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

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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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