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SAT STRATEGIES

 

MATH OVERALL MOST COMMON ERRORS

  • Forgetting one of the essential geometry concepts. (Know those rules and formulas!)
  • Forgetting to look for hidden, unstated geometrical figures (especially triangles) that hold the key to an item.
  • Trying to work an item in your head instead of writing your work down.
  • Failing to pick the answer the item asks for. Often this is not the same things as finding the critical value needed to solve the item.
  • Failing to work through our practice sets—reading this book is not enough!
  • Failing to practice the step methods on every practice test item. You need these methods when the answer isn't obvious to you.
  • Forgetting to eyeball a Treasure Map item to rule out unlikely answer choices.
  • Refusing to guess when you've eliminated one answer choice.
  • Answering every item in order.
  • Rushing through a set instead of thinking each item through.

VERBAL SECTION

TEST-TAKING

The 15 Most Common Mistakes
  1. Looking at the answer choices without having some idea of what the correct answer should be.
  2. Spending more than a minute or so on any one item in a set.
  3. Failing to practice sufficiently—reading this book is not enough!
  4. Refusing to guess when you've eliminated one answer choice.
  5. Trying to manipulate equations in your head instead of writing it down and solving it.
  6. Not picking the answer the item asks for. Often this is not the same thing as finding the critical value needed to solve the item.
  7. Answering every item in order.
  8. Rushing through a set instead of thinking each item through.
  9. Refusing to fly Bombing Runs—that is, not doing items out of order based on your assessment of which will be easiest.
  10. Not establishing a baseline score.
  11. Setting an unrealistic target score.
  12. Not building up your vocabulary.
  13. Not creating a study plan.
  14. Not taking a full-length practice test before test day.
  15. Doing SAT prep work the day before the test.

VOCABULARY

Essential Strategies
  • Latin roots, suffixes, and prefixes.
  • Studying lists
  • Creating flashcards
  • Reading well-written prose every day
  • Using a dictionary while reading
  • Employing vocabulary-building exercises

READING COMPREHENSION

Essential Strategies
  • Recognizing the major features of an RP: topic, main idea, purpose, tone, theme, and logic.
  • Recognizing the use of rhetorical devices and literary techniques, including: hyperbole, repetition, imagery and figurative language, sound patterns, rhetorical questions, idioms and clichés, irony, foreshadowing, and motif.
  • Decoding unfamiliar words from context.
  • Finding informational details (facts) in the passage.
  • Identifying cause and effect and follow the logic of arguments.
    Comparing and contrasting arguments.
MOST COMMON ERRORS
  • Reading long RPs word-for-word/refusing to skim. Maximize the time you spend on the items. Answering items correctly is what gets you points.
  • Reading passively. Make margin notes; mark up the passage; have a sense of what each chunk of the passage, as well as the passage as a whole is about.
  • Looking at the answer choices without having some idea of what the correct answer should be. If at all possible, make sure you come up with your own answer first so you're not at the mercy of the distractors.
  • Spending too much time (more than a minute or so) on any one item in a set.
  • Failing to practice the step methods on every practice RP set—reading the book is not enough!
  • Refusing to guess when you've eliminated one answer choice.
  • Refusing to fly Bombing Runs on items. That is, refusing to do a passage's items out of order based on your judgment of which will be easier and yield points more quickly.
  • Refusing to fly Bombing Runs on passages. That is, refusing to attempt passage sets out of order based on your judgment of which will be easier and yield points more quickly.
  • Refusing to fly Bombing Runs on sections. That is, refusing to work first on those passage types or item types that will yield points more quickly. Specifically, do the
  • Sentence Completions first, then short RPs, and then long RPs/paired RPs.
  • In Paired RPs: Reading both passages and then attempting all the items. Tackle one passage first. Then tackle that passage's items. Next, tackle the other passage. Then tackle that passage's items. If you have time, attempt the compare-and-contrast items.
  • Not taking advantage of Backward Strategies when you're stuck.

SENTENCE COMPLETION

MOST COMMON MISTAKES
  • Looking at the answer choices first, without having some idea of what the correct answer should be.
  • Spending too much time (more than a minute) on any one item in a set.
  • Failing to practice sufficiently—reading the book is not enough!
  • Failing to practice the step methods on every practice test item. You'll need these methods when the answer isn't obvious to you.
  • Refusing to fly Bombing Runs. That is, refusing to do items out of order based on your judgment of which will be easier and yield points more quickly.
  • Refusing to guess when you've eliminated one answer choice. +

The Forward Method

Here are the five steps to the forward method:

Step 1 : Cover up answer choices.
Step 2 : Read stem and determine stem type.
Step 3 : Supply your own words or phrases to complete the sentence.
Step 4 : Compare your choice to the answers and eliminate all that do not match.
Step 5 : Plug selected answer back into sentence and select the best fit.

The Backward Method

Step 1 : Use positive or negative signs to determine what type of word you'll need.
Step 2 : Go to the answer choices and assign positive or negative signs to each word.
Step 3 : Eliminate the choices that don't fit, then select from the rest.
Step 4 : Plug your choice back into the stem as a check.

WRITING SECTION

ESSAYS

Essential Strategies
  • The scoring rubric rewards essays that are:
  • Well organized
  • Well supported
  • Well written
The 15 Most Common Mistakes
  1. Diving right into writing without first thinking or planning. This is definitely the most common mistake.
  2. Thinking that the longer your essay is, the higher your score will be, regardless of organization or use of language.
  3. Not thoroughly understanding the scoring rubric and how readers will use it to score your essay. It all starts with the scoring rubric. The rubric determined the Essential Concepts we presented to you and formed the Essential Strategies and step method you've just learned.
  4. Not practicing the step method—reading this book is not enough!
  5. Not mastering the essential concepts, both of building a strong argument and of language.
  6. Worrying about constructing the perfect argument expressed in perfect language. You're writing a first draft!
  7. Not taking a particular position on the issue.
  8. Not thoroughly supporting your position with an argument made up of well-chosen reasons and examples.
  9. Not varying your sentence structure accurately and appropriately.
  10. Using fancy-schmancy words inappropriately without knowing their precise meaning.
  11. Deviating from your outline in the middle of writing your essay. Take the time to get your thoughts straight before writing.
  12. “Overwriting”—using highfalutin sentences incorrectly. You won't impress anyone. Vary your sentences, but vary them appropriately and correctly.
  13. Being “cute.” Don't aim to be boring, but don't take any chances with structure or language on the essay. Structured does not equal boring.
  14. Writing on another topic. That will get you a score of zero.
  15. Writing illegibly. That will also get you a score of zero.

Tackling Identifying Sentence Errors

Step 1 : Read the item carefully, noting the types of words or phrases that are underlined.
Step 2 : Ask yourself whether any underlined word or phrase, in the context of the entire sentence, is in error. Eliminate those that are correct.
Step 3 : If you find no error, E is the correct answer. Perform step 3 only if you haven't identified an error in step 2.

MOST COMMON MISTAKES

Wasting time second-guessing yourself about whether an item contains an error. (If you don't see an error, choose E and move on.)

Tackling Improving Sentences

Essential Strategies

Step 1 : Cover up the answer choices.
Step 2 : Read the stem carefully and determine what type of word, phrase, or clause is underlined.
Step 3 : Ask yourself whether the underlined portion, in the context of the entire sentence, is in error. If not, choose A.
Step 4 : If there is an error, generate a potential fix without looking at the answer choices.
Step 5 : Compare your fix to the answer choices and eliminate all those that do not match.
Step 6 : Check your selection by plugging the answer choice's text into the original sentence.

MOST COMMON MISTAKES

Not taking advantage of backward strategies, especially grouping

Tackling Improving Paragraphs

Essential Strategies

Step 1 : Read the passage quickly to get the general idea. Circle or mentally note any errors you happen to see.
Step 2 : Read all the item stems in the set.
Step 3 : Decide which items are easiest and tackle those first. Leave the others for last.

MOST COMMON MISTAKES

Attempting any of these items before you've completed all the Sentence Error IDs and Sentence Improvements you can. (Since Paragraph Improvement sets contain a passage, this item type is a high investment for the same yield. All writing section items are worth one point.)
Not treating Paragraph Improvement sets as a testlet (i.e., not flying bombing runs).

MATH SECTION

GEOMETRY

Essential Strategies

Here's how most SAT geometry works:

  • If you get information about a triangle, you'll be asked something about a rectangle.
  • If you get information about a rectangle, you'll be asked something about a triangle.
  • When a diagram is supplied, you'll have to make a leap from information about the figure to information supplied in the stem.
The 10 Most Common Mistakes

01. Forgetting one of the essential geometry concepts. (Know those rules and formulas!)
02. Forgetting to look for hidden, unstated geometrical figures (especially triangles) that hold the key to an item.
03. Trying to work an item in your head instead of writing your work down.
04. Failing to pick the answer the item asks for. Often this is not the same things as finding the critical value needed to solve the item.
05. Failing to work through our practice sets—reading this book is not enough!
06. Failing to practice the step methods on every practice test item. You need these methods when the answer isn't obvious to you.
07. Forgetting to eyeball a Treasure Map item to rule out unlikely answer choices.
08. Refusing to guess when you've eliminated one answer choice.
09. Answering every item in order.
10. Rushing through a set instead of thinking each item through

 
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