Hi everyone,
I’ve been working through TC questions from the Big Book using Greg’s walkthrough
videos and I’ve spotted a consistent gap in my approach that I’d love help with.
What I’m doing:
Following Greg’s connotation-based prediction strategy — predict the tone/direction
of the blank, then eliminate.
What’s working:
- Eliminating 3 out of 5 choices confidently
- My connotation predictions (positive/negative/neutral) are almost always correct
Where I’m stuck:
After getting to the final 2 options, I consistently struggle to make the right call.
My Big Book TC accuracy is around 70%, and the losses almost always come from this
last step — not from wrong connotation prediction, but from being unable to logically
distinguish between two choices that both seem to fit.
My specific doubt:
Once both remaining options have the correct connotation and neither is obviously
wrong on the surface, what is the logical next step to eliminate one?
Should I be:
- Checking the degree/intensity of the word (too extreme vs. too mild)?
- Re-reading for more specific context clues beyond just tone?
- Building finer vocabulary distinctions between similar words?
I haven’t included a specific question here since this is a pattern across multiple
questions, but happy to share examples in the comments if that helps narrow things down.
Thanks in advance!