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SAT PreparationBooklet 2004–2005For the new SAT Visit the SAT Preparation Center atwww.collegeboard.com for more practice
The College Board:ContentsConnecting Students to CollegeSuccessThe Critical Reading Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6The College Board is a not-for-profit membership association whose mission is to connect students to college success and opportunity. Founded in 1900, the association iscomposed of more than 4,500 schools, colleges, universities, and other educational organizations. Each year, theCollege Board serves over three million students and theirparents, 23,000 high schools, and 3,500 colleges throughmajor programs and services in college admissions, guidance, assessment, financial aid, enrollment, and teachingand learning. Among its best-known programs are theSAT , the PSAT/NMSQT , and the Advanced PlacementProgram (AP ). The College Board is committed to theprinciples of excellence and equity, and that commitmentis embodied in all of its programs, services, activities,and concerns. For further information, visitwww.collegeboard.com.Sentence Completions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6Passage-based Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7The Math Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14Calculator Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14Math Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15Multiple-Choice Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21Student-Produced Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24The Writing Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27Improving Sentences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27Identifying Sentence Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28Improving Paragraphs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29The Essay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31The images and text within the SATPreparation Booklet may not be reprinted,reproduced, distributed, modified orotherwise used without the express writtenpermission of the College Board.Scoring the Essay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34The Practice SAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36About the Practice Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36Answer Sheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37Official Practice Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45Answer Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .83Scoring the Practice Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .84Score Conversion Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .85Test Development Committees . . . . . . . . . . . . .87Copyright 2004 by College Entrance Examination Board. All rights reserved. Advanced Placement Program, AP, College Board, SAT, and the acorn logo areregistered trademarks of the College Entrance Examination Board. Connect to college success, SAT Reasoning Test, SAT Subject Test, The Official Guide to theSAT: For the New SAT, and The Official SAT Online Course are trademarks owned by the College Entrance Examination Board. PSAT/NMSQT is a registeredtrademark of the College Entrance Examination Board and National Merit Scholarship Corporation.2SAT Preparation Booklet
SAT Reasoning Test What are the important points toknow about the SAT?This booklet will answer your questions about and helpyou practice for the new SAT. SAT FAQsGet to know as much about the test as you can.Become familiar with the test directions.Become familiar with the answer sheet onpages 37–43.Know what to expect from the test, the types ofquestions, and the numbers of questions.Learn how to approach each type of question. Why should I take the SAT?The SAT Reasoning Test is a measure of the critical thinking skills you will need for academic success in college. TheSAT assesses how well you analyze and solve problems—skills you learned in school that you will need in college.What is the new SAT? How can I help myself feel asconfident as possible? Think positively.Stay focused.Concentrate only on what you are doing.Keep the test in perspective.Remember that you are in control. Starting in March 2005, you will be taking the new SAT.The SAT is changing to keep up-to-date with currentteaching practices and high school and college curricula. The three sections of the new SAT are:Approaches to taking the SAT Critical Reading, which has sentence completionand passage-based questionsMath, which is based on the math that collegebound students typically learn during their firstthree years of high schoolWriting, which has multiple-choice questions and awritten essay Answer easy questions first. The easier questionsare at the start of the section and the harder onesare at the end. The exception is in the critical reading section, where questions are ordered accordingto the logic and organization of each passage.Make educated guesses. If you can rule out one ormore answer choices for multiple-choice questions,you have a better chance of guessing the rightanswer.Skip questions that you really can’t answer. Youcan get an average score by answering about half ofthe questions correctly and skipping the remainingquestions.Keep track of time. Don’t spend too much time onany one section.Use your test booklet as scratch paper.Mark questions you skipped and want to return to.Check your answer sheet to make sure you areanswering the right question. What do I need to know about the essay?Colleges want to know not only how well you write, butalso how well you express and then back up a point ofview. You will have 25 minutes to write your essay, whichwill count for approximately 30% of the score for the writing section. The essay will be scored as a first draft, not as apolished piece of writing.How can I best prepare for the SAT? Take the PSAT/NMSQT . This test is given in highschools in October. Many students take it duringtheir sophomore and junior years.Review the sample questions, test-taking suggestions, and directions in this booklet.Take the official practice SAT in this booklet.Visit the SAT Preparation Center atwww.collegeboard.com. You have 3 hours and 45 minutes tocomplete the entire test. All multiple-choice questions are scoredthe same: one point for each correctanswer, and one quarter point subtractedfor a wrong answer. The SAT is one factor colleges look atwhen they consider your application. You can always take the test again. Oneout of every two high school studentstakes the SAT at least twice.How should I get ready for test day? Make sure you have on hand all the materials youwill need, such as a calculator, your admissionticket, and an official photo ID.Check out the route to the test center and knowwhere the weekend entrances are located.Get a good night’s sleep.Leave yourself plenty of time so you’ll arrive at thetest center a little early.SAT Preparation Booklet3
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The Official SAT Study Guide:For the New SAT Prepare with the only book of new SAT practice tests createdby the test maker. This comprehensive study guide provides800 pages and 21 chapters packed with 8 full-length practicetests and hundreds of additional questions—all written by the makers of the SAT. Receive FREE score and skills reports online, plus sample essays for the book’s 8 practice tests. Receive a 10 DISCOUNT on The Official SAT Online Course , which includes auto essay scoringand answer explanations for the book’s 8 practice tests.Available at collegeboard.com and bookstores everywhere.
The Critical ReadingSectionSentence CompletionsSentence completion questions measure your: The critical reading section of the SAT contains two typesof questions: sentence completions (19 questions)passage-based reading (48 questions) Note: Calculators may not be on your desk or be usedduring the critical reading section of the SAT.Approaches to the CriticalReading Section Work on sentence completion questions first. Theytake less time to answer than the passage-basedreading questions.In your test booklet, mark each question you don’tanswer so that you can easily go back to it later ifyou have time.Do not jump from passage to passage. Stay with apassage until you have answered as many questionsas you can.The difficulty of sentence completion questionsincreases as you move through a question set.Reading questions do not increase in difficultyfrom easy to hard. Instead, they follow the logicof the passage.When you have gone through all the questionsassociated with a passage, go back and review anyyou left out or weren’t sure about. Remember thatall questions are worth the same number of pointsregardless of the type or difficulty.The information you need to answer each readingquestion is always in the passage(s). Careful reading is the key to finding the correct answer. Don’tbe misled by an answer that looks correct but isnot supported by the actual text.If you don’t know what a word means in a sentencecompletion or reading passage, consider relatedwords, familiar sayings and phrases, roots, prefixes,and suffixes. Have you ever heard or seen a wordthat may be related to it? knowledge of the meanings of wordsability to understand how the different parts of asentence fit logically togetherDirectionsEach sentence below has one or two blanks, each blankindicating that something has been omitted. Beneath thesentence are five words or sets of words labeled A throughE. Choose the word or set of words that, when insertedin the sentence, best fits the meaning of the sentence asa whole.1.Hoping to ------- the dispute, negotiatorsproposed a compromise that they felt wouldbe ------- to both labor and management.(A) enforce . . useful(B) end . . divisive(C) overcome . . unattractive(D) extend . . satisfactory(E) resolve . . acceptableAnswering Sentence CompletionQuestionsOne way to answer a sentence completion question withtwo words missing is to focus first on just one of thetwo blanks. If one of the words in an answer choice islogically wrong, then you can eliminate the entire choicefrom consideration. Look at the first blank in the example above.Would it make sense to say that “negotiators” whohave “proposed a compromise” were hoping toenforce or extend the “dispute”? No, so neither (A)nor (D) can be the correct answer.Now you can focus on the second blank. Would the“negotiators” have proposed a compromise thatthey believed would be divisive or unattractive to“both labor and management”? No, so (B) and (C)can be eliminated, and only choice (E) remains.Always check your answer by reading the entiresentence with your choice filled in. Does it makesense to say “Hoping to resolve the dispute, thenegotiators proposed a compromise that they feltwould be acceptable to both labor and management”? Yes.Correct answer: (E) / Difficulty level: Easy6SAT Preparation Booklet
2.Because King Philip’s desire to make Spain thedominant power in sixteenth-century Europe rancounter to Queen Elizabeth’s insistence onautonomy for England, ------- was -------.(A) reconciliation . . assured(B) warfare . . avoidable(C) ruination . . impossible(D) conflict . . inevitable(E) diplomacy . . simpleBe sure to look for key words and phrases as you read eachsentence. Words such as although, however, if, but, and sinceare important to notice because they signal how the different parts of a sentence are logically related to each other.Words such as not and never are important because theyindicate negation. In the example above, the entire sentence hinges on a few key words: “Because something rancounter to something else, blank was blank.” The word “because” indicates that the informationin the first part of the sentence (the part before thecomma) explains the reason for the situationdescribed in the second part. The first part statesthat what King Philip wanted (domination forSpain) “ran counter to” what Queen Elizabethwanted (independence for England).Given that there was such a fundamental disagreement between the two monarchs, would reconciliation be assured? Unlikely.Would warfare be avoidable? Hardly; warfaremight be unavoidable.Would ruination be impossible? No.Would diplomacy be simple? Not necessarily.Only choice (D) fits logically with the key words inthe sentence: Because what one person wanted rancounter to what another person wanted, conflictwas inevitable. You should choose the word that best fits the meaning ofthe sentence as a whole, and only choice (E) does so.Correct answer: (E) / Difficulty level: HardPassage-based ReadingThe reading questions on the SAT measure yourability to read and think carefully about several differentpassages ranging in length from about 100 to about 850words. Passages are taken from a variety of fields, includingthe humanities, social studies, natur
SAT assesses how well you analyze and solve problems— skills you learned in school that you will need in college. What is the new SAT? Starting in March 2005, you will be taking the new SAT. The SAT is changing to keep up-to-date with current teaching practices and high school and college curricula. The three sections of the new SAT are:
