PERT Writing common mistakes
PERT Writing · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Choosing the answer that sounds most formal or academic, filling sentences with inflated phrasing like 'utilize' or 'in the event that' instead of plain wording.
Candidates assume a writing test rewards ornate vocabulary, so they equate longer, more formal-sounding options with correctness.
What to do instead
Apply the plain-word test: if a shorter everyday word carries the same meaning ('use' for 'utilize'), prefer it unless the passage's tone is clearly formal. Read the sentence aloud and ask whether a careful editor would cut any word.
Treating a compound sentence joined by a conjunctive adverb ('however', 'therefore', 'moreover') as if the adverb were a conjunction, writing 'The plan was risky, however the team approved it.'
Conjunctive adverbs feel like connectors, so candidates assume they can join two independent clauses the way 'but' or 'and' can.
What to do instead
Memorize the punctuation pattern for conjunctive adverbs: semicolon (or period) before, comma after. 'The plan was risky; however, the team approved it.' Check by seeing whether a period could replace the punctuation.
Leaving a sentence fragment as an answer choice because it is long and contains a subordinate clause, e.g. 'Because the committee had reviewed every proposal in detail.'
Length and complexity mask the missing independent clause; candidates judge completeness by how much text there is rather than by structure.
What to do instead
Strip the sentence to its skeleton: find the subject and the main verb and confirm they sit in a clause not introduced by a subordinator (because, although, when, which). If the only verb is inside the subordinate clause, it is a fragment.
Matching a pronoun or verb to the nearest noun instead of the true subject or antecedent, e.g. 'The box of old letters were stored' or 'Each of the students submitted their form.'
Proximity attraction: the noun closest to the verb or pronoun dominates the ear, especially when a prepositional phrase intervenes.
What to do instead
Cross out prepositional phrases before checking agreement, then test the pronoun against the head noun ('Each ... submitted his or her form'). For pronouns of indeterminate gender, recast to plural if the register requires it.
Picking an answer that fixes the underlined error but creates a new one elsewhere in the sentence, such as repairing a run-on while introducing a subject-verb disagreement or a dangling modifier.
Candidates focus narrowly on the flagged portion and stop reading once they see a plausible repair.
What to do instead
After selecting a choice, reread the entire sentence with the replacement inserted, checking agreement, tense consistency, and modifier placement. Eliminate any option that repairs the target error but damages another part of the sentence.
Judging organization questions by which sentence is most interesting rather than by logical order, so a vivid detail gets placed before the topic sentence or a conclusion is buried mid-paragraph.
Candidates read for content appeal instead of mapping the paragraph's function: topic, support, transition, conclusion.
What to do instead
Label each sentence's job (claim, example, contrast, summary) before choosing a position. A topic sentence must be general enough to cover what follows; a concluding sentence must refer back to the paragraph's main point rather than introduce new evidence.
Leaving a sentence that shifts tense, person, or voice midway, e.g. 'The researcher collects samples and then analyzed them,' because each half reads fine in isolation.
Candidates evaluate clauses locally and miss the inconsistency across the sentence boundary.
What to do instead
Underline every verb in the sentence and confirm they share the same tense and aspect unless a real time shift is signaled. Check that the subject stays the same person and that voice does not flip without reason.
Failing to notice a dangling or misplaced modifier, accepting 'Walking through the museum, the paintings impressed the students' because the sentence is easy to understand.
Comprehension succeeds even when the grammar is wrong, so the error does not register as an error.
What to do instead
Locate the modifier's implied subject (the noun right after the comma) and ask whether that noun can perform the action. If not, either rename the subject ('Walking through the museum, the students were impressed by the paintings') or expand the modifier into a clause.
Choosing 'no change' too often or too rarely, either trusting the original text by default or assuming every underlined portion must contain an error.
Candidates carry a bias from other test formats: some believe the original is usually correct, others believe a question implies a flaw.
What to do instead
Evaluate 'no change' exactly like any other option, reading the full sentence first and only then comparing choices. Some questions legitimately have no error; decide on evidence, not on the mere presence of an underline.
Selecting an answer that is grammatically correct but changes the writer's intended meaning, such as flipping a contrast to a cause or dropping a necessary qualification.
Candidates prioritize surface correctness and stop checking whether the revision preserves the original claim.
What to do instead
Before choosing, paraphrase the original sentence's meaning in your own words, then confirm the chosen option says the same thing. Watch logical connectors (although, because, therefore) and qualifiers (some, most, all) for meaning shifts.