The SAT Prep Black Book(6)

I tried to apply your strategy of answering questions based only on the similarities among the answer choices, and it didn’t work. Why not?


That pattern can’t be used to predict the correct answer to a question 100% of the time, as I explain in the section of this book that covers SAT Math. It’s a strong general tendency, not an absolute rule. So instead of using these general answer choice patterns to answer questions outright, we want to see them primarily as indicators of the issues that need to be resolved when answering the question, and we want to be aware that the elements that appear most frequently in the answer choices are very likely to be the elements of the correct answer, but that there are no guarantees. When you consider the similarities and differences among a set of answer choices, the final determination as to the correct answer needs to be based primarily on your understanding of basic math and the design of the SAT. See the section on SAT Math for more on that, especially the sample solutions.





Writing Questions


I found a question where the right answer doesn’t follow the rules of grammar. How can that be?


Remember that the College Board isn’t necessarily following the grammar rules that you learned in school, or even the rules that native speakers follow when they speak. Instead, the College Board has its own set of grammar rules. While those rules largely overlap with the current grammar of American English, there are some points where they differ sharply. Remember that your goal on the Writing section isn’t to make them sound good to you, but to figure out which answer choice the College Board will reward based on the rules and patterns it follows. For more on this, see the parts of this book that deal with the SAT Writing Multiple Choice questions.





What should I do if I can’t think of good examples for the SAT Essay?


Remember that it’s okay to use personal examples, and that you’re not penalized for using examples that are factually inaccurate. In other words, you can make up any kind of example you feel like, and tailor it to the exact needs of your argument. For more on this, please see the section of this book that deals with the SAT Essay.





I found a question where the right answer wasn’t the shortest answer. Now what?


The shortest answer to an Improving Sentences question will be the correct answer if it’s grammatically acceptable to the College Board. If you’ve found a question where the shortest answer choice is not correct, then it must contain a grammatical flaw, at least in the eyes of the College Board—remember that “SAT grammar” isn’t always the same as American English grammar. For more on the rules of “SAT grammar,” see the part of this book that covers the SAT Writing Multiple Choice section, and the Appendix.





Setting (The Right) Goals


“The secret of all victory lies in the organization of the non-obvious.”

- Marcus Aurelius

At some point, most of my tutoring clients ask me what I think is the highest possible score they can hope for on the SAT. Sometimes they frame it in terms of their previous scores—“If I already have a 1560, can I possibly bring that up to a 2100?”

The answer to this question is simple on the surface, but there are actually many other issues surrounding this question that you want to make sure you consider.

But let’s start with the simple stuff first.

If you can read American English pretty well, and if you know the basic principles of arithmetic, geometry, and algebra, then there’s no reason why you can’t eventually make a 2400, or any other score you want, because every question on the SAT relies on your ability to read and understand American English and/or to use basic math principles.

Please read that carefully, especially the word “eventually.” I’m absolutely not saying that a person whose highest score so far is a 1400 can just snap her fingers and make a 2400 overnight. What I’m saying is that the SAT is a test of basic skills, and if we have those basic skills then there’s no reason, in theory, why we shouldn’t be able to answer every question correctly.

Of course, raising an SAT score significantly is going to take some effort, in just about every case. Approaching the SAT in the right way isn’t necessarily difficult, but it is definitely different from the way you would approach tests in high school or college. If you want to raise your score a lot, then you’ll really have to try to and think like the test—which, again, is not a difficult thing to do, but will take some conscious effort on your part.

(By the way, if you don’t read American English very well, check out the section of this Black Book on advice for non-native speakers of American English. And if you don’t know the basic concepts of arithmetic, geometry, and algebra, then review the Math Toolbox, and/or consider getting a math tutor.)