. In these cases, you should come up with two words that you think fit the sentence. If a sentence seems open to interpretation, then it’s very helpful to have a backup in case your first word isn’t represented with two options in the answer choices.