Second meanings are usually right

One of the cardinal rules of SAT sentence completions is that the closer you get to the end of the section, the less you can take for granted. On number one or two, or even three, you can be pretty sure that if a word doesnt initially appear to fit the sentence, its not going to be the answer. The same does not hold true at the end of the section, however. Mindlessly eliminating words that seem obviously perhaps too obviously wrong can get you in a whole lot of trouble. Sometimes the word that you want to show up just wont be among the answer choices, and sometimes the right answer is something that never would have occurred to you,   even if youd spent ten minutes staring at the question. Thats why #8 is #8 and not #2. And thats also why, as you get close to the end of a section, you need to be particularly on the lookout for words that are being used in their second or third meaning. Why? Because the people at ETS know that those are exactly the last words that it would occur to most test-takers to pick. Which is precisely why theyre likely to be correct. The following question is a classic example of this kind of question. Its also a question that lots of my students tend to get wrong. The judges for the chili competition were -, noting subtle differences between dishes that most people would not detect. (A) obscure (B) deferential (C) discriminating (D) sanctimonious (E) unrelenting Most of my students dont have much of a problem figuring out that the word that goes in the blank has to go along with the idea of noting subtle differences and that it has to be relatively positive. As a result, theyre usually pretty quick to cross out C because everyone knows that discrimination is a bad thing, especially on the political correctness-obsessed SAT. In other words, it doesnt occur to them that theyre being played by the test, and it never even crosses their mind that discriminating might have another meaning. (As a side note, I feel obligated to mention here that people who  read on a regular basis  and are familiar with phrases like a discriminating palette  dont have any problem with this kind of question. It doesnt even occur to them that it could be a trick.) So there we have a problem: its not much help to know that second meanings are usually right if you cant recognize them! Admittedly, theres no surefire way around it. As a general rule of thumb, though, you need to pay particular attention to easy words on hard questions: if youre on question #8 and see a simple, everyday word that youve known forever and that seems to obviously wrong, you need to think again. Theres a pretty good chance its being used in some other way. And if its being used some other way, theres a very good chance its correct. Thats not to say that you should automatically pick it, but you shouldnt be too quick to get rid of it either. So remember: if youre on sentence completion #8 and you think that a word sounds funny, its probably because someone at ETS wants you to think just that.