SAT For Dummies

Introduction

About This Book

Conventions Used in This Book

What You're Not to Read

Foolish Assumptions

How This Book Is Organized

Part I. Surveying the Field: An Overview of the SAT

Part II. Comprehending the SAT: The Critical Reading Sections

Part III. Getting the “Write” Answers: The Writing Sections

Part IV. Take a Number, Any Number: The Mathematics Sections

Part V. Where the Rubber Meets the Road: Practice Tests

Part VI. The Part of Tens

Icons Used in This Book

Where to Go from Here

Part I. Surveying the Field: An Overview of the SAT

1. Pouring Your Brain into Little Ovals: The SAT

1.1. Sitting for the SAT Rather Than ACTing Up

1.2. Getting Set for the SAT: Registering for the Right Test at the Right Time

1.3. Meeting Special Needs

1.4. Measuring Your Mind: What the SAT Tests

1.4.1. Critical Reading

1.4.2. Sentence Completions

1.4.3. Reading Comprehension

1.4.4. Writing

1.4.4.1. Error Recognition

1.4.4.2. Sentence Revision

1.4.4.3. Paragraph Revision

1.4.4.4. Essay

1.4.5. Mathematics

1.5. Scoring on the SAT

2. Getting Ready, Set, and Going: Preparing for the SAT

2.1. Flying with the Early Bird: A Long-Range Plan

2.2. Hitting the Golden Mean: A Medium-Range Plan

2.3. Controlling the Panic: A Short-Range Plan

2.4. Snoozing through the Night Before

2.5. Sailing through SAT-Day Morning

2.5.1. Bringing the Right Stuff

2.5.2. Handling Test Tension

2.5.3. Starting Off

2.5.4. Focusing during the Test

2.5.5. Pacing Yourself

Part II. Comprehending the SAT: The Critical Reading Sections

3. Reading between (and on) the Lines: The Critical Reading Section

3.1. Getting Acquainted with the Critical Reading Section

3.1.1. Meeting SAT Single Passages

3.1.2. Doubling Your Trouble: Paired Passages

3.1.3. Completing Sentences

3.2. Conquering Passage-Based Questions

3.2.1. Speaking Factually

3.2.2. Defining as You Read

3.2.3. Decoding Symbols and Metaphors

3.2.4. Identifying the Attitude

3.2.5. Understanding Examples

3.2.6. Covering All Your Bases: The Main Idea

3.2.7. Making Inferences

3.2.8. Skipping When You're at the End of Your Rope

3.2.9. Making a Long Story Short: Reading Quickly

3.2.10. Deciding Which to Read First: The Passage or the Question

4. Practicing Critical Reading Passages: Reading for Points

4.1. Hitting the Singles Scene: Full-Length Passages

4.1.1. Set One

4.1.2. Set Two

4.1.3. Answers to Set Two

4.2. Doing Double Duty: Paired Passages

4.2.1. Set One

4.2.2. Set Two

4.2.3. Answers to Set Two

4.3. Abbreviating the Agony: Short Passages

4.3.1. Set One

4.3.2. Set Two

4.3.3. Answers to Set Two

5. Filling In the Blanks: Sentence Completions

5.1. Sampling the Sentence Completion Menu

5.1.1. Simple Vocabulary, One Blank

5.1.2. Simple Vocabulary, Two Blanks

5.1.3. Tough Vocabulary

5.2. Uncovering Word Clues

5.3. Applying Real-Life Experience

5.4. Completing the Sentence: Steps That Work

6. Practicing Sentence Completions

6.1. Set One: Tackling Some Guided Questions

6.2. Set Two: Practicing Some Questions on Your Own

6.3. Answers to Set Two

Part III. Getting the “Write” Answers: The Writing Sections

7. Writing Your Way to a High Score: The Essay

7.1. Answering Prompt: Writing about the Right Topic in Your Essay

7.2. Organizing Your Thoughts — Timing Is Everything

7.3. Mastering the Writing Process

7.3.1. Prewriting

7.3.2. Writing

7.3.2.1. Introductory Paragraph

7.3.2.2. Body Paragraphs

7.3.2.3. Concluding Paragraph

7.3.3. Polishing

7.4. Scoring the Essay: Rubrics without the Cube

7.4.1. How Graders Score the Essays

7.4.2. How You Can Score Your Practice Essays

8. Practicing Essays

8.1. Spying Some Samples: SAT Essays and Evaluations

8.1.1. The Prompt

8.1.2. The Good: Looking at a “5” Essay

8.1.3. The Not-Too-Bad: Examining a “3” Essay

8.1.4. The Not-So-Good: Checking Out a “1” Essay

8.2. Practicing What I Preach: Your Turn to Write

8.2.1. Essay Prompt One

8.2.2. Essay Prompt Two

8.2.3. Essay Prompt Three

8.2.4. Essay Prompt Four

8.2.5. Essay Prompt Five

8.2.6. Essay Prompt Six

8.2.7. Essay Prompt Seven

8.2.8. Essay Prompt Eight

9. Joining the Grammar Police

9.1. Surveying Multiple-Choice Writing Questions

9.1.1. Bubbling the Wrong Answer: Error-Recognition Questions

9.1.2. Improving Sentences: Sentence Revisions

9.1.3. Revising for Fun and Profit: Passage Revisions

9.2. Nailing Nouns and Capturing Commas: The SAT Grammar Review

9.2.1. Agreeing with the Grammar Cops

9.2.1.1. Subject-Verb Agreement

9.2.1.2. Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement

9.2.2. Tensing Up

9.2.3. Casing the Joint

9.2.4. Punctuating Your Way to a Perfect Score

9.2.5. Choosing the Right Word

9.2.6. Staying between the Parallel Lines

10. Practicing Grammar Problems: Recognizing Your Mistakes

10.1. Examining Error-Recognition Questions

10.1.1. Set One

10.1.2. Set Two

10.1.3. Answers to Set Two

10.2. Solving Sentence-Revision Questions

10.2.1. Set One

10.2.2. Set Two

10.2.3. Answers to Set Two

10.3. Paragraph-Revision Questions

10.3.1. Set One

10.3.2. Set Two

10.3.3. Answers to Set Two

Part IV. Take a Number, Any Number: The Mathematics Sections

11. Meeting Numbers Head-On: The SAT Math Sections

11.1. Having Fun with Numbers: SAT Math 101

11.1.1. Numbers and Operations

11.1.2. Algebra and Functions

11.1.3. Geometry

11.1.4. Statistics, Probability, and Data Interpretation

11.2. Calculating Your Way to SAT Success

11.3. Taking Your Time versus Getting It Right

11.4. Knowing When to Grid and Bear It

11.5. Planning for the Battle: Some Math Strategies That Work

12. Numb and Numbering: The Ins and Outs of Numbers and Operations

12.1. Meeting the Number Families

12.2. Getting Your Priorities Straight: Order of Operations

12.3. Playing Percentage Games

12.4. Keeping It in Proportion: Ratios and Proportion

12.5. Getting DIRTY: Time, Rate, and Distance

12.6. Demonstrating the Value of Radicals

12.7. Computing Absolute Value

12.8. Finding the Pattern

12.9. Setting a Spell

13. Practicing Problems in Numbers and Operations

13.1. Set One: Trying Out Some Guided Questions

13.2. Set Two: Practicing Some Questions on Your Own

13.3. Answers to Set Two

14. X Marks the Spot: Algebra and Functions

14.1. Powering Up: Exponents

14.2. Putting It Together and Taking It Apart: FOIL and Factoring

14.3. Solving Equations: Why Don’t They Just Tell Me What X Is?

14.3.1. Absolute Value

14.3.2. Radical Equations

14.3.3. Rational Equations

14.3.4. Direct and Inverse Variation

14.4. Barely Functioning

14.5. Functioning at a Higher Level

14.5.1. Figuring Out Linear Functions

14.5.2. Thinking through Quadratic Functions

14.5.3. Decoding Symbolism

15. Practicing Problems in Algebra and Functions

15.1. Set One: Getting Started with Some Guided Questions

15.2. Set Two: Practicing Some Questions on Your Own

15.3. Answers to Set Two

16. Checking More Figures Than an IRS Agent: Geometry Review

16.1. Playing the Angles: Knowing What Makes One Angle Different from Another Angle

16.2. Increasing Your Polygon Knowledge: Triangles, Quadrilaterals, and More

16.2.1. Figuring Out What You Need to Know about Triangles

16.2.2. Identifying What Makes Two Triangles (or Other Figures) Similar

16.2.3. Calculating the Area of Triangles

16.2.4. Using the Pythagorean Theorem

16.2.5. Simplifying Things with Pythagorean Triples

16.2.6. Taking a Quick Look at Quadrilaterals

16.2.7. Considering Some Other Polygons

16.3. Getting the Lowdown on Circles

16.4. Avoiding Two-Dimensional Thinking: Solid Geometry

16.4.1. Volume

16.4.2. Surface Area

17. Practicing Problems in Geometry

17.1. Set One: Getting Started with Some Guided Questions

17.2. Set Two: Practicing Some Questions on Your Own

17.3. Answers to Set Two

18. Playing the Odds: Statistics and Probability

18.1. Working with the Odds: Probability

18.1.1. Psyching Out Multiple-Probability Questions

18.1.2. Surviving Geometric Probability

18.2. Saying “MMM”: Mean, Median, and Mode

18.3. Reading Graphs

18.3.1. Bar Graphs

18.3.2. Circle or Pie Graphs

18.3.3. Two-Axes Line Graphs and Scatterplots

18.3.4. Multiple Graphs

18.4. Analyzing Logic Questions

19. Practicing Problems in Probability, Statistics, and Logic

19.1. Set One: Trying Your Hand at Some Guided Questions

19.2. Set Two: Practicing Some Questions on Your Own

19.3. Answers to Set Two

Part V. Where the Rubber Meets the Road: Practice Tests

20. Practice Exam 1

20.1. Answer Sheet

20.2. Section 1: The Essay

20.3. Section 2: Critical Reading

20.4. Section 3: Mathematics

20.5. Section 4: Critical Reading

20.6. Section 5: Mathematics

20.7. Section 6: Multiple-Choice Writing

20.8. Section 7: Critical Reading

20.9. Section 8: Mathematics

20.10. Section 9: Multiple-Choice Writing

21. Practice Exam 1: Answers and Explanations

21.1. Section 1: The Essay

21.2. Section 2: Critical Reading

21.3. Section 3: Mathematics

21.4. Section 4: Critical Reading

21.5. Section 5: Mathematics

21.6. Section 6: Multiple-Choice Writing

21.7. Section 7: Critical Reading

21.8. Section 8: Mathematics

21.9. Section 9: Multiple-Choice Writing

21.10. Answer Key for Practice Exam 1

22. Practice Exam 2

22.1. Answer Sheet

22.2. Section 1: The Essay

22.3. Section 2: Critical Reading

22.4. Section 3: Mathematics

22.5. Section 4: Critical Reading

22.6. Section 5: Mathematics

22.7. Section 6: Multiple-Choice Writing

22.8. Section 7: Critical Reading

22.9. Section 8: Mathematics

22.10. Section 9: Multiple-Choice Writing

23. Practice Exam 2: Answers and Explanations

23.1. Section 1: The Essay

23.2. Section 2: Critical Reading

23.3. Section 3: Mathematics

23.4. Section 4: Critical Reading

23.5. Section 5: Mathematics

23.6. Section 6: Multiple-Choice Writing

23.7. Section 7: Critical Reading

23.8. Section 8: Mathematics

23.9. Section 9: Multiple-Choice Writing

23.10. Answer Key for Practice Exam 2

24. Practice Exam 3

24.1. Answer Sheet

24.2. Section 1: The Essay

24.3. Section 2: Critical Reading

24.4. Section 3: Mathematics

24.5. Section 4: Critical Reading

24.6. Section 5: Mathematics

24.7. Section 6: Multiple-Choice Writing

24.8. Section 7: Critical Reading

24.9. Section 8: Mathematics

24.10. Section 9: Multiple-Choice Writing

25. Practice Exam 3: Answers and Explanations

25.1. Section 1: The Essay

25.2. Section 2: Critical Reading

25.3. Section 3: Mathematics

25.4. Section 4: Critical Reading

25.5. Section 5: Mathematics

25.6. Section 6: Multiple-Choice Writing

25.7. Section 7: Critical Reading

25.8. Section 8: Mathematics

25.9. Section 9: Multiple-Choice Writing

25.10. Answer Key for Practice Exam 3

26. Practice Exam 4

26.1. Answer Sheet

26.2. Section 1: The Essay

26.3. Section 2: Critical Reading

26.4. Section 3: Mathematics

26.5. Section 4: Critical Reading

26.6. Section 5: Mathematics

26.7. Section 6: Multiple-Choice Writing

26.8. Section 7: Critical Reading

26.9. Section 8: Mathematics

26.10. Section 9: Multiple-Choice Writing

27. Practice Exam 4: Answers and Explanations

27.1. Section 1: The Essay

27.2. Section 2: Critical Reading

27.3. Section 3: Mathematics

27.4. Section 4: Critical Reading

27.5. Section 5: Mathematics

27.6. Section 6: Multiple-Choice Writing

27.7. Section 7: Critical Reading

27.8. Section 8: Mathematics

27.9. Section 9: Multiple-Choice Writing

27.10. Answer Key for Practice Exam 4

Part VI. The Part of Tens

28. Ten Ways to Maximize Your Score

28.1. Stash Your Admission Ticket in Plain Sight

28.2. Keep Your Blanks in the Right Row

28.3. Follow All Directions

28.4. Face the Grid-Ins Head-On

28.5. Order the Operations

28.6. Give Them What They Want

28.7. Stay in Context

28.8. Scrap the Meaningless Scrap Paper

28.9. Erase Your Errors

28.10. Write Legibly

29. Ten Ways to Calm Down

29.1. Prepare Well

29.2. Sleep It Off

29.3. Start Early

29.4. Make a List

29.5. Stretch Your Muscles

29.6. Roll Your Head

29.7. Breathe Deeply

29.8. Isolate the Problem

29.9. Become Fatalistic

29.10. Focus on the Future

Appendix: Scoring Your Exam

Determining Your Writing Score

Essay Score

Multiple-Choice Writing Score

Combined Writing Score

Calculating Your Critical Reading Score

Scoring the Math Sections

Index