How to approach sentence and paragraph sequence questions

1) Your own words—Work through the paragraph sentence by sentence and say in your own words what each sentence is DOING—what is sentence X telling you? Why is it there?

2) Trust yourself—Next, underline sentence X and ask yourself if it feels like it's in the right place. What is its function? Is it doing the right thing at the right time?

3) Test the choices—Try out the locations suggested by the choices one by one and choose the position that makes the most sense to you.

TOP TIP: Use pronouns to help. On this type of question you may notice that there are some very helpful pronouns nearby. Words like those, these, they, it, and even the can give you a clue as to the correct sequence of sentences in the paragraph. If the sentence says "these steps," for example, you know that the sentence needs to come after a sentence that mentions steps of some sort. If the sentence says "the experiment," then the chances are good that an experiment was mentioned in a prior sentence.

TOP TIP: Look for sequencing clues. Sometimes you'll notice that the sentences in the paragraph are following a chronological—or just plain logical—progression. Chronology clues: first/then, next/finally, or before/after. Logic clues: since, because, however, therefore, although, yet, nevertheless, etc... These are important, helpful words—underline or circle them and let them show you the way to sequencing the paragraph properly.

1) Your own words—Work through the passage paragraph by paragraph and use your own words to describe what each paragraph is DOING—what role does "paragraph X" serve in the entire passage? Why is it there? What is its point?

TOP TIP: For this purpose, the first and last sentences of paragraphs are usually more helpful than the sentences in the middle.

2) Trust yourself!—Next, circle "paragraph X" and ask yourself if it feels like it's in the right place.

3) Test the choices—If it doesn't feel right where it is, try out the locations suggested by the choices, one by one, and choose the position that makes the most sense to you.

TOP TIP: Use transition clues to help. The first and last sentences of each paragraph are the ones you should focus on. Most of the passages on the SAT Writing and Language Test flow fairly smoothly from one paragraph to the next. The last sentence of a paragraph may introduce the main idea of the next paragraph, or the first sentence of a paragraph may refer back to an idea from the preceding paragraph. If a transition seems a little random or "jumpy," then you may have found the clue you need to get the question right.

TOP TIP: Tell the story of the passage. Most of the passages follow a classic progression of introduction, body paragraphs and conclusion. The paragraphs usually move along in a logical or chronological sequence. If one paragraph is talking about a famous person's early childhood, the next paragraph might discuss accomplishments in adolescence or early adulthood, followed by paragraphs discussing events that occurred in the subject's later life. Look out for paragraphs at the end that seem like they belong in the middle, or paragraphs in the middle that sound like conclusions. Body paragraphs that feel like false endings probably actually do belong at the end!

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