test taking strategies 1

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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

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