Why SAT Verb Questions are Easy (New Strategy)

Join The 1550+ Formula (your best chance at getting 1550+) ⤵️ https://www.skool.com/satprep/about?r... This is my most up-to-date process for solving verb questions as efficiently as possible. I made a very similar video to this one a few months ago, but a few of the things I said in that video were patched in the recent March 2026 SAT (that old video has been unlisted). I've also discovered some new tricks, which I wanted to share. So this video fixes all the patches and has the new tricks I found. I honestly like this one better because it's simpler than the old one. Summary ⤵️ Verb questions make up 30% of SAT grammar questions and most can be solved with 4 shortcuts A verb question is when all answer choices are variations of the same verb with no punctuation differences Shortcut 1: If the word right after the blank is "by," "as," or "to" (followed by a non-verb), pick the -ed answer choice (works 7% of the time) Shortcut 2: If 3 answer choices are all singular or all plural and one is the odd one out, pick the odd one out (works 15% of the time) Shortcut 3: If 3 answer choices are -ing or "to something" and one isn't, pick the one that isn't (works 12% of the time) Shortcut 4: If you see the word "will," it's a past/present/future question — just find context clues in the sentence to pick the right tense (works 18% of the time) For the remaining ~48%, find the main verb in the sentence — if one already exists, pick a non-main verb (ing or "to something"); if none exists, determine if it's a singular/plural question or tense question and solve accordingly Common singular/plural traps: "X of Y" → look at X, not Y; "X and Y" = plural but "X along with Y" = singular; "each" is always singular; sometimes the subject comes after the verb Why watch? If this is your first view—hi, I’m James 👋 I've personally scored a 1570 on the Digital SAT (770 English, 800 Math) and have spent thousands of hours split-testing strategies, analyzing data, and building a system that helps students reliably break into the 1500+ range. Today there are a lot of SAT tutors online, but I’ve noticed none of the strategies they share even compare to the ones I've discovered in terms of effectiveness. So this channel is my way of transforming the SAT industry. Hopefully I can help you improve your SAT score, and in doing so, open doors that shape the rest of your life 🙏 Like, subscribe, and leave me a comment if you have a specific request! Thanks. Chapters 00:00 Intro 0:22 What I define as a Verb Question 2:16 1st Shortcut 6:43 2nd Shortcut 13:00 3rd Shortcut 14:34 4th Shortcut 18:39 Identifying Main Verbs 29:19 Picking Non-Main Verbs 33:44 Singular Plural Questions 40:58 When to Use "had" 43:57 The Outdated Questions 44:37 Practice