Introduction 1
About This Book 1
Icons Used in This Book 2
Beyond the Book 3
Where to Go from Here 3
Part 1: Getting Started with the SAT 5
Chapter 1: What to Expect with the SAT 7
What About the ACT? 7
So What's on the SAT? 8
Signing Up Before Sitting Down: Registering for the SAT 9
How to register 9
When to take the test 9
Special Needs Considerations 10
Learning disabilities 10
Physical issues 11
Financial help 11
Making the SAT Work for You as a Foreign Student 11
Examining Your Mind: What the SAT Really Looks For 12
Scoring on the SAT 13
Types of scores 13
Score reporting 14
Chapter 2: Strategies for Success 15
Starting Early: The Long-Term Phase 15
Moving Along: The Medium-Term Phase 16
Getting Closer: The Short-Range Phase 17
Planning It Out: What to Do the Night Before Your SAT 18
It's All You: What to Do the Morning of Your SAT 18
Bringing the right stuff 18
Taking control of the tension 19
Starting off 19
Focusing during the test 20
Pacing yourself 20
It Isn't You: Testing Under Adverse Conditions 21
Part 2: Mastering the SAT Reading Test 23
Chapter 3: Getting Acquainted with the SAT Reading Test 25
Understanding the Reading Section 25
Managing Your Time with Key Strategies 26
Getting Each Question Right, Quickly, With More Key Strategies 27
Answering the Best-Evidence Questions 28
Putting the Strategies to Use 29
Starting with the line-number questions 29
Continuing with the detail questions 30
Ending with the inference and main idea questions 30
Taking On the Reading Passages 32
Distancing with social studies 32
Blinding me with science 34
Saving the literature for last 36
Chapter 4: Where It Counts: Practicing the SAT Reading Test 39
Social Studies Passages 40
Passage I Answers 43
Passage II Answers 46
Science Passages 47
Passage III Answers 49
Passage IV Answers 52
Literature Passage 53
Passage V Answers 55
Part 3: Conquering the Writing and Language Test and Writing a Killer Essay 57
Chapter 5: Gearing Up for the SAT Writing and Language Test 59
Getting to Know the Writing and Language Test 59
Managing Your Time with Simple Strategies 60
Answering the easy questions before the hard questions 60
Using the 9-minute rule 60
Nailing the Common Questions 61
Starting with grammar and punctuation 61
Getting vocabulary in context 62
Writing with style, logic, and organization 63
Killing It Softly: The SAT Grammar Review 65
Verb matching 65
Easing verb tension 66
Parallel writing 67
Casing pronouns 67
Using punctuation 68
Wording up 68
Answer 71
Taking It Further 71
Chapter 6: Getting It Write: Practicing the Writing and Language Multiple-Choice Test 73
Passage I 73
Passage I Answers 77
Passage II 78
Passage II Answers 81
Passage III 82
Passage III Answers 84
Passage IV 85
Passage IV Answers 89
Chapter 7: Preparing for the Essay 91
Deciding Whether to Actually Write the Essay 91
Knowing the Assignment 92
Knowing What the Essay Scorers Look For 92
Getting Started 94
Identifying Other Writing Techniques in the Passage 96
Appeals to logic, authority, and emotion 96
Diction and tone 96
Organization 97
Other techniques 97
Trying Out a Sample Essay Question 98
The question 98
The answer 99
Scoring your own essay 101
Examining graded responses 101
Chapter 8: Practicing Essays 105
Practice Essay I - Momentum: Igniting Social Change 105
The question 105
The answer 107
Scoring your essay 108
Practice Essay II - Addressing Mathematical Innumeracy 109
The question 109
The answer 110
Scoring your essay 112
Practice Essay III - Nonsexist Language 112
The question 112
The answer 114
Scoring your essay 115
Part 4: Owning the SAT Math Tests 117
Chapter 9: Meeting Numbers Head-On: The SAT Math Tests 119
Starting with Formulas 120
Just Gridding 121
Getting Familiar with the Math Tests 122
Chapter 10: Numbers and Operations 125
Starting with the Basics 125
Checking out types of numbers 125
Remembering the order of operations 127
Simplifying Numbers and Operations 127
Simplifying prime numbers 128
Simplifying percents 128
Simplifying ratios 130
Simplifying conversions 132
Simplifying exponents 133
Simplifying square and cube roots 138
Simplifying imaginary i 140
Simplifying projections 143
Chapter 11: Algebra and Functions 147
Solving for X 147
Solving for x with a number 147
Solving for x with a y 148
Solving for x in a radical 149
Solving for x in a fraction 149
Solving for x in a reciprocal fraction 151
Solving for More Than One X 152
Solving an absolute value 152
Solving a quadratic 154
Solving the difference of squares 157
Solving an expression 159
Setting Up Equations 161
Setting up a story 161
Setting up a sum of numbers 162
Setting up interest 163
Setting up rates of change 166
Graphing Coordinate Geometry 168
Graphing a line 169
Graphing two lines 171
Graphing an inequality 174
Graphing a parabola 175
Graphing a circle 178
Graphing a function 181
Chapter 12: Geometry and Trigonometry 185
Drawing Basic Shapes 186
Drawing angles 186
Drawing triangles 189
Drawing rectangles and squares 194
Drawing trapezoids and parallelograms 194
Drawing circles 197
Drawing overlapping shapes 198
Drawing parts of circles 199
Drawing 3-D Shapes 201
Drawing rectangular solids and cubes 201
Drawing cylinders and cones 203
Drawing spheres 204
Solving Trigonometry Problems 205
Solving right triangles with SOH CAH TOA 206
Solving unit circles and radians 208
Solving trigonometric equations 211
Chapter 13: Statistics and Probability 213
Defining the Mean, Median, and Mode 213
Defining the mean 213
Defining the median and mode 214
Defining the range 215
Defining Probability 216
Measuring Graph Data 217
Measuring bar graphs 217
Measuring circle or pie charts 218
Measuring line graphs 218
Measuring scatter plots 219
Measuring multiple graphs 220
Part 5: It's All You: Taking Practice SAT Exams 223
Chapter 14: Practice Exam 1 225
Answer Sheets 227
Section 1: Reading Test 229
Section 2: Writing and Language Test 240
Section 3: Math Test - No Calculator Allowed 249
Section 4: Math Test - Calculator Allowed 253
Section 5: The Essay 262
Chapter 15: Practice Exam 1: Answers and Explanations 265
Answers for Section 1: Reading Test 265
Answers for Section 2: Writing and Language Test 271
Answers for Section 3: Math Test - No Calculator Allowed 275
Answers for Section 4: Math Test - Calculator Allowed 279
Answer Guidelines for Section 5: The Essay 286
Reading 286
Analysis 287
Writing 288
Scoring your essay 288
Answer Key 289
Chapter 16: Practice Exam 2 291
Answer Sheets 293
Section 1: Reading Test 295
Section 2: Writing and Language Test 305
Section 3: Math Test - No Calculator Allowed 314
Section 4: Math Test - Calculator Allowed 318
Section 5: The Essay 325
Chapter 17: Practice Exam 2: Answers and Explanations 327
Answers for Section 1: Reading 327
Answers for Section 2: Writing and Language Test 333
Answers for Section 3: Math Test - No Calculator Allowed 337
Answers for Section 4: Math Test - Calculator Allowed 341
Answer Guidelines for Section 5: The Essay 347
Reading 347
Analysis 347
Writing 348
Answer Key 349
Chapter 18: How Did You Do? Scoring Your Practice SAT 351
Finding Your Reading and Writing Score 351
Finding Your Math Test Score 355
Finding Your Killer Essay Score 357
Recording Your Final Scores 357
First practice exam 357
Second practice exam 357
Third practice exam 358
Fourth practice exam 358
Part 6: The Part of Tens 359
Chapter 19: Ten Mistakes Other Test-Takers Make That You Won't 361
You Won't Forget Your Wristwatch 361
You Won't Bubble Everything at the End 362
You Won't Let Your Calculator Batteries Die 362
You Won't Run Out of Steam 362
You Won't Forget Snacks and Water 362
You Won't Work the Reading Test Straight On 362
You Won't Rush Through the Questions 363
You Won't Get Stuck on a Question 363
You Won't Choke on the Essay 363
You Won't Change Your Morning Routine 364
Chapter 20: Ten Ways to Get the Most from the Practice SATs 365
Practice an Entire SAT in One Sitting 365
Practice Not Making Mistakes Under Pressure 365
Practice with Others in the Room 366
Practice as a Dress Rehearsal 366
Practice Your Competitive Edge 366
Practice Your Test-Taking Strategies 367
Practice Using the Bubble Sheet 367
Practice Finding Your Areas of Focus 367
Review the Practice SAT Answers and Explanations 367
Review the Practice SAT with Other Students 368
Index 369
