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Taking the March 11 SAT? Here Are Some Last Minute Tips.

2/25/2017

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First, you have about a week until the test, so definitely TAKE AN ENTIRE PRACTICE SAT UNDER TIMED CONDITIONS, INCLUDING THE ESSAY. You need to practice under real conditions, to know if you're taking too much time on each question. Here are some tips specific to each section.

Math:
First, memorize most, if not all, the “Math Facts” in the box they give you at the beginning of every SAT math section. It’s not going to be disastrous if you don’t know the formula for, say, the volume of a square-based pyramid, but it probably will be disastrous if you really don’t know the formula for the area of a triangle, circle, or square, since looking these facts up can slow you down by a number of seconds, and maybe even a minute or so, on a test where you shouldn’t take more than about 1.25 minutes (1 minute, 15 seconds) on each problem. If you have to look up a formula more than once or twice, you’re likely to run out of time and miss problems you otherwise would have solved.

Also, know your polynomial identities. What is the “difference of squares?” If you can’t answer that question, LOOK IT UP. Here’s a link. http://study.com/academy/lesson/what-are-polynomial-identities.html

That link also lists the other main identities, such as the equivalents for (a+b) squared, and (a-b) squared and the quadratic formula, which they DO NOT give you and you’ll need to know for quadratic equations you can’t factor.  I guarantee you’ll need the quadratic formula for at least one SAT math problem, and the identities for several problems.

I also suggest you know how the powers of i (the “imaginary unit”) work. For example, how do you find i to the 2345th power? It’s simple – divide the exponent by 2345 by 4, take the remainder, and i(remainder) is the same as i to the 2345th or whatever power you choose. Here’s a useful video on this.  https://www.khanacademy.org/math/algebra2/introduction-to-complex-numbers-algebra-2/the-imaginary-numbers-algebra-2/v/calculating-i-raised-to-arbitrary-exponents

In this instance, 2345/4 is 586.25, as I found out using a calculator (Do NOT do long division by hand on the SAT – you probably haven’t done long division by hand since about 5th grade, and you’re likely to make a mistake). So, using a calculator, divide the exponent by 4, subtract the whole number value from the result (in this case, 586), and take the remainder (0.25), and multiply it by the divisor (4 in this case). 0.25 times 4 is 1. So the value of i2345is equal to i1, which is of course just i.

Writing Test:
Review the use of commas, dashes, semicolons, colons, and connecting words (For, And, Not, But, Or, Yet, So – aka “FANBOYS”), logical comparisons (e.g., “My car is faster than any car” wouldn’t make sense, because it would mean your car is faster than itself), misplaced modifiers (“One time in Africa, I shot an elephant in my pajamas… how it got into my pajamas, I’ll never know!” is an old Groucho Marx joke that’s funny when we see it’s grammatically correct – he really meant the elephant was in his pajamas!), and general sentence and paragraph placement (does the passage make the most sense with the paragraphs and sentences in the order given, or should it be changed?), the correct interpretation of graph and chart data, and so on. In the case of graphs, make sure you know what you’re looking at, and make sure the answer choice is actually supported by the graph, not your inferences about the graph – if a graph shows airplanes use fuel less efficiently when they go faster than a given speed, you should choose an answer stating that fact, but you shouldn’t choose an answer that says the loss of efficiency is caused by increase wind resistance if it’s not mentioned in the graph. The latter answer may be correct if another question asks you which explanation for the phenomenon is the most reasonable, especially if wind resistance is mentioned in the passage, but you will need factual support, just as in the reading section.

Reading Test:
Just generally follow the rules I’ve laid out in my previous blog posts, and what you’ve read in your SAT review materials. Avoid extreme answers (“Always” or “never” answers are usually wrong); make sure you see where there is support for your answer in the passage (the SAT folks LOVE to give you answer choices that make sense, and may even be factually correct regarding the subject matter in the passage, but ARE NOT IN THE PASSAGE).

Essay:
See my earlier entries on ethos, pathos, logos, and the “dos” and “don’ts” of the SAT essay. The main point is you’re just showing how the author’s argument works, not arguing for or against the author’s point. State EVERYTHING you know about the tactics the author is using – even, hey, ESPECIALLY, the obvious ones. SAT essay graders will assume you’re an idiot, because they don’t know you. That means you don’t get credit for anything you didn’t state (that’s awful), but you can get credit for writing things your teachers might dismiss as “painfully obvious” (that’s great!).
Good luck!

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Taking the ACT on February 11?

2/4/2017

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SPECIAL NEW CUSTOMER OFFER: Free 30-minute diagnostic session. Limited spots. 415-623-4251.

I will be out of town from February 8 until the 13th, but for those of you staying in town to take the ACT, here’s some last minute advice. If you’ve read my other blog entries, this will seem very repetitive, because it is. I am not going to apologize for that. 
​
English test:

First of all, make sure you know your grammar.  When do you use dashes, commas, semicolons, and colons? What’s the difference between an adjective and an adverb?

Adjectives modify nouns (“the cool car” – “cool” is an adjective), and adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs (“The cool car moved quickly.” “Quickly” is the adverb.) Commas set off non-essential information from sentences. (E.g., "My car, which is black, is parked over there." The phrase "which is black" is not essential, since the sentence would still make sense if you took it out, so it is set off in commas. Semicolons are used to connect two independent clauses; that is, two clauses that would be sentences on their own. Colons are used to set off lists or to emphasize a thought at the end of a sentence, as in "Remember the three important things in real estate: location, location, and location!" Dashes can work in the place of commas, semicolons, or colons, When they are used as commas to set off a non-essential clause, always remember that whatever you use to set off the clause at the beginning should be the same thing you use at the end. For example, "I liked candy when I was a child - I suppose saying I was obsessed with candy would be more accurate -so I spent my whole allowance on candy every week." Notice that commas could be used where the dashes are, but it would be wrong to put a comma before "1" and then a dash after "accurate."

If you’re having trouble remembering grammar and punctuation rules, don’t panic. Just use your common sense when you’re taking the English test, and you’ll do fine. If it sounds stupid, it’s probably wrong. Also, you should pick the shortest answer choice that makes sense. The old joke “The three most important things in real estate are location, location, and location” would be a wrong choice on the ACT, since it would be considered wordy and redundant, despite the obvious humor and style.
Make sure you read the questions carefully. I know that sounds obvious, but some of the questions have four answer choices that make sense and are grammatically correct, but the questions ask you which choice would best serve the a given purpose (e.g. “Which choice would be best if the author wanted to inform the audience about fire hazards in pine forests?”).

Finally, make sure you understand the structure of the passage when you read it – there will be at least one question that asks you where a sentence or paragraph should go, so ask yourself “Would this be a good introduction, body paragraph, or conclusion? Is there a sentence that leads into this one, or would this logically come first?” You might notice, before you even get to a question, that the order doesn’t make sense – for example, it discusses something as though you’ve already been introduced to it – for example “That’s the reason my brother doesn’t like peaches anymore” wouldn’t make sense as an introductory sentence.

Reading Test:

Try looking at the questions, then looking for the answers in the passage. The ACT is a speed test, so it pays to “cut to the chase” and look only for the information they want. Scan the passage for the words in the questions and the answers, but look out for what I call “sucker punch answers.”

You may not be able to look at the questions first when you look at a prose fiction passage, since tone and attitude questions are harder to answer, and the main point is also harder to find, without reading the whole passage.
That brings me to an important point – read the passages that deal with things that interest you, or things you understand well, before trying to tackle passages about things you really don’t like or don’t understand. It only takes a few seconds to flip through the section to find a passage you like.

 If you’re a little mischievous, take heart in the knowledge that someone else will freak out by seeing you flip through the exam as though it’s no big deal. Seriously, when I took one important multiple-choice test, another test-taker came up to me during the break and exclaimed “You could at least LOOK NERVOUS! You were just flipping through the test!” I was busy and nervous enough; I just figured it was a good idea to look for easy questions and do those first. I found an easy question at the very end of the test. 

Math Test:

As I’ve posted before, you should know the basic formulas, as given in the SAT’s “Math Facts” at the beginning of each section. The ACT doesn’t give those to you. You should also know how to do right-triangle trigonometry (SOH-CAH-TOA or (sin) Oscar/Has (cos) A/Headache (tan) Over/Algebra) and how to figure out the amplitude and period of a trigonometric function. See, for example, https://www.mathway.com/examples/trigonometry/graphing-trigonometric-functions/amplitude-period-and-phase-shift?id=342 . It would also help to understand matrix multiplication and addition, although that’s not going to be in more than one or two questions on the test. 

See my previous posts about the ACT for links to websites on that. You should also understand exponents (see my YouTube video “Everything You’ve Always Wanted to Know About Exponents”) and logarithms (see http://www.purplemath.com/modules/logs.htm for the definition of a logarithm and http://www.rapidtables.com/math/algebra/logarithm/Logarithm_Rules.htm for the rules of logarithms). You should also know the powers of i, the imaginary number (Hint : i4 =1, so for large powers of i, divide the exponent by 4, then take i to the power of the remainder), and how to multiply complex numbers.

Science Test:

Similarly to the reading test, you should do the sections covering familiar topics first, and you DEFINITELY should read the questions before reading the passage. Most of your answers will come from the graphs and charts in the passage, so reading the text outside the passage should be a last resort. Luckily, science reports are arranged in order to make it easy to get the information you need without reading the whole passage (e.g., there’s an introduction, a section describing the experimental design, and another section describing the results). Your outside science knowledge will help you here – while the ACT people have stated that you don’t have to know the science about which the passages are written in order to do well on the science section, you DO need to know some basic science to get all the questions right. Some questions will require you to know the charge of protons, neutrons, and electrons, what photosynthesis is, and so on.

Essay:
The ACT essay will ask you to write on a topic given to you – usually a topic relating to current events. You will be presented with three perspectives on that issue, which you will have to compare and contrast. You will then have to write about your own perspective on the issue – do you agree with one of the three perspectives, or do you have your own perspective?

Given the current events of the last year or so (most notably the Presidential election), I wouldn’t be surprised if the essay topic involved the balancing of the policies of promoting free speech and limiting hate speech and threats – that is, while in the U.S. , the First Amendment to the Constitution prohibits the government from punishing pure speech, but “hate speech” laws prohibit language intended to harass people based on their race, sex, religion, and the like. How do we balance them?

One perspective might be “Free speech means just that. The government should not limit any speech, no matter how offensive or supposedly harmful an opinion may be. Bad ideas are sorted out from good ones all the time without any government action. Offensive or foolish speech can be counteracted with more speech that shows why the original speech is foolish.”

Another might read “Hate speech laws exist to protect minorities and other vulnerable segments of the population. Every genocide or similar atrocity has its roots in hate speech being aimed at that group, which makes the group appear subhuman, which makes it acceptable in the minds of the masses. Then the atrocities begin. Therefore, it is critical that hate speech be prohibited, even if that prohibition infringes on free speech in some way.”

The third perspective may be “Free speech requires that even hate speech should be protected up to the extent that it is not an incitement to violence against the group targeted by the speech. However, as soon as the speech becomes an obvious threat or an immediate incitement to violence, it can and should be stopped.  As the old saying goes, my right to swing my fist ends where your jaw begins.”

You can practice with that prompt, or use ones from your ACT review book or from online ACT review pages. I’d suggest you do at least one essay in 40 minutes (i.e. under timed conditions) before the test. Ideally, you should take an entire ACT under timed conditions. Also, see my other blog entries for suggestions to prepare for the actual test day. Good luck!

​
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​Regarding Campus Protests

2/3/2017

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I was in Berkeley, CA Wednesday night, going about my business, when I heard speech through loudspeakers. I couldn’t make out the words, since I was several blocks away, but the tone and manner of their delivery (and today’s political climate) made it clear that it was the police breaking up a protest. Someone later told me that there was, indeed, a protest on the UC Berkeley campus. Apparently a protest against Milo Yiannopoulos’ “Dangerous Faggot Tour” (no, seriously, that’s what he calls it) speech became violent, resulting in property damage, etc. Of course, Milo’s speech was canceled, since the police could not guarantee his safety, or the safety of those attending the speech or the protest. This led to President Trump threatening to revoke UC Berkeley’s federal funding via Twitter.  From the statements by UC officials, and the video I saw on the news, it looks like masked anarchists dressed in black caused most, if not all, of the actual violence and property damage, but it didn’t help that the protests created a perfect environment for violence to break out.
​
I’ve listened to Milo Yiannopoulos on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast (to Joe’s credit, he wasn’t buying most of what Milo had to say), and in various YouTube videos. Notice that I’m NOT saying “I listened to Milo so you don’t have to,” because I WANT you to listen to him.  The way you win against agitators/real-life trolls like him is to BEAT HIM AT HIS OWN GAME. See, if you let him provoke you into violence, he gets to argue “See? These so-called ‘liberals’ get pretty darned intolerant when someone doesn’t agree with them. I guess they’re left-wing in the same way Stalin was…” To put it another way, Milo’s game is like that of a little kid hitting his brother while riding in the back of the car, then yelling “MOM! BILLY HIT ME!” when his brother hits him back.
​
So how do you win? It’s simple. Protest peacefully outside his speech sites. DO NOT YELL. DO NOT USE VIOLENCE, except in actual physical self-defense. Send people in to the speech who (1) do not interrupt the speech in any way, and (2) wait until the question and answer session after the speech to ask Milo uncomfortable questions he can’t answer without looking bad or lying, then call him on his answers if they’re dishonest or evasive. It’s not easy – he’s a professional journalist with a lot of speech and debate experience, but certainly a decent student debater who’s well-prepared can do the job. Just watch his YouTube videos- there are many. If no one acts like an idiot, and Milo isn’t able to “own” (or “pwn” in Internet “l33t hax0r” lingo), there’s not much material for future “pwnage” (“ownage,” meaning one person completely dominated the argument, for those of you who wisely don’t spend much time on YouTube) or “rekt” (wrecked) videos. (I know, many of those videos are misleadingly titled, anyway – a spirited debate where both sides made good points and no one was the clear winner is often labeled ‘[Person the video poster likes] DESTROYS [the person the poster doesn’t like] in debate!” But I digress.)

Another, perhaps easier, method is JUST DON’T GO to speeches by Milo or anyone you find socially destructive, counterproductive, or just stupid and annoying. You see, even though Milo has bragged that he COULD afford to speak on campuses for free if student organizations wouldn’t pay for him to appear, he won’t.  I have no idea if he really can afford to spend his time making free speeches in support of free speech, but I don’t blame him for refusing to work for free. Most people won’t. And that’s how you win against such people. If practically no one shows up to hear a speaker, colleges will stop booking that speaker.  No one wants to waste money. There’s no violence or crazy threats to defund a university for things it can’t control; everyone just goes about his or her business. Everyone wins but the trolls!

Feel free to let me know what you think by commenting on this blog post or emailing me.
​
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    Author: John Linneball Who did you think? ;-) 

    I'm the proprietor and only tutor for this business; that's why I named it after me.

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