General Strategies For Taking The SAT: 3trategy

Strategy !
:
Dont rush into getting an answer without
thinking. Be careful if your answer comes
too easily, especially if the question is toward
the end of the section.
Beware of Choice A If You Get the Answer
Fast or Without Really Thinking
Everybody panics when they take an exam
like the SAT. And what happens is that they
rush into getting answers. Thats OK, except
that you have to think carefully. If a prob-
lem looks too easy, beware! And, especially
beware of the Choice A answer. Its usually a
lure choice for those who rush into getting
an answer without crit ically thinking about
it. Heres an example:
Did you subtract 7:07 from 8:08 and get
1 hour and 1 minute (61 minutes)? If you
did you probably chose Choice A: the lure
choice. Thinkdo you really believe that
the test maker would give you such an easy
question? The fact that you figured it out
so easily and saw that Choice A was your
answer should make you think twice. The
thing you have to realize is that there is
another possibility: 12:12 to 1:01 gives 49
minutes, and so Choice E is correct.
So, in summary, if you get the answer fast
and without doing much thinking, and its a
Choice A answer, think again. You may have
fallen for the Choice A lure.
Note: Choice A is often a lure choice
for those who quickly get an answer with-
out doing any real thinking. However, you
should certainly realize that Choice A
answers can occur, especially if there is no
lure choice.
Strategy 2:
Know and learn the directions to the ques-
tion types before you take the actual test.
Never Spend Time Reading Directions
During the Test or Doing Sample Questions
That Dont Count
All SATs are standardized. For example, all
the Regular Math questions have the same
directions from test to test as do the Math
General Strategies for Taking the SAT
Before studying the fourteen specific strategies for the Math questions p.(247), you will find
it useful to review the following five General Strategies for taking the Math SAT.
Below is a picture of a digital clock.
The clock shows that the time is 6:06.
Consider all the times on the clock where
the hour digit is the same as the minute
digit like in the clock shown below.
Another such double time would be
8:08 or 9:09. What is the smallest time
period between any two such doubles?
(A) 61 minutes
(B) 60 minutes
(C) 58 minutes
6 : 06
(D) 50 minutes
(E) 49 minutes
24S - GPLB!P'S COMP!!T! SAT MATH WOPKBOOK
Grid-In questions. So its a good idea to
learn these sets of directions and familiar-
ize yourself with their types of questions
early in the game before you take your
actual SAT.
For an example of a set of Grid-In type
directions see p. 249.
If on your actual test you spend time
reading these directions and/or answering
the sample question, you will waste valuable
time.
Strategy 3:
It may be wiser not to leave an answer
blank.
The Penalty for Guessing Is Much Smaller
Than You Might Expect
On the SAT you lose a percentage of
points if you guess and get the wrong
answer. Of course, you should always try
to eliminate choices. Youll find that, after
going through this book, youll have a
better chance of eliminating wrong answers,
However, if you cannot eliminate any
choice in a question and have no idea of
how to arrive at an answer, you might want
to pick any answer and go on to the next
question.
There are two reasons for this:
1. You dont want to risk mismarking a
future answer by leaving a previous
answer blank.
2. Even though there is a penalty for guess-
ing, the pen alty is much smaller than you
might expect, and this way you have at
least a chance of getting the question
right. Suppose, for example, that you
have a five-choice question:
From a probabilistic point of view, it is very
likely that you would get one choice right
and four wrong (you have a 1 in 5 chance of
getting a five-choice question right) if you
randomly guess at the answers. Since
1
4

point is taken off for each wrong five-choice
question, youve gotten 1
1
4
4 0
points, because youve gotten 1 ques-
tion right and 4 wrong. Thus you break
even. So the moral is whether you
randomly guess at questions youre not
sure of at all or whether you leave those
question answers blank; it doesnt make a
difference in the long run!
Strategy 4:
Write as much as you want in your test
booklet.
Test Booklets Arent GradedSo Use Them
As You Would Scrap Paper
Many students are afraid to mark up their
test book lets. But, the booklets are not
graded! Make any marks you want. In fact,
some of the strategies demand that you
extend or draw lines in geometry ques-
tions or label diagrams, or circle incorrect
answers, etc. Thats why when I see com-
puter programs that show only the ques-
tions on a screen and prevent the student
from marking a diagram or circling an
answer, I realize that such programs pre-
vent the student from using many powerful
strategies. So write all you want on your test
bookletuse your test paper as you would
scrap paper.
Strategy 5:
Use your own coding system to tell you
which questions to return to.
If You Have Extra Time after Completing a Test
Section, Youll Know Exactly Which Questions
Need More Attention
When you are sure that you have
answered a question correctly, mark your
question paper with . For questions you
are not sure of but for which you have
eliminated some of the choices, use ?.
For questions that youre not sure of at
all or for which you have not been able
to eliminate any choices, use ??. This will
give you a birds-eye view of what ques-
tions you should return to, if you have
time left after completing a particular
test section.
COMP!!T! T!M!-SAV!^G STPAT!G!!S A^D SHOPTCLTS - 249

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