How the Test Is Scored

The SAT is scored in an unusual way. For every question you answer
correctly you receive 1 raw point. For every question you answer incorrectly
you lose of a point. For every question you leave blank you get 0 points.
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Look for the Wrong Answers Instead of the Right

Ones
Why? Because wrong answers are usually easier to find and there are more of
them.

Process of Elimination (POE)

Make an Educated Guess after POE

In fact, if you can eliminate even one incorrect choice on an SAT multiplechoice question, guessing from among the remaining choices will usually

improve your score. And if you can eliminate two or three choices, youll be
even more likely to improve your score by guessing.

For every question you answer correctly on the SAT, ETS will give you a
dollar. For every multiple-choice question you leave blank, ETS will give you
nothing. For every multiple-choice question you get wrong, you will have to
give 25 cents back to ETS. Thats exactly the way raw scores work.

ETS gives you a dollar for the one answer you got right; you give ETS a
quarter for each of the four questions you missed. Four quarters equal a
dollar, so you end up exactly where you started, with nothingwhich is the
same thing that would have happened if you had left all five questions blank.

Now, what happens if you guess on four questions, butfor each of those
questionsyou can eliminate one incorrect answer choice? Random odds say
you will get one question rightget a dollarand miss the other three
questionsgive back 75 cents. Youve just gained a quarter! So, guessing can
work in your favor.

If you are confident that you know the answer to a question or that you know
how to solve it, just go ahead and select an answer. If you are uncertain
about either the answer to a question or how to solve it, see if you can
eliminate any wrong answers.

Set a pacing goal to not fall into the raw score trap!

By attempting to answer all questions with the

same effort will lead to a raw score deduction
penalty.

Set a pacing goal for each section. The pacing goal will tell you how many
questions you need to answer for each section. Your goal is to answer that
number of questions.

Master the POE System to beat the Game!

take advantage of the order in which questions are asked
make better use of your time by scoring the easy points first
use the Average Joe principle to eliminate obviously incorrect choices
on difficult questions
find the traps that ETS has laid for you
turn those traps into points

Order of Attack
Think of each section as being divided into thirds. A third of the questions
should be easy. Most test takers get these questions right. Another third of the
questions are of medium difficulty. Nearly half of the people taking the test
get these questions right. The final third of the questions are difficult. Very
few test takers answer these questions correctly.
Because most test takers try to finish every section almost every test taker
hurts his or her score by rushing and making mistakes. The solution, for
almost anyone scoring less than 700 on a section, is to slow down.

Attempting fewer questions and devoting more time to questions one has a
better chance of answering correctly will improve ones score.
Make sure you SLOW DOWN and focus your energy on the easy and medium
questions before trying the difficult ones. Your job is to get the greatest
number of points in the least amount of time.

Verbal Exam:
Critical Reading 67 points
To get 600 need 46 raw points
All questions should be done, but time should be unequal
Focus heavily on doing the first two-thirds part of the section

Avoid the Average Joe answer choice pitfall!

On easy multiple-choice questions, the answers seem right to virtually
everyone
On medium multiple-choice questions, the answers seem right to high
scorers, wrong to low scorers, and sometimes right and sometimes
wrong to average scorers.
On hard multiple-choice questions, the answers seem right to high
scorers and wrong to everyone else.

Strategy:
Easy- Choose the one that you feel and know is right
Medium- Cross out the obviously wrong one, and try not to choose the
answer that is mentioned or that is familiar, and always double check!
Difficult- Cross out the ones that are obviously wrong, never choose the
answer that is evident in the question or the one that feels right. The answer
should never come too easy.

The problems in many groups of questions on the SAT (except Short and Long
Reading) start out easy and gradually get harder.
You should never waste time trying to figure out the answer to a hard
question if there are still easy questions that you havent tried. All questions
are worth the same number of points.
On an easy SAT question, the answer that seems correct to Joe is almost
always correct. On medium questions, it is sometimes correct and sometimes
not. On hard questions, the answer Joe likes is almost always wrong.

Most test takers could improve their scores significantly by attempting fewer
questions and devoting more time to questions they have a chance of
answering correctly.

Critical Reading

Each of the three scored Critical Reading sections on the SAT contains two
types of questions: sentence completions and reading comprehension.
In sentence completion questions, youll be given an incomplete sentence,
along with several possible ways to complete it.
In reading comprehension questions, you will be given a passage (either long
or short) to read, followed by a series of questions asking you about the
passage.
Critical reading questions test your ability to read and your familiarity with
certain words. A strong vocabulary will help you understand what you are
reading and allow you to write stronger essays.
Only the sentence completions follow a definitive order of difficulty. In
general, the harder sentence completions test harder vocabulary words. Of
course, theres no such thing as a hard word or an easy wordjust words
you know and words you dont know.
trust your hunches on easy questions
double-check your hunches on medium questions
eliminate the Average Joe answers on difficult questions
go back to the passage on reading comprehension questions
On hard questions, eliminate any choice or choices that you know will be
attractive to Joe.
When Joe answers a reading comprehension question, he tends to answer
from memory. He doesnt go back to the passage to verify his answer.

Critical Reading: Sentence Completion (Easy)

The questions will follow a rough order of difficulty: The first third will be
easy, and the last third will be the most difficult.
Easy Questions:
Step 1: Try to read the sentence and fill in your own words
1. Even though it is a dead language, rather than fading away, Latin is now being -------.

Step 2: Identify Trigger words and Clues such as synonyms in the

sentence
Words like even though/ although/ though are trigger words that indicate concession the
main point would most likely be the opposite. Rather than also shows opposition and indicates
the word needed is in opposition (antonym) to fade away.
Now is an adverb time connector and most likely shows an opposition to a past state. Therefore,
the word needed most like indicates the opposite to fading or disappearing and likely needs a
word like restoring.

Step 3: Remove unlikely answers

(A) forgotten
(B) excavated
(C) mortified
(D) revitalized
(E) revealed

A and C can immediately be taken out because they are similar to fade.
B is unlikely because the ex- root indicates something is coming out, but it is irrelevant to a
language.
D and E are left, and because we want a word that means restore, it is similar to something coming
back to life. The vita in revitalized fits this and so D is correct.

Step 4: Avoid trying to plug in the answers into the sentence before doing the
previous steps
All the words have the same tenses and they are chosen to fit the sentence, and can result in the
choosing of a wrong answer.

Trigger words frequently used in sentences

Words causing the meaning of the required word in the same direction:

because

and
since
in fact
colon (:)
semicolon (;)

Meaning of the required word in opposition:

however
although/though
but
in contrast to
rather
despite
yet

Meaning of the required word in support:

furthermore
moreover
besides
for instance
likewise
likely
additionally

that is
similarly
also
like
for example

Sentence Completion (Easy) Practice:

Underline the trigger words and circle the clues. Then write down the words you feel
can fill in the blanks

1. Because theaters refused to show it when it was first released, Citizen Kane was ------failure, though now it is considered one of the greatest American films ever made.
A1.

2. Ironically, many of the family-owned small businesses located in the newly revitalized
neighborhood downtown are so threatened by increasing rents that they may be ------by the very economic redevelopment that the city has pursued for so long.
A2.
3. When will Hollywood directors stop producing technically slick but emotionally ------movies and begin creating films filled with authenticity and
poignancy?

A3.

Now continue to remove the incorrect answers using the process of elimination

1. Because theaters refused to show it when it was first released, Citizen Kane was ------failure, though now it is considered one of the greatest American films ever made.
(A) a revolutionary
(B) a personal
(C) a commercial
(D) an aesthetic
(E) a perennial
2. Ironically, many of the small businesses located downtown are so threatened by
increasing rents that they may be ------- by the very economic redevelopment that the
city has pursued for so long.

(A) buttressed
(B) bankrupted
(C) hindered
(D) ameliorated
(E) relieved
3. I hope that some day Hollywood directors will stop producing technically slick but
emotionally ------- movies and begin creating films filled with authenticity and
poignancy.
(A) savvy
(B) vacuous
(C) opulent
(D) urbane
(E) boorish

Critical Reading: Sentence Completion (Medium to

Hard)
Roughly half of all sentence completions contain two blanks. The key is to
take them one blank at a time.
Medium Questions
Step 1: Read the sentence, circling the trigger word(s) and underlining the
clue(s), keeping in mind that there may be a clue for each blank.

While the ------- student openly questioned the teachers explanation, she was not so ------- as to
suggest that the teacher was wrong.
(A) complacent . . suspicious

(B) inquisitive . . imprudent

(C) curious . . dispassionate
(D) provocative . . respectful
(E) ineffectual . . brazen

Step 2: Fill in whichever blank seems easier to you. You can even recycle the
clues to fill in the blanks to help
While the questioning student openly questioned the teachers explanation, she was not so ------- as to
suggest that the teacher was wrong.

Once you have filled in one of the blanks, go to the answer choices and check
just the words for that blank, using POE to get rid of answers that are not
close to yours.
(A) complacent . . suspicious

(B) inquisitive . . imprudent

(C) curious . . dispassionate
(D) provocative . . respectful
(E) ineffectual . . brazen

Step 3: Go back to the other blank, fill it in, and check the remaining choices.
While the questioning student openly questioned the teachers explanation, she was not so brave as
to suggest that the teacher was wrong.

You do not need to check both words at one time. If one of the words doesnt
work in a blank, then it doesnt matter what the other word is. One strike and
the answer is out.

(A) complacent . . suspicious

(B) inquisitive . . imprudent

(C) curious . . dispassionate
(D) provocative . . respectful
(E) ineffectual . . brazen

Hard questions
1) Every now and then, the clue for one of the blanks in a two-blank sentence
completion turns out to be the other blank.
Here we still do Step 1: Read the sentence, circling the trigger word(s) and
underlining the clue(s), keeping in mind that there may be a clue for each blank.
Most of Ricks friends think his life is unbelievably -------, but in fact he spends most of
his time on ------- activities.

(A) fruitful . . productive

(B) wasteful . . useless

(C) scintillating . . mundane

(D) varied . . sportive
(E) callow . . simple

Here we see that we have dont have clear clue words to compare, but the
trigger word but in fact shows that the word must be in opposition (one
positive one negative)
(A) fruitful . . productive
(B) wasteful . . useless

(C) scintillating . . mundane

(D) varied . . sportive
(E) callow . . simple

2) In more difficult questions, sometimes the blank words are hard to

interpret from the clue words, or lack a clear trigger word:
Ruskins vitriolic attack was the climax of the ------- heaped on paintings that today seem
amazingly -------.
(A) criticism . . unpopular
(B) ridicule . . inoffensive
(C) praise . . amateurish
(D) indifference . . scandalous
(E) acclaim . . creditable

To deal with this:

Identify the tone of the first word and compare it to the tone of the second

Vitriolic attack indicates a negative meaning

Amazingly indicates a positive meaning

Therefore we can choose the words with a negative and positive meaning in that
order:

(A) criticism . . unpopular

(B) ridicule . . inoffensive
(C) praise . . amateurish
(D) indifference . . scandalous
(E) acclaim . . creditable

Sentence Completion (Medium/Hard) Practice:

1. Instead of being ------- by piles of papers, some college admissions officers are trying to
------- the application process by utilizing computers to simplify the procedure.
(A) hindered . . facilitate
(B) bolstered . . retard

(C) disappointed . . arrest

(D) quickened . . accelerate

(E) offended . . innovate
2. In National Park Ranger Nevada Barrs novel Blind Descent, the ------- must rescue the
endangered victim of a ------- caving accident.
(A) adventurer . . secondary
(B) philanderer . . fictional
(C) protagonist . . perilous

(D) globetrotter . . coincidental

(E) adversary . . hazardous

3. Weather conditions can cause leaves to appear so ------- that they resemble ------- human
skin.

(A) lustrous . . opaque

(B) verdant . . scarred
(C) ashen . . sanguine

(D) wizened . . withered

(E) obsolete . . nascent

4. The nonprofit organization was searching for a ------- new employee, one who would
courageously support the goals of the organization and become devoted to helping
other people.

(A) querulous
(B) novice

(C) proficient
(D) magnanimous
(E) lavish

Sentence Completion Tips Summary

Cover the answer choices. Learn to anticipate the answer by filling in
each blank before you look at the answer choices.

 Always look for the cluethe key word or words that you need to fill
in the blank(s)and underline it.
If you have trouble finding the clue, ask yourself:
o What is the blank talking about?
o What else does the sentence say about this subject?
Look for trigger wordsrevealing words or expressions that give you
important clues about the meanings of sentences
Fill in the blank with any word or phrase >>> recycle the clue. If you
cant come up with any words for the blank, use positive word or
negative word
Discard unlike choices to get to the answer.
Attack two-blank sentence completions by focusing on one blank at a
time. Use the same techniques you would use on one-blank questions.
If you can eliminate either word in an answer choice, you can cross out
the entire choice. If the clue for one of the blanks is the other blank,
use the trigger word to determine the relationship between the blanks.
Never eliminate a choice unless you are sure of its meaning.
If you cant eliminate any answer choices on a question, skip it.

Reading Comprehension
Questions based on reading passages make up about 70 percent of the Critical
Reading sections of the test.
These questions may ask you to restate a piece of information from the
passage, draw an inference, determine a definition, or to recognize the
purpose of a piece of writing.
On the SAT, you should read actively. You will read with an eye toward
finding specific information that you need in order to answer a question.
Once youve found the necessary information, you need to know not only
what the words stand for, but also what they are really saying (Objective
interpretation).
The passage appears first, followed by a series of questions that relate to it.
The first two passages you will see in two of the Critical Reading sections will
be short; the rest of the passages will be longer.

Reading Comprehension Question Types:

The MAIN (CENTRAL) IDEA of the passage
Information SPECIFICALLY STATED in the passage
Information IMPLIED in the passage

 The TONE or MOOD of the passage

Reading Comprehension Strategies:

Strategy A Skim and scan (direct) technique
1) Read the italicized foreword preceding the passage, as it helps greatly
in determining the main idea
2) If you do read the passage, try not to spend more than two minutes on
it. Just get a sense of the passage as a whole.

3) Make sure you know what a question is asking before you answer it. Then
always go back to the passage before looking at the answer choices.

4) Read only what you need. Most of the answers will be located in a
small portion of the passage. A good rule of thumb is to read 5 lines on
either side.
5) If possible, use your own words before you go to the answer choices.

Strategy B Active reading (detail intensive) technique

1) Dont read the question first, but read the passage actively and briskly.
2) Answer the key questions as you read the passage (purpose, central
idea, general structure)
3) Simplify the paragraphs (via paraphrasing)
4) Visualize the idea of each paragraph
5) Think of your own answer first to the question
6) Learn the key question types to anticipate the kind of answers that they
usually need
7) Questions of a particular line are often answered by +/- 2 lines

Reading Comprehension Active Reading Steps

Step 1: Answer these three questions as you read the passage

1. What is the purpose of this passage?
2. What is the central idea of this passage?
3. What is the general structure of this passage?

E1. The purpose of the passage can be either

to examine a topic objectively,
to prove a point, or
to tell a story.
E2. The central idea of the passage is the single idea that provides the focus of the entire
passage.
E3. The general structure of the passage is the way the paragraphs work together to convey the
central idea.

Writing Section
You will see three types of multiple-choice questions in the Grammar
sections:
1) error identifications (a.k.a. error ID, where youre asked to find which
part of the sentence is wrong)
2) improving sentences (where youre asked to make a sentence sound
better)
3) improving paragraphs (where you fix errors in a poorly written
passage)

How to Attack the Writing Section

Review and learn the rules of grammar, SAT-style.

 Memorize your plan of attack for each type of question.

Know which questions to do right away and which to skip until the
end.
Understand what the essay graders want from you.

Vocabulary Learning Tips for Students

Vocabulary Learning Tip One: While you read, pay close attention to words
you don't know. First, try to figure out their meanings from context. Then

look the words up. Read and listen to challenging material so that you'll be
exposed to many new words.
Vocabulary Learning Tip Two: Improve your context skills. Research shows
that the vast majority of words are learned from context. To improve your
context skills pay close attention to how words are used.
Vocabulary Learning Tip Three: Practice, practice, practice. Learning a word
won't help very much if you promptly forget it. Research shows that it takes
from 10 to 20 repetitions to really make a word part of your vocabulary. It
helps to write the word - both the definition and a sentence you make up
using the word - perhaps on an index card that can later be reviewed.
Vocabulary Learning Tip Four: Make up as many associations and
connections as possible. Say the word aloud to activate your auditory
memory. Relate the word to words you already know. For example, the word
GARGANTUAN (very large) has a similar meaning to the words gigantic,
huge, large, etc. You could make a sequence: small, medium, large, very
large, GARGANTUAN. List as many things as you can that could be
considered GARGANTUAN: Godzilla, the circus fat lady, the zit on your nose,
etc. Create pictures of the word's meaning that involve strong emotions.
Think "the GARGANTUAN creature was going to rip me apart and then eat
me!"
Vocabulary Learning Tip Five: Use mnemonics (memory tricks). For example,
consider the word EGREGIOUS (extremely bad). Think EGG REACH US imagine we've made a mistake so bad that they are throwing eggs at us and a
rotten EGG REACHes US. Such funny little word pictures will help you
remember what words mean, AND they are fun to make up. Also, find out
which learning style suits you best.

Vocabulary Learning Tip Six: Get in the habit of looking up words you don't
know. Find them and look up any word you are not absolutely sure of. Use a
thesaurus when you write to find the word that fits best.
Vocabulary Learning Tip Seven: Play with words. Play games such as
Scrabbleand do crossword puzzles.
Vocabulary Learning Tip Eight: Use vocabulary lists. For the serious
vocabulary student, there are many books that focus on the words most
commonly found in standardized tests, such as the SAT and GRE.