Up Your Score (49 page)

(Remember: You don’t have to write in the answer at the top; we did it for clarity.)

2. The lengths of the sides of a triangle are
a
, 9, and 17, where
a
is the length of the shortest side. If the triangle is not isosceles, what is one possible value of
a
?

Answer:

In this case, you could have written any number greater than 8 and less than 9. If
a
were 9 or greater, it wouldn’t be the shortest side anymore. And if it were smaller than 8, you couldn’t make a triangle out of it (just try drawing it).

What else do you need to know for the math section of the SAT? Not a whole lot, actually. Many of the questions just involve common sense. Notice that in some of the questions you don’t have to waste time doing mathematical computations. Sometimes the choices listed aren’t simplified—so why in the world should you simplify your answer? Look over the choices before you work the problem all the way out.

If you’re constantly making stupid mistakes on problems you think you should know, you may want to try working faster. You might make a few more careless errors the first time around, but you’ll be able to catch them when you check your answers. As with any strategy, try this on a few practice tests and see what works for you.

If you
do
have time at the end of a math section to check your answers, here’s a little trick: Use a different method
to get the answer than the one you used the first time. That way you won’t make the mistake of doing it wrong the same way twice.

And remember, a good command of really basic things will make you work faster, and as we said earlier, speed and accuracy are essential to doing well on the math section.

Now go do the math sections on some practice SATs from the College Board’s
The Official SAT Study Guide.
And make your grandmother proud!

Way back in 1994, at a time when the ETS was revising the SAT, educators began to complain that there should be an essay on it. But at that point the stubborn Serpent didn’t feel like putting an essay on the trusty SAT. Instead, he looked around his malodorous cave at the various rusty instruments of torture he had collected over the years and dug up the one he had once called “English Composition Achievement Test with Essay.” Brushing off the remnants of decaying student flesh that coated it, the Serpent drooled, “Yes! This is it! This old test already has an essay on it. I’ll rename it the SAT II Writing test! And I’ll make a big fuss about it so most colleges will require it! And the high school students will continue to writhe in eternal agony!”

Fortunately, our intrepid authors quickly caught the Serpent, sending him whimpering back to his cave, and for years,
Up Your Score
helped students outsmart the SAT II Writing test. But then suddenly, thanks to the big mouths at the University of California, the SAT II Writing test wasn’t good enough, and the Serpent had to come up with a new diabolical plot. An evil writing exam on the SAT I itself was the answer. After all, what could be nastier than topping off three hours of relentless passages and negative exponents with an essay? Oh, how the Serpent rejoiced! And although the new writing section is just the recycled SAT II Writing test, somehow this placated the Serpent’s critics, and peace, for now, once again reigns in the kingdom of University Administrators.

But not to worry. The Serpent was neither smart enough nor creative enough to make the new SAT writing section more difficult than the SAT II Writing test, so we can use our knowledge to save a new generation of standardized test takers from the fear and nausea of the dreaded timed essay.
Up Your Score
will now show you how to outsmart the Serpent’s puny excuse for a writing test, and you will all live happily ever after . . .

The SAT Writing section has an essay section that supposedly tests you on how well you can write, and a multiple-choice section (usage, sentence correction, and revision-in-context questions) that tests you on your ability to recognize and correct mistakes in grammar, sentence structure, and word choice. The Writing section allows you 25 minutes for the essay and 35 minutes (which is made up of a 25-minute section and a 10-minute section) for the multiple-choice questions. It’s scored on a scale of 200 to 800.

In this chapter, we will explain the three types of multiple-choice questions and suggest strategies for attacking them. Then we will cover the 13 most important grammatical rules to know. Finally, we will tell you how to write a kick-butt essay. If you really want to kick butt on this test, it will help to find some practice tests. Ask if there are any practice tests in your high school guidance office. Also pick up a PSAT booklet, since the writing section on the PSAT is very similar to the multiple-choice section of the writing section. If you want to take any of the practice tests in the other review books (those not put out by the College Board), do so at your own risk. Most of the ones we looked at were stupid and quite different from the real thing.

Another way to hone your skills? Keep a journal or blog. Write constantly—not just about the things that happen to you on a daily basis but also about big ideas, current events, and your beliefs. Don’t be afraid to express your most profound thoughts, such as, “I bought a new pair of jeans today, but I’m afraid they make me look fat.” No, really, make a point of writing about complex ideas, with thesis statements and strong arguments. That way, when you sit down to write the SAT essay, it will come as naturally as blogging: “Over the centuries, great thinkers have asked many philosophical questions but none as vexing as, ‘Do these jeans make me look fat?’”

As with the critical reading sections of the SAT I, a good way to prepare is to read a lot. The more you read, the more you will develop a sense for what sounds right and what doesn’t.

Type 1: Usage Questions (Identifying Sentence Errors)

These questions take less time than the other multiple-choice questions. A typical usage question looks like this:

You are to assume that everything that isn’t underlined is the way it’s supposed to be, and then find the error in one of the underlined portions. The answer to this example is (B), because
giggled
should be
giggle
.

Follow this procedure when doing usage questions:

1. Read the
whole
sentence quickly but carefully.

2. If you’re positive that you see the error, mark it on the answer sheet and go on to the next problem.

3. If you don’t see the error, look at each underlined portion very carefully; see if it follows 13 of the rules listed later in this chapter (Rule 9 doesn’t apply to usage questions) or any other rules you might know. Something that sounds wrong probably is.

4. If you still don’t find an error, mark (E).

5. If you have time left at the end of the test, go back and check all the questions for which you chose (E).

Type 2: Sentence Correction Questions (Improving Sentences)

These questions take more time than the usage questions but less time than revision-in-context questions. They also play with your mind. A typical sentence correction question looks like this:

The doctor warned the students that
it are a myth that one cannot
get the swine flu for 24 hours after taking the SAT.

(A) it are a myth that one cannot

(B) it are a myth, that one cannot

(C) it is a myth that one cannot

(D) it is a myth which one cannot

(E) its myths are that one cannot

Your job on this type of question is to select the answer choice that would best replace the underlined part of the question. The correct answer to this question is (C). Choice (A) is always exactly the same as the underlined portion of the sentence and is the correct answer whenever the original sentence is okay.

This is the procedure you should follow when doing sentence correction questions:

1. Read the
whole
sentence, not just the underlined part. Often the underlined part is grammatically correct by itself but is wrong in the context of the whole sentence.

2. Never read choice (A). Remember, choice (A) is always the same as the original sentence. Why read it again?

3. Even if you think that the original sentence is correct, check each one of the different answer choices to see if one of them is better than the original sentence.

4. If you still think that the original sentence is cool, then pick choice (A).

5. If you think that the sentence is wrong, look for the choice that will make it right.

6. If you can’t decide which is the right answer, choose the one that is phrased closest to the way Dan Rather would phrase it.

7. If you can’t figure out the answer, choose
the shortest one
. English is a relatively efficient language. Good writing often involves short, to-the-point sentences that don’t go on for ever and ever talking about all sorts of things, and getting redundant, and being just generally too long, when they could be short but
aren’t because they’re long, in fact much longer than they have to be (like this sentence). So choosing the shortest answer works on an extraordinary percentage of questions. Take a look at this question:

Mr. Howe’s class has organized a special program for our
school: the purpose being to
help us increase our understanding of Japanese culture.

(A) school: the purpose being to

(B) school and the purpose is to

(C) school, the purpose is to

(D) school, being to

(E) school to

The answer is (E).

Type 3: Revision-in-Context (Improving Paragraphs)