The principal revealed that students' standardized test scores increas

Since revealed is in past. Prediction requires a 'would' and not will. We are left with two choices. D changes the meaning

B must be the answer

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Can it be said that original sentence is in indirect speech and that the usage of would is correct because of that?

Your understanding is correct - just that you missed out "in past". Indirect speech in past requires "would" to depict future from perspective of past. An indirect speech in present takes "will" to depict future.

The principal revealed that students' standardized test scores increased even more this year than she had expected it to and their grades will improve next semester as well.

A. had expected it to and their grades will improve
B. had expected and that their grades would improve
C. expected it would and that they will improve their grades
D. expected them to and their grades would improve
E. expected and that they will have improved their grades

A:'it' is wrongly refering to the grades.
B:Correct answer with correct parallelism and pronouns.
C:Same as A.
D:will is the correct usage in the sentence.
E:Change in meaning.

Imo B
The principal revealed two things
1)students' standardized test scores increased even more this year than she had expected
2)their grades will improve next semester as well.

Revealed that is the correct idiom and we need "that" because of indirect speech .

A pronoun it is wrong as it can not refer to plural grades ; Usage of will is also wrong as it is not certain that the grades will improve , we have to use would .
B Correct maintains parallelism between two phrases and removes it pronoun altogether .Use would instead of will.
C Again it wrong here . Would after it is of no use and we do need it. Use of will is wrong.
D Parallelism is not maintained we need that after and
E Wrong verb tense used ; We have to use future tense using would .

The principal revealed-

that that students' standardized test scores increased even more this year than she had expected &

that their grades would improve next semester as well.

Two "that" clauses are in parallel


A. had expected it to and their grades will improve

SV error - scores + it (wrong). Also, "will" is wrong. It should be would.

B. had expected and that their grades would improve

C. expected it would and that they will improve their grades

SV error - scores + it (wrong). "They" is ambiguous.

D. expected them to and their grades would improve

We need "had expected" for two past events. We need "that" before "their".

E. expected and that they will have improved their grades

We need "had expected" for two past events. "They" is ambiguous.

this question is easy, gmat will have some questions that are hard to choose the correct answer. Nevertheless, this question is also important because the question tests the fundamental grammar issues, such as past tense, idiom of expect, parallel of "that and that", parallel of tense, succinct vs awkward, and so on.

What if there is an option like this


had expected and that their grades will improve

does that make sense?

Hey SonGoku ,

I am happy to help

No, if we change the sentence to "had expected and that their grades will improve", it will be a wrong answer choice.

You need to understand that whenever we talk about the future in the past, we should always use "Would" rather than "Will"

Since the teachers revealed something in the past, it cannot be preceded by "Will".

Does that make sense?

Thanks for the reply abhimahna,
Sorry for the lame doubt, But whenever i encounter this question i always come down to 2 and select the wrong option. Thanks for clarifying this.The problem is i have taken my notes wrongly.

The principal revealed that students' standardized test scores increased even more this year than she had expected it to and their grades will improve next semester as well.


A. had expected it to and their grades will improve
-- will improve is incorrect. We need "would" as the complete act is in past - "principal revealed"

B. had expected and that their grades would improve
-- correct choice

C. expected it would and that they will improve their grades
-- we need "had expected" - because act to expect happened before the act to reveal.
-- will improve is incorrect

D. expected them to and their grades would improve
-- we need "had expected" - because act to expect happened before the act to reveal.

E. expected and that they will have improved their grades
-- we need "had expected" - because act to expect happened before the act to reveal.
-- will have (future perfect is incorrect). We need "would".

Can anyone help in identifying the verb for student's standardized test scores.
Although increases seems like a verb but I don't think it is a verb as test scores can't do the action of increasing.
Plz explain

PAST TENSE VERB + SUBJECT + will:
In this construction, will serves to express an action that will be performed after the present moment.
Consider a recent sentence in the
New York Times:
China announced it will end limits on foreign ownership.
Here, the following sequence is conveyed:
In the past, China ANNOUNCED
As of now, China HAS NOT YET ended limits on foreign ownership.
Sometime in the future, China WILL end limits on foreign ownership.

C: The principal revealed that students'...grades will improve next semester.
Here, the usage of will implies that the action in red has not yet happened.
The result is a nonsensical meaning:
It is not possible that the principal REVEALED -- at some point in the PAST -- an action that has NOT YET HAPPENED.

Hey tejyr ,

The verb here is Increased. Scores are not doing the action of increasing. The meaning of the sentence is Scores increased to some value.

Does that make sense?

It is classic example of verb sequencing. She expected first---Then she revealed. So perfect past tense is correct, it eliminates C,D,E
NOW she revealed something and 'AND' is marker here. So parallelism. revealed that----- and that their grades- It eliminates A
Answer: B

B is the correct answer. The principal expected before the test results came. So C,D,E are out. In option A, use of will is wrong because analysis is already been done.