Introduction to the SAT


The 5 W’s
Who,what,where,when,why?If you are taking the SAT this year, these are the most important questions you need
answered. This book will provide you with the answers to these questions. There’s one more big question, how-
ever, and that is how, as in “How do I ace the SAT?” In Chapter 3 of this book, you will review the skills you need
to ace the Critical Reading section of the SAT. Chapter 4 covers essential math skills, and Chapter 5 will give you
all the information you need to know about the Writing section. Every chapter in this book, however, will be use-
ful in your quest to maximize your SAT scores, so read them all carefully.

Who Takes the SAT?
Most college-bound high school students take the SAT, approximately two million every year. If misery loves com-
pany, you must be feeling pretty good right now! Hang in there, though. By the time you finish this book, your
misery will be history. It will be replaced with the confidence that you are going to shine on the SAT.
CHAPTER
Introduction
to the SAT
1
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
Who Makes the SAT?
The College Board is an association of colleges and
schools that makes the exam. It retains the Educational
Testing Service (ETS
®
) to develop and administer the
SAT. You may already be familiar with ETS; they also
write and administer the Advanced Placement (AP
®
)
tests as well as the PSAT/NMSQT

®
you may have taken
as a junior and/or sophomore. The ETS has a distinc-
tive style of writing five-choice (or multiple-choice) and
grid-in questions, which makes it easy to describe and
analyze the kinds of questions you are likely to see on
the SAT. However, the essay portion of the Writing
section will require a different type of preparation than
the other kinds of questions. This book will prepare you
for all types of SAT questions.

What Is the SAT?
The SAT is one of the main standardized tests colleges
use to evaluate reading, writing, and mathematical
skills in prospective students. Another test, the Amer-
ican College Testing (ACT) Program Assessment, is
designed primarily to measure what you’ve learned in
various academic subjects, while the SAT aims prima-
rily to measure the critical thinking skills you will find
useful in your academic career. Naturally, members of
the College Board (and others) believe that possessing
these skills will help you perform better in your higher
education. That’s why you’re smart to be using this
book. You are developing your intellectual assets, mak-
ing yourself look more attractive to the colleges you’re
interested in, and giving yourself a head start on your
college career.
You may also be planning to take one or more of
the SAT II™ subject tests. These exams test your knowl-
edge of specific subjects, such as history, the sciences,

and languages, and are based on what you have learned
in school rather than on your test-taking skills.

What Is the SAT Used For?
Colleges use your SAT scores as part of an evaluation
process to decide whether you will be a good addition
to their student body. Look at the preceding sentence
again. What word leaps out at you? It’s the word part.
What other things do colleges look at? The short
answer is everything. The good news for students who
don’t have perfect grade point averages and who may
not have perfect SAT scores is that colleges look at indi-
viduals, not just at scores and grades. Are you an ath-
lete? Of course colleges consider that. Are you a
performer—a dancer or an actor? Colleges want peo-
ple who can contribute to campus cultural life. Are
you active in your community as a volunteer? Colleges
know that high school students who contribute to their
communities also are positive members of college com-
munities. Do you love literature but can’t bring your-
self to study anything else? College admissions
committees know that even Einstein flunked a math
course or two.
The important thing is for you to present yourself
as a strong candidate for admission by letting your best
qualities shine through in your application. Think of a
photographer shooting a still-life scene, arranging all
the different elements of the picture to make them look
as interesting as possible and adjusting the light to
bring out the best in the objects she captures on film.

When presenting yourself to colleges, show yourself in
the best possible light, and don’t forget to highlight all
the qualities that make you who you are. They are
looking for all kinds of people to make up a diverse stu-
dent body. So, don’t sweat the SAT. Getting nervous
about it won’t help you anyway. As long as you follow
through with your plan to prepare for it, your score can
help you become an attractive candidate.
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INTRODUCTION TO THE SAT
–
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What Do Colleges Want?
Colleges are increasingly looking for a diverse student body. Think about how you might fit in to that mix.
What are your strong points?
➧ Artist—visual or performing
➧ Leader—student government or other organization
➧ Athlete—even in lesser-known sports
➧ Social—if you have lots of friends, you’re probably a leader, too
➧ Academic—of course, especially if you excel in one subject
➧ Community Service—volunteer work tells colleges that you are committed to making a difference in the
lives of others
➧ Other—what do you love to do? That’s a strong point!
3

When Do I Take the SAT?
The SAT is offered several times a year, on Saturday
mornings. You can obtain a schedule online or at your
high school guidance office. You may register and take

the exam as often as you wish. Most colleges will not
hold an earlier lower score against you, and some will
be impressed by a substantially improved score. On
the other hand, you may have already decided to just do
as well as you can the first time around, and you’ve
taken your first step by buying this book.

Where Is the SAT Given?
Many high school and college campuses host SAT ses-
sions. When you register, you will be given a list of
sites in your local area, and you can pick one that is
comfortable and convenient for you.

Where Do I Sign Up for the SAT?
You can register for the SAT online at www.college
board.com. The College Board website also provides
other college-related services, some free and some for a
fee. Your high school guidance office is another place you
can obtain registration forms and information.
Upcoming Test Dates in 2006
➧ January 28, 2006 (register by January 4, 2006)
➧ April 1, 2006 (register by March 8, 2006)
➧ May 6, 2006 (register by April 12, 2006)
➧ June 3, 2006 (register by May 10, 2006)
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
How Do I Maximize My Score
on the SAT?
Have you heard the saying about the three most impor-
tant things in real estate? Location, location, location.

The corresponding answer to your question about how
to do well on the SAT is: prepare, prepare, prepare.
You do that by gathering information (reading this
book is an excellent first step) and then by practicing
your SAT skills.
Now that the answers to your basic questions are
out of the way, let’s examine the test in more depth.

What Exactly Does the
SAT Test?
The SAT tests your critical thinking skills, more specif-
ically, the ones you will need to succeed in college. Of
course, there are other skills tested, specifically vocab-
ulary, reading comprehension, math computation, and
writing strategies. You can dramatically improve your
scores on the exam by carefully studying the exam
itself. This book will help you prepare in all of these
areas.

How Long Is the SAT?
You will have three hours and forty-five minutes to
complete the SAT. In addition to the time actually spent
testing, though, you will get two or three five- to ten-
minute breaks between sections of the exam, and you
will spend additional time filling out forms. Overall,
you can expect to be at the testing location for about
four and a half hours.

What Is on the SAT?
The SAT has approximately 160 questions divided into

nine test sections. There are:
■
3 critical reading sections (two 25-minute sections
and one 20-minute section)
■
3 math sections (two 25-minute sections and one
20-minute section)
■
3 writing sections (one 25-minute multiple-
choice section, one 10-minute multiple-choice
section, and one 25-minute essay)
Your scores on these nine sections make up your
total SAT score, which is worth 2,400 points. In addi-
tion, there is one more section—either critical reading,
multiple-choice writing, or math—that is used as an
experimental, or equating, section that does not count
toward your SAT score. Thus, you will have a total of
ten sections on test day. The first section will always be
the 25-minute essay, and the last will always be the
10-minute multiple-choice writing section. The other
sections can appear in any order in between. There is
absolutely no way to determine which of the test sec-
tions is the experimental section, so it is important to
do your very best on every part of the test.
Most of the questions on the SAT are in a five-
choice multiple-choice format. The exceptions are the
essay and the math grid-ins, questions for which you
must generate your own answers and enter them in
grids on your answer sheet. The ten grid-in questions
and the essay are the only questions on the SAT that

don’t show you a list of possible answer choices. You
will learn about grid-ins in Chapter 4 and about the
essay in Chapter 5. The good news is that about 160
questions give you the correct answer. You just have to
determine which of the answers is the right one. Chap-
ters 3, 4, and 5 contain lots of strategies for choosing the
correct answer from the choices provided by the SAT
test-makers.
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INTRODUCTION TO THE SAT
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Critical Reading Questions
There are three critical reading sections: two 25-
minute sections and one 20-minute section. There are
three types of critical reading questions: sentence
completions, passage-length critical reading questions,
and paragraph-length critical reading questions. All of
them are multiple-choice questions with five answer
choices, a–e. In Chapter 3 of this book, you will find
detailed discussions of all three types of critical read-
ing questions, including sample questions and lots of
strategies for choosing the correct answer.
Sentence Completion questions test your vocab-
ulary and your ability to follow the logic of complicated
sentences. Each of these questions has either one or two
blanks within a single sentence. Often, the sentences are
long and difficult to follow, but with practice, you can
learn to master them. There are approximately nineteen

of these questions.
Passage-Length Critical Reading questions test
your understanding of fairly difficult passages, such as
those you might encounter in college. The passages,
typically several hundred words in length, are drawn
from writings in the humanities, social sciences, and
natural sciences. You will have to analyze the passages in
sophisticated ways, such as making inferences from the
authors’ statements, interpreting rhetorical and stylis-
tic devices, and selecting the correct meaning of one of
the words used. Again, practice will make perfect—or
nearly so. By the time you finish this book, you will
understand how best to approach these questions. That’s
a good thing, because there are about forty of them on
the SAT.
Paragraph-Length Critical Reading questions test
your ability to analyze shorter texts. Most passages will
be 100–200 words long, followed by two to five ques-
tions—a sharp contrast to the half dozen or more ques-
tions that follow the long reading comprehension
passages. Like the reading comprehension passages,
these texts will contain college-level material, and you
will be asked about a range of reading comprehension
issues. Also, every SAT will have at least one (or more)
pair of related short passages. You can expect there to be
about eight paragraph-length critical reading questions
on the exam.
Math Questions
There are three math sections on the SAT: two 25-
minute sections and one 20-minute section. There are

two types of math questions: five-choice and grid-ins.
For the grid-ins, you come up with the answer yourself
instead of choosing from a list of possible answers.
Chapter 4 of this book will prepare you for the math on
the SAT. You will be able to practice the kinds of ques-
tions on the exam and brush up on the math skills
tested. There are also numerous strategies for answer-
ing questions correctly.
The good news about the math on the SAT is that
it is not necessary to have aced every math class you’ve
ever taken to do well on the test. Nor do you have to
remember a lot of formulas from geometry. The SAT is
designed to test how well you can apply the formulas,
as well as how well you can work with them. In fact, the
ETS supplies you with a section of formulas relevant to
the problems you will be working on. Of course, you
still have to know what to do with the formulas, and
this book will help you. Note that the test contains
algebra II, but it does not include quantitative com-
parison questions.
For the multiple-choice math questions, you will
be given five answer choices. Questions are drawn from
the areas of arithmetic, geometry, statistics, and alge-
bra I and II; and you will be asked to apply skills in
those areas to the LOGICAL solution of a variety of
problems, many of them word problems. Remember:
Learn to notice a word in all capital letters, such as the
word logical here. If you can think logically, you can
prepare to do well on the math portion of the SAT.
About 80% of the questions on the math section will be

multiple choice.
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INTRODUCTION TO THE SAT
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