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 The SAT Will Be Going Online 9 Signing Up Before Sitting Down: Registering for the SAT 9 How to register 9 When to take the test 10 Special Needs Considerations 11 Learning disabilities 11 Physical issues 11 Financial help 12 Making the SAT Work for You as a Foreign Student 12 Examining Your Mind: What the SAT Really Looks For 13 Scoring on the SAT 14 Types of scores 14 Score reporting 14 Chapter 2: Strategies for Success 17 Starting Early: The Long-Term Phase 17 Moving Along: The Medium-Term Phase 18 Getting Closer: The Short-Range Phase 19 Planning It Out: What to Do the Night Before Your SAT 20 It''s All You: What to Do the Morning of Your SAT 20 Bringing the right stuff 20 Taking control of the tension 21 Starting off 22 Focusing during the test 22 Pacing yourself 22 It Isn''t You: Testing Under Adverse Conditions 23 Part 2: Taking on the SAT Reading Test 25 Chapter 3: Knowing the SAT Reading Test 27 Understanding the Reading Test 27 Managing Your Time with Key Strategies 28 Getting Each Question Right, Quickly, with More Key Strategies 29 Answering the Best-Evidence Questions 30 Putting the Strategies to Use 31 Starting with the line-number questions 31 Continuing with the detail questions 32 Ending with the inference and main idea questions 32 Taking on the Reading Passages 34 Distancing with social studies 34 Blinding me with science 36 Saving the literature for last 38 Chapter 4: Practicing the SAT Reading Test 41 Social Studies Passages 42 Passage I Answers 45 Passage II Answers 48 Science Passages 49 Passage III Answers 51 Passage IV Answers 54 Literature Passage 55 Passage V Answers 57 Part 3: Handling the Writing and Language Test and Writing a Killer Essay 59 Chapter 5: Gearing Up for the Writing and Language Test 61 Getting to Know the Writing and Language Test 61 Managing Your Time with Simple Strategies 62 Answering the easy questions before the hard questions 62 Using the 9-minute rule, with a wristwatch 62 Nailing the Common Questions 63 Starting with grammar and punctuation 63 Getting vocabulary in context 64 Writing with style, logic, and organization 65 Killing It Softly: The SAT Grammar Review 67 Verb matching 67 Easing verb tension 68 Parallel writing 69 Casing pronouns 69 Using punctuation 70 Wording in context 70 Answers 73 Taking It Further 73 Chapter 6: Practicing the Writing and Language Test 75 Passage I 75 Passage I Answers 78 Passage II 79 Passage II Answers 82 Passage III 83 Passage III Answers 85 Passage IV 86 Passage IV Answers 89 Chapter 7: Preparing for the Essay 91 Deciding Whether to Write the Essay 91 Knowing the Assignment 92 Knowing What the Essay Scorers Look For 92 Getting Started 94 Identifying Other Persuasive Techniques 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 Your Essay 105 Practice Essay I -- Momentum: Igniting Social Change 105 Reading the prompt 105 Constructing your essay 107 Scoring your essay 109 Practice Essay II -- Addressing Mathematical Innumeracy 109 Reading the prompt 109 Constructing the essay 110 Scoring your essay 112 Practice Essay III -- Nonsexist Language 112 Reading the prompt 112 Constructing the essay 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 Gridding Your Answers 121 Getting Familiar with the Math Tests 122 Chapter 10: Simplifying Numbers and Operations 125 Simplifying the Basics 125 Starting with types of numbers 125 Using order of operations 127 Simplifying Numbers and Operations 128 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 142 Chapter 11: Solving 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 150 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 172 Graphing an inequality 174 Graphing a parabola 175 Graphing a circle 179 Graphing a function 181 Chapter 12: Drawing 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: Measuring Statistics and Probability 213 Measuring the Mean, Median, and Mode 213 Measuring the mean 213 Measuring the median and mode 214 Measuring the range 215 Measuring 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 Scoring your essay 349 Answer Key 350 Chapter 18: How Did You Do? Scoring Your Practice SAT 353 Finding Your Reading and Writing Score 353 Finding Your Math Test Score 357 Finding Your Killer Essay Score 359 Recording Your Final Scores 359 First practice exam 359 Second practice exam 359 Third practice exam 360 Fourth practice exam 360 Part 6: The Part of Tens 361 Chapter 19: Ten Mistakes That Others Make That You Won''t 363 You Won''t Forget Your Wristwatch 363 You Won''t Bubble Everything at the End 364 You Won''t Let Your Calculator Batteries Die 364 You Won''t Run Out of Steam 364 You Won''t Forget Snacks and Water 364 You Won''t Work the Reading Test Questions in Order 364 You Won''t Rush Through the Questions 365 You Won''t Get Stuck on a Question 365 You Won''t Choke on the Essay 365 You Won''t Ch.