One question type that pops up frequently on the SAT Writing Section is the “Specific Purpose” question. These questions ask you to select the best word, phrase, or sentence to fill in a blank based on a given goal. A lot of students struggle with these questions not because they lack the skills to answer them but rather because they don’t pay careful enough attention to the specific purpose given in the question stem. Without a clear understanding of the specific purpose, it’s impossible to know which answer choice is correct.
Here are some steps students should always take when dealing with these questions:
Underline the Purpose
When you spot a Specific Purpose question, look for the objective that the correct answer must achieve. This specific purpose should be your only criteria as you weigh each answer choice.
Example:
The question above asks which answer choice demonstrates the artist’s ingenuity, so the correct answer must convey the artist’s ingenuity—i.e. originality and inventiveness—specifically. Underline the word ingenuity to remind yourself that this is your one and only goal.
Which of the following demonstrates the artist’s ingenuity?
Get Tunnel Vision
Once you’ve identified the specific purpose the correct answer choice must fulfill, weigh each answer choice against that purpose. Any answer choice that does not directly address the specific purpose must be eliminated.
Watch out for tricks!
The SAT is a master of creating very tempting incorrect answer choices. With Specific Purpose questions in particular, look out for answer choices that mention something in the passage but do not fulfill the specific purpose.
Now that we know how to approach Specific Purpose questions, let’s take a stab at a sample question.
Many people fear the Great White Shark above all other things in the ocean. Movies like Jaws, The Shallows, and 47 Meters Down paint a gruesome picture of malevolent eating machines with a predilection for human flesh. Yet, the evidence suggests that we are much more likely to harm sharks than they are to harm us! Every year, between 63 and 273 million sharks are killed by humans—either intentionally or unintentionally—due to unnatural causes. In contrast, an average of only 6 humans are killed by sharks. Even in these cases, experts agree that sharks rarely aim to prey upon humans. Instead, these oceanic predators are likely confusing humans for their natural prey: the Pinnipedia (i.e. the seal).
Here we must choose which one of the answer choices achieves a specific aim, so we know we’re dealing with a Specific Purpose question. As with any Specific Purpose question, we want to identify the purpose in the question stem right away. This question asks which answer choice highlights that man is responsible for sharks’ deaths, so let’s underline the word responsible. We therefore need an answer choice that clearly demonstrates that man is to blame for shark deaths.
Answer A keeps the underlined portion of the sentence the same. This portion states that sharks’ deaths are unnatural, which is tempting if we assume all unnatural things are manmade. But what is unnatural anyway? Could a non-human creature do something unnatural? Um, maybe? We’ll keep answer A for now. Answer B attributes the sharks’ deaths to fishing-related activities. Fishing is definitely a human activity, so B is looking good as well. Answer choice C is also attractive. I know from my biology class that anytime an animal’s population is greatly reduced, the food chain is affected. But wait! I forgot to evaluate this answer choice against my purpose. Even though answer choice C is true and sounds great, it doesn’t show me why man is responsible for the sharks’ deaths. Now that I’m thinking about my purpose again, I can easily see that answer D is also incorrect. Therefore, the correct answer must be either A or B. Both are tempting answer choices, but only one of them can be the credited response. Looking back at my purpose—to highlight that man is responsible for sharks’ deaths—only one answer choice directly references a reason man himself would be killing sharks. The correct answer is B.
As evidenced by the question above, Specific Purpose questions are incredibly simple and incredibly challenging for the same reason. The only thing that matters is the purpose! If you forget the purpose, you’ll have no way of knowing which answer is correct. However, if you clearly identify and continually prioritize the purpose, you can easily get these questions correct on test day.
