1. SAT Preparation: Math Mr. Maloney

2. What makes SAT math difficult? High School math tests DIFFICULT math in a STRAIGHTFORWARD WAY. SAT math tests (mostly) EASY math in a TRICKY way. …doing well is all about being aware of the SAT tricks!

3. Here’s an example of an SAT trick: The first term of a sequence is 2 and the second term is 6. From the third term on, each term is the average (arithmetic mean) of all preceding terms. What is the 100 th term of the sequence? a) 2 b) 4 c) 6 d) 102 e) 104

4. More tricks… w = z w = z 15w – 8z = 35 15w – 8z = 35 In the system of equations above, what is the value of 15w? a)5 b)15 c)20 d)40 e)75

5. What’s the Trick? A printing press produces 4,200 posters per hour. At this rate, in how many minutes can the printing press produce 840 posters? a) 0.2 b) 1.5 c) 5 d) 12 e) 70

6. Just because it looks tough… If x is positive and, then x = A) 0 B) 1 C) D) 5 E) 25

7. Gee I’m a Tree… bH I 2 F a G 4 J 3 In pentagon FGHIJ, what is the value of ? A) 13 B) 20 C) 21 D) 27 E) 29

8. Slow Down All SAT math questions have the same point value. Answer the questions that you WANT to answer. You DO NOT need to finish all questions of the exam to get a great score.

9. Avoiding Tricks and Traps Stay confident – you know all the math you need to know. Identify the concept being tested. Don’t make the problem harder than it is. Don’t make stupid mistakes – stay focused. Answer the question that is being asked (variables/units/etc.)

10. Math Format 20-min. section: 16 Multiple Choice 25-min. section: 20 Multiple Choice 25-min. section: 8 Multiple Choice 10 Student Produced (Grid-In) 10 Student Produced (Grid-In)

11. Grid-In Rules You must produce the best response for each answer. There is NO penalty for guessing. You may put the number into decimal or fraction, but not mixed number. Example: 3.5

12. Review Basic Arithmetic and Algebra Concepts Know terms such as prime, inclusive/exclusive, domain/range. The number zero: is it positive, negative or neither? Is it even odd or neither? Is it an integer or not and integer?

13. Translation Table WhatIsOfPercent More than Less than Variable (x, y, etc.) EqualsTimes Divided by 100 PlusMinus

14. Say what? What percent of 25 is 25 percent of 20? A) 120 B) 100 C) 50 D) 25 E) 20

15. Tri This Angle 7V R T U S In the figure, RSTV is a square and UV = 7. What is the area of RSTV?

16. Around in circles S T Q R P In rectangle PQRS above, arcs QT and RT are quarter circles with centers at P and S, respectively. If the radius of each quarter circle is 1, what is the area of the shaded region? A)D) B)E) C)

17. Sound Systems of Equations If and what is the value of ? A) 2 B) 3 C) 3.5 D) 4 E) 5

18. What do you mean arithmetic mean? The average (arithmetic mean) of w, x, and y is 6, and the average of w, x, y, and z is 10. What is the value of z? A) 24 B) 22 C) 18 D) 16 E) 4

19. Smell that Percent Jake goes to the store to buy himself a new dress, and he find that there is a 20% off sale. But, Jake also has a 20% discount coupon. If Jake buys the dress that is on sale and uses the coupon, what will his total discount be? A) 20% B) 30% C) 34% D) 36% E) 40%

20. Practice Test Issues: Test Zone Is there a string of wrong answers ? Are you doing worse in the first section than in others? Are you doing much better in earlier sections than at the end?

21. Pacing Issues Are there wrong answers early in the section? Are you answering all of the questions? Are you getting most of the questions wrong at the end of every section?

22. Mal-Function Problems Weird funny symbols might replace more normal looking notations. Be on the lookout for symbols such as these: 

23. Typical Problem: Say what? For all positive values of p, let p  be defined as What is the value of 2  ?

24. A Cool Problem For all values of, let  be defined by   Which of the following is  equal to (  )  ? 