The SAT I for Dummies Book

Introduction Why You Desperately Need This Book How to Be Smarter Than the Law Allows Pardon Me for Having a Life: Who Has Time for This? Time required to go through the SAT "lecture" chapters Time required to go through the practice SATs Part I: An Aerial View: Putting the SAT into Perspective Chapter 1: Know Your Enemy: The SAT Up Close Eighteen Hundred Totally Wasted Seconds: The Experimental (Equating) Section Gimme a Break! The SAT Intermission Beat the Clock: Timing Tips Your Brain -- Don't Leave Home Without It (and Other Things to Take to the SAT) What Not to Take to the Test with You Isn't That Special? Unusual Circumstances Everyone Wants to Score How scores are determined How you win -- and lose -- points The Whine Cellar: What is a good score? Canceling scores and Score Choice Number of correct answers needed for specific scores Verbal scores Math scores Stop me before I guess again: serial guessers Déjà Vu All Over Again: Repeating the Test Part II: A Word to the Wise: Verbal Questions Chapter 2: Starting with the Easy Stuff: Analogies If Only All Relationships Were This Easy: The Format The Approach Just Because You're Paranoid Doesn't Mean They're Not Out to Get You: Traps, Tricks, and Tips Turn a verb into an infinitive Identify which part of speech the question word is Assume that unknown words are synonyms Use roots, prefixes, and suffixes Prefixes Suffixes Look for the salient features of a word Identify common relationships Eliminate dumb answers Chapter 3: The Dirty Dozen: Practice Analogy Questions Chapter 4: Finish What You Start: Sentence Completions What Sentence Completion Questions Look Like: The Format The Approach TNT: Tips 'n' Traps Look for key connecting words that may change the meaning of the sentence Predict positive or negative words to fit in the blanks Skip questions with answers that depend entirely on unknown vocabulary words Rely on roots Chapter 5: Reality Check: Sentence Completion Practice Exam Chapter 6: Everyone's a Critic: Critical Reading Read 'Em and Weep: The Format The Five Commonly Tested Reading Passages Beam me up, Scotty! Science passages The human touch: people passages Fiction is stranger than truth: fiction passages That's your opinion: theory passages Double trouble: paired passages Last Things First: Reading the Questions Before You Read the Passages All or Nothing: Questions You Should Always Do; Questions You Should Never Do It's the attitude, Dude What's the main idea or best title Consider the vocabulary in context The detail or fact question Negative or exception questions Toga! Toga! Toga! The Roman numeral question Defeating Reading: Tricks for Making Life a Little Easier Be positive or neutral, not negative A Final Review Choose answers containing key words Be wishy-washy, not dramatic Correct answers are usually above or below the key words or indicated line numbers An overview of the types of passages and reading suggestions for each passage Science Humanities Theories Fiction Double or paired An overview of the types of questions and the traps hidden in each one Attitude or tone Main idea/best title Chapter 7: Practice What I Preach: Critical Reading Practice Exam Passage I Passage II Passage III Part III: Two Years of Math in 58 Pages: The Dreaded Math Review Chapter 8: More Figures than a Beauty Pageant: Geometry Review You Gotta Have an Angle: Angles Triangle Trauma: Triangles Similar figures Area Pythagorean theorem Pythagorean triples Thanks 4 Nothing: Quadrilaterals Quaint quads: bizarre quadrilaterals Leftovers again: shaded-area problems Missing Parrots and Other Polly-Gones: More Polygons Total interior angle measure One interior angle Volume Total surface area (TSA) I'm Too Much of a Klutz for Coordinate Geometry Running Around in Circles Chapter 9: Gotta Catch Some (Xs, Ys, and) Zs: Algebra and Other Sleeping Aids The Powers That Be: Bases and Exponents Keep It in Proportion: Ratios Things Aren't What They Seem: Symbolism Abracadabra: Algebra Curses! FOILed again Fact-or Fiction: Factoring Too Hip to Be Square: Roots and Radicals Addition and subtraction Multiplication and division Inside out Probably Probability Chapter 10: Miscellaneous Math You Probably Already Know DIRTy Math: Time, Rate, and Distance It All Averages Out: Averages Missing term average problem Weighted averages Percentage Panic Life has its ups and downs: percent increase/decrease Ready, Sets, Go: Number Sets Prime and Composite Numbers I'm All Mixed Up: Mixture Problems Greed Is Great: Interest Problems All Work and No Play: Work Problems Smooth Operator: Order of Operations Measuring Up: Units of Measurement What's the Point: Decimals Adding and subtracting decimals Multiplying decimals Dividing decimals Broken Hearts, Broken Numbers: Fractions Adding or subtracting Multiplication Division Mixed numbers The Stats Don't Lie: Statistics Median Mode Range A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words: Graphs Part IV: Your Number's Up: Math Questions Chapter 11: The Incomparable Quantitative Comparisons Where Did All the Answers Go? The QC Format As Easy as pi: The Approaching QC Questions Gotchas and Other Groaners: Tips, Traps, and Tricks If the columns look equal, there's a trap If a figure is not drawn to scale, the answer is often choice D If the answer depends on how you draw the figure, choose D If a picture is drawn to scale, the answer is rarely D Cancel quantities that are identical in both columns Compare each part of Column A to its counterpart in Column B When plugging in numbers, use 1, 2, 0, ­1, ­2, 1/2 -- in that order Plug in 100 for dollars and percentages Plug in consecutive terms first and then nonconsecutive terms Chapter 12: Putting It All Together: Practice QC Questions Chapter 13: Real Math at Last: Problem Solving Form-al Introductions: The Format Problem Solving with Multiple-Choice Answers: The Approach Problem Solving with Grid-In Answers: The Approach Filling In the Grid Use Your Powers for Good: Five Commonsense Suggestions Easy problems often have easy answers Eliminate illogical (dumb) answer choices Don't choose a "close enough" answer Don't be afraid to skip Give your pencil a workout Chapter 14: A Chance to Show Off: Practice Problem Solving Questions Part V: It All Comes Down to This: Full-Length Practice SATs Answer Sheet Chapter 15: How to Ruin a Perfectly Good Day, Part I: Practice Exam 1 Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 Section 4 Section 5 Section 6 Answer Key for Practice Exam 1 How to Score Your Exam Scoring Verbal Sections Finding Your Converted ("Final") Verbal Score Scoring Math Sections 2, 4, and 6 Finding Your Converted ("Final") Math Score Chapter 16: Practice Exam 1: Answers and Explanations Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 Section 4 Section 5 Section 6 Answer Sheet Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 Section 4 Section 5 Section 6 Chapter 17: How to Ruin a Perfectly Good Day, Part II: Practice Exam 2 Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 Section 4 Section 5 Section 6 Answer Key for Practice Exam 2 How to Score Your Exam Scoring Verbal Sections Finding Your Converted ("Final") Verbal Score Scoring Math Sections 2, 4, and 6 Finding Your Converted (Final) Math Score Chapter 18: Practice Exam 2: Answers and Explanations Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 Section 4 Section 5 Section 6 Part VI: The Part of Tens Chapter 19: Ten Amazing Questions I've Been Asked about the SAT Does The SAT score count? Is the SAT an open book exam? Is the same SAT given every year? Can you give me a list of all the words that will be tested on the SAT? Can I take a dictionary to the SAT? Does a good SAT score make me a nerd? Is there a make-up exam? Is there extra credit work? Can my friend help me? Do I have to take the SAT again during college? Chapter 20: Ten Bizarre Ways to Use SAT Math in the Real World Getting out of paying for gas Saving money dining out at fine establishments Making your parents clean up your mess Getting out of chores Annoying the elderly Talking your way out of a speeding ticket Making your parents think your grades are better than they are Rejecting a date without destroying an ego Confusing your parents about where the money went Stiffing a waiter on a tip Chapter 21: Ten Wrong Rumors about the SAT Filling in all A's is better than jumping around, filling in A, B, C, D, E You can't have three A's in a row "Lesser-Taken Tests" are easier Tests in different parts of the country are different You can't study for the SAT You must pass certain classes to take the SAT You must write an essay Your score won't improve if you keep retaking the SAT The SAT has a passing score You must take the PSAT before you take the SAT Chapter 22: Ten Dumb Things You Can Do to Mess Up Your SAT Losing concentration Panicking over time Messing up numbering on the answer grid Rubbernecking Cheating Worrying about the previous sections Worrying about the hard problems Transferring information from problem to problem or section to section Forgetting to double-check Looking back and playing "Coulda-Shoulda" Chapter 23: Ten Relaxation Techniques You Can Try before and during the SAT Breathe deeply Rotate your head Hunch and roll your shoulders Cross and roll your eyes Shake out your hands Extend and push your legs Cup your eyes Rotate your scalp Curtail negative thoughts Visualize before the test or during a break Chapter 24: Ten Types of Questions You Can Skip Killer closers Time-waster math Weak third of math Negative questions Roman numeral questions Sentence Completion questions based entirely on vocabulary Compare-or-contrast Critical Reading questions Double-negative Sentence Completion questions Critical Reading questions based on vocabulary Critical Reading questions based on between-the-lines information Chapter 25: Ten Questions Not to Skip Analogies First third or first half Critical Reading's main idea or best title questions Critical Reading's attitude or tone questions Exponents questions Symbolism questions Formula problems Problems with drawn figures Quantitative comparisons Linear algebra questions Chapter 26: Ten Points to Always Double-Check Exponents Sentence Completion questions Commonsense connections Decimal places Political correctness Roots, prefixes, and suffixes Commonsense relationships in analogies Order of relationships in analogies Grid-in bubbles Scale in quantitative comparisons Chapter 27: Ten Math Concepts You Absolutely MUST Know Ratios Common Pythagorean ratios FOIL method of algebra Linear algebraic equations Symbolism Exponents Square roots Plotting points on a graph Angles Circles Chapter 28: Picking the Expert's Brain: What Do the Colleges Want? What's the Number One Thing That Colleges Look For? How Important Is the SAT I, Really? Do Schools Care if I Repeat the SAT I? Can I Take the SAT I instead of the ACT? If I Mess Up Big Time on the SAT I, What Can I Do to Compensate? What Classes Do You Recommend That I Take as a Senior? Junior? Sophomore? How Helpful Are Charity Work and Sports? What Should I Say on the College Essay? What Will They Ask Me in the Interview, and What Should I Say? How Can I Decide Which School Is Best for Me? What's the Biggest Mistake Most Students Make in College Planning? Anything Else I Should Know? Vocabulary Pages Index Book Registration Information