English: Scientific Reading, Grammar, and Usage
What the English section tests
The English domain checks whether you can read a short scientific or academic passage and answer questions about main idea, detail, inference, vocabulary in context, and the writer's purpose. It also samples grammar and usage: subject–verb agreement, pronoun reference, verb tense, parallelism, and modifier placement. Questions often use science content, but the answer depends on language clues, not outside knowledge.
Core rules
- Read the question stem first, then locate the relevant sentence; do not rely on memory of the whole passage.
- Treat transition words as logic signals: although and despite mark contrast; therefore marks result; for example signals illustration, not the main claim.
- For vocabulary, substitute each choice into the sentence and check both meaning and tone.
- In grammar items, find the subject before checking the verb; interrupters such as "along with the samples" do not change number. Check that pronouns have one clear antecedent and modifiers sit next to the word they modify.
- Distinguish data from interpretation: a passage may report a measurement and then offer a hypothesis.
Worked example
"Despite the low yield, the procedure was considered ___ because it produced a previously unknown compound." (A) futile (B) viable (C) redundant (D) tedious The contrast marker despite sets low yield against a positive outcome. "Viable" means capable of working successfully, so B fits. "Futile" contradicts the successful production; "redundant" and "tedious" do not capture the contrast.
Traps that cost marks
Extreme choices ("always", "never") are rarely supported. Do not import outside facts the passage does not state. In inference items, choose the smallest defensible step, not the most dramatic one.