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Test Taking Strategies toImprove Your SAT Score
Westminster High School
October 4, 2010
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Average GPA and SAT for Admission in 2009-10Colleges GPA
SAT (Math and CRonly)
Frostburg State Univ. 3.1 1010
Johns Hopkins Univ. 3.7 1400
McDaniel College 3.41 1120Morgan State University 3.0 1000
Penn State University 3.55 1200
West Virginia University 3.3 1050
Salisbury University 3.6 1120
Towson University 3.5 1100University of Delaware 3.7 1200
University of Maryland 3.93 1295
Stevenson University 3.47 1050
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What does the test look like?Section Content Number of
Questions
Critical Reading70 minutes
Two 25-minute sections
One 20-minute section
Extended ReasoningLiteral Comprehension
Vocabulary in Context
Sentence Completions
Total
36-404-6
4-6
19
67
Mathematics70 minutes
Two 25-minute sections
One 20-minute section
Number & OperationsAlgebra & Functions
Geometry & Measurement
Data Analysis, Statistics &Probability
Total
11-1419-22
14-16
5-8
54
Writing60 minutes
One 25-minute essay
One 25-minute multiple choice
One 10-minute multiple choice
Essay
Improving Sentences
Identifying Sentence Errors
Improving Paragraphs
Total
1
25
18
6
50
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How difficult is the SAT?
On average, students answer 50 or60 percent of questions correctly
80 percent finish nearly the entire
test Almost all students complete at least
75 percent of the questions
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Timing is Everything! Test is 3 hours and 45 minutes of testing time, plus three 5-minute
breaks, for a total of 4 hours to complete the entire test.
Dont spend too much time on any one question. Spend seconds on the easiest questions Hesitate to spend more than 1-2 minutes even on the hardest
questions
Remember the SAT consists of a series of small, timed, mini-tests. Keep track of the time allotted for each one and how much time
remains.
Wear a watch to the testing center.
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Understand the Scoring! You get a point for a right answer. You lose one-quarter point for a wrong
answer.
There is no deduction for omittedanswers, or for wrong answers in the mathsections student-produced responsequestions.
Each of the 3 sections is on a 200 to 800point scale.
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Overall Test Tactics Learn the section directions now. Answer easy questions first. Mark skipped questions so you can quickly
locate them. Guess.. IF you can eliminate at least one
answer choice. Skip any question if you dont have the
faintest idea about the answer. YouDONT lose points!
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Overall Test Tactics Easy questions usually precede hard ones. Dont change an answer unless youre sure
you made an error. Read the words of the question carefully.Be sure to answer the question asked andnot the question you recall from a practice
test.
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Recording Your Answers You MAY and SHOULD write in the test booklet.
Cross out wrong answers. Do scratch work.
Take care when filling in the answer grid for thestudent-produced response questions.
Avoid stray marks on the answer sheet. Make sure you are using a No. 2 pencil. Mark only one answer per question. Keep checking that you are placing your answer in the
correct section and number on the answer sheet.
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Retaking the SAT 55% of juniors taking the test
improved their scores as seniors 35% had score drops 10% had no change in score
On average, juniors repeating the SATas seniors improved their combinedcritical reading, mathematics, andwriting scores by approximately 40
points
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Using SAT Skills Insight
www.sat.collegboard.com/practice
Shows which academic skills students canconcentrate on to improve their scores
http://www.sat.collegboard.com/practicehttp://www.sat.collegboard.com/practice -
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Using the College Board site toprepare for the SAT
www.sat.collegeboard.com/practice/sat-practice-questions
Sample questions for each area of the test as well as afull length practice test
www.sat.collegeboard.com/practice/sat-study-plan
Allows you to create a personalized plan to prepare forthe test based on the number of times youve previously
taken it and your testing date
http://www.sat.collegeboard.com/practice/sat-practice-questionshttp://www.sat.collegeboard.com/practice/sat-study-planhttp://www.sat.collegeboard.com/practice/sat-study-planhttp://www.sat.collegeboard.com/practice/sat-study-planhttp://www.sat.collegeboard.com/practice/sat-study-planhttp://www.sat.collegeboard.com/practice/sat-study-planhttp://www.sat.collegeboard.com/practice/sat-study-planhttp://www.sat.collegeboard.com/practice/sat-practice-questionshttp://www.sat.collegeboard.com/practice/sat-practice-questionshttp://www.sat.collegeboard.com/practice/sat-practice-questionshttp://www.sat.collegeboard.com/practice/sat-practice-questionshttp://www.sat.collegeboard.com/practice/sat-practice-questions -
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Using the College Board site toprepare for the SAT
www.sat.collegeboard.com/practice/answers-imagined
Helps provide suggestions for how to handle tough SATquestions
www.sat.collegeboard.com/practice/sat-question-of-the-day
Sign up for a daily emailed question of the day
Answers will include explanation of the correct answer
http://www.sat.collegeboard.com/practice/answers-imaginedhttp://www.sat.collegeboard.com/practice/sat-question-of-the-dayhttp://www.sat.collegeboard.com/practice/sat-question-of-the-dayhttp://www.sat.collegeboard.com/practice/sat-question-of-the-dayhttp://www.sat.collegeboard.com/practice/sat-question-of-the-dayhttp://www.sat.collegeboard.com/practice/sat-question-of-the-dayhttp://www.sat.collegeboard.com/practice/sat-question-of-the-dayhttp://www.sat.collegeboard.com/practice/sat-question-of-the-dayhttp://www.sat.collegeboard.com/practice/sat-question-of-the-dayhttp://www.sat.collegeboard.com/practice/sat-question-of-the-dayhttp://www.sat.collegeboard.com/practice/sat-question-of-the-dayhttp://www.sat.collegeboard.com/practice/answers-imaginedhttp://www.sat.collegeboard.com/practice/answers-imaginedhttp://www.sat.collegeboard.com/practice/answers-imagined -
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Calculator Policy Calculators are highly recommended.
You may NOT share calculators. Calculators permitted during testing are:
Graphing calculators Scientific calculators
Four-function calculators (not recommended) Unacceptable calculators
Models with typewriter keypad, pen-input stylus, or touch-screencapability
Models that use paper tape, talk or make unusual noises
Modes that can access the Internet, have cell phone capability, orhave a digital audio/video player or a camera
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Critical Reading Section
What does it test? How well you understand what you read
What do the questions look like?
Sentence completion (19 questions) Passage-based reading (48 questions)
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Sentence Completions Measure Knowledge of the meanings of words
Ability to understand how the differentparts of a sentence fit togetherlogically
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Sentence Completions Work on these first. They take lesstime to answer than the passage-
based reading questions. The difficulty of sentence
completion questions increase as you
move through the section.
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Sentence CompletionStrategies
Answer a sentence completionquestion with two blanks by focusingfirst on one of the two blanks.
If one of the words in answer choiceis logically wrong, then you caneliminate the entire choice from
consideration.
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Sentence Completion Example
Hoping to ------ the dispute, negotiatorsproposed a compromise that they feltwould be ------ to both labor and
management.(A) enforce. .useful(B) end. . divisive(C) overcome. . unattractive
(D) extend. . satisfactory(E) resolve. . acceptable
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Passage-Based Questions Measure your ability to read and think critically about several
different passage ranging in length from about 100 to 800words.
Passages are taken from a variety of fields including thehumanities, social studies, natural sciences, and literary fiction.
They vary in style and can include narrative, argumentative, andexpository elements.
Some selections consist of a pair of related passages on ashared issue or theme; in some questions, you are asked to
compare and contrast these passages.
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Types of Questions about the Passage
Vocabulary in context Ask you to determine the meaning of words from
their context in the reading
Literal comprehension Assess your understanding of significant information
directly stated in the passage
Extended reasoning Measure your ability to synthesize and analyze
information as well as to evaluate the assumptions madeand the techniques used by the author
Most of the reading questions fall into this category You may be asked to identify cause and effect, make
inferences, recognize a main idea or an authors tone, orfollow the logic of an analogy or an argument.
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Passage-Based
Reading Questions Do not increase in difficulty from easy to hard.Instead, they follow the logic of the passage.
Information you need to answer each reading questionis ALWAYS in the passage(s). Dont be misled by an answer that looks correct but is not
supported by the actual txt of the passage(s).
Reading questions often include line numbers to help
direct you to relevant part(s) of the passage.
Do not jump from passage to passage. Stay with apassage until you have answered as many questions as
you can before you proceed to the next passage.
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Mathematics Section
Contains two types of questions Standard multiple choice (44 questions)
Student-produced response questionsthat provide no answer choices (10questions) On the HSA these were called grid ins
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Strategies for the
Mathematics Section Familiarize yourself with the directionsahead of time.
The test does NOT require you to
memorize formulas. Commonly used formulas are provided in the
test book at the beginning of eachmathematics section.
It is up to you to decide which formula isappropriate for a given problem.
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Strategies for the
Mathematics Section Read the problem carefully. Note key words that tell you what the
problem is asking. Ask yourself the following questions
before you solve each problem:
What is the question asking? What do I know?
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Strategies for the
Mathematics Section With some problems, it may be useful to draw asketch or diagram of the given information.
Use the test book for scratch paper. Decide when to use a calculator. For multiple choice questions, you may want to
refer to the answer choices before you determineyour answer.
Eliminate choices.
Make sure your answer is a reasonable answer tothe question asked. Especially true for student-produced answer choices.
All figures are drawn to scale unless otherwiseindicated.
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Grid-In Guidelines
Answers are NOT multiple choice Written in a grid as numerical values
All fractions should be expressed as improperfractions, not mixed numbers
Start the answer in the left-most grid column Never forget to fill in the bubbles as well aswriting the number at the top of the grid
Always guess on this section You are not penalized for a wrong answer in this section
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Calculator Tips
Remember to bring your calculator to the test and befamiliar with how to use the calculator you bring.
Make sure it is in good working order and containsfresh batteries.
Dont buy an expensive, sophisticated calculator justto take the test.
Dont try to use a calculator on every question.
Get your thoughts down before using your calculator.
Take the practice test with a calculator at hand.
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Mathematics Topics on
the SAT Number and Operations (20-25%) Arithmetic word problems
Including percent, ratio andproportion
Properties of integers Even, odd, prime numbers,
divisibility, etc. Rational numbers Sets
Union, intersection, elements Counting techniques Sequences and series (including
exponential growth) Elementary number theory
Algebra and Functions (35-40%) Substitution and simplifying
algebraic expressions Properties of exponents Algebraic word problems Solutions of linear equations and
inequalities Systems of equations and
inequalities Quadratic equations Rational and radical equations Equations of lines Absolute value Direct and inverse variation Concepts of algebraic functions Newly defined symbols based on
commonly used operations
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Mathematics Topics on
the SAT Geometry and Measurement (25-30%) Area and perimeter of a polygon
Area and circumference of acircle
Volume of a box, cube andcylinder
Pythagorean Theorem and specialproperties of isosceles,equilateral, and right triangles
Properties of parallel andperpendicular lines
Coordinate geometry
Geometric visualization
Slope
Similarity
Transformations
Data Analysis, Statistics, andProbability (10-15%)
Data interpretation (tables andgraphs)
Descriptive statistics (mean, median
and mode) Probability
h
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The Writing Section
Writing section includes: Multiple choice questions
Improving sentences (25 questions) Identifying sentence errors (18 questions) Improving paragraphs (6 questions)
Writing an essay
Essay counts 30% of your total score in thewriting section
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The Essay
Need to show effectively you can develop and expressideas Take care to develop your point of view, present your ideas
logically and clearly, and use language precisely
Must be written on the lines provided in the answerbook Avoid wide margins and keep your handwriting to a
reasonable size Write or print so that the writing is legible to scorers
Must use a pencil if written in ink it will receive ascore An off-topic essay will receive a score of zero If your essay does not reflect your original and
individual work, your test scores may be canceled
S l E P t
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Sample Essay Prompt
Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the
assignment below.
Many persons believe that to move up the ladder of success andachievement, they must forget the past, repress it, and relinquish it. Butothers have just the opposite view. They see old memories as a chance toreckon with the past and integrate past and present.
Adapted from Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot,
Ive Known Rivers: Lives of Loss and LiberationAssignment: Do memories hind or help people in their effort to learn fromthe past and succeed in the present? Plan and write an essay in which youdevelop your point of view on this issue. Support your position withreasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience or
observations.
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Tackling the Essay Decide if you agree or disagree with the essay
prompt and write your thesis. Take 5 minutes to outline your essay response. Essay should consist of 4-5 paragraphs
An introduction One paragraph each detailing 2 or 3 different examples
that support your thesis A conclusion
Try to use one example fromliterature/history/current events and your own
personal experience Make sure you allow time for proofreading
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Final Preparations SLEEP
Eat breakfast Use a reliable alarm clock and have a back up Be aware of traffic and other potential delays Things to take with you to the test
Admission ticket, acceptable photo ID, number 2 pencils with a gooderaser, calculator with fresh batteries
Snacks (to eat during braeks), a watch (without an audible alarm), abackpack or bag (to be kept under the seat), and extra batteries DO NOT BRING
Any electronic device, scratch paper, notes, books, a dictionary,compass, protractor, or ruler. NO CELL PHONES!!
Highlighter or colored pencils
Portable listening device or recording device Camera
Arrive early to select a seat you are comfortable sitting in for thetest
If you are easily distracted dont sit near the door or testadministrator