Conquering the Mathematics Test Day 1 ACT Preparation Conquering the Mathematics Test Day 1

Did you know . . . What is ‘standardized’? What it is in it for me to score well on the ACT? CHOICE What school do YOU want to go to? Where in the country do you want to go? Better degree, great job, $

Mathematics Test Layout Much of this test is about STRATEGY! Did you know that the easy questions are always located in the first 20 questions? Then the test gets increasingly harder. Don’t waste lots of time on problems that you don’t have a clue how to solve—just save them for the very end once you have gathered all the points you KNOW for sure. Keep these two ideas fresh in your mind throughout the test.

Preparation Strategy Day 1 (today): “ You said the first 20 questions are easy???” Day 2: Algebra I crash session: The most important ideas you’ll need to remember. Day 3: Geometry crash session Day 4: Algebra II/Trig Day 5: Review, ’20 easy questions’, test taking pacing.

The first 20 Percentages Word Problems Proportions Simple Equations/Expressions

Basics to Remember Any percent, just represents that number out of 100. If you have a 75% chance it will rain tomorrow, then if tomorrow existed 100 times, it will rain 75 of them. 75/100. But, 75/100 can be expressed in a decimal form—75 hundreths or .75 Always convert your percentages into a decimal.

More Basics The word ‘of’, always means to multiply! What is 12% of 312? (.12)(312) = 37.44 If it were a 12% increase, then it would be 312 + 37.44 A 12% decrease, would result in 312 – 37.44.

Percentages The $414 price a store charges for a small refrigerator consists of the refrigerator’s original cost to the store plus a profit of 15%. What was the refrigerator’s original cost to the store?

SOLUTION Always ask yourself, “What am I looking for?” In this case, we need the original price the refrigerator cost the store. Call it ‘r’. r has been raised to $414, by 15%. Remember that 15% = .15 .15r + r = 414 1.15r = 414 r = 414/1.15 = $360.

More Examples 2 problems http://www.800score.com/gre-guidec7.html

Proportions If it takes 8 bananas to make 12 smoothies, how many smoothies can you make with 44 bananas?

SOLUTION 8 bananas = 44 bananas 12 smoothies x smoothies Cross Multiply! 8x = 528  x =528/8 = 66 smoothies!

Another example A recipe for 150 servings requires 4.5 liters of sauce. About how many liters of sauce are required for 80 servings?

SOLUTION 150 = 80 4.5 x 150x = 360 360/150 = x = 2.4 liters

Try 6 percent and proportion problems