Alec Smart - SAT Tips Cheats & Tricks: The Ultimate 1 Hour SAT Prep Course

ISBN: 9781624881268

If you can eliminate even just one wrong answer, guess! Since you only lose point for a wrong answer, the more you guess the better the chance you will get one correct.

If you have absolutely no clue to the answer, do not guess!

Skip It .

Answer the easy questions first! Spend most of your time on the questions in the beginning of a section they are easier!

Skip the hard questions! If you know you are going to probably skip some questions, make sure they are the (hardest) last questions in the section.

F This!

In school, a 50% is a failing grade. On the SAT however 50% is not bad! If you only answer half the questions on the SAT correctly and leave the rest blank your score would be.520 on critical reading 520 Math and 500 on writing.

Circle questions you want to come back to later, and mark an X for questions you want to skip entirely.

3 Hours 45 Minutes

10 Sections

Critical Reading

3 Sections 70 Minutes

Math

3 Sections 70 Minutes

Writing

3 Sections 60 Minutes

Variable

1 Section 25 Minutes (Not Scored)

Sentence Completions

&

Reading Passages

Sentence completions take the least amount of time. Do them first. Do the short reading passage next. Then do the long reading passages.

Put your own word in the blank before you even look at the answers then match your word to the best answer.

If the question has two blanks try matching the second blank first some of the first blanks are similar in meaning.

If the question is early in the section the answer is probably an obvious easy word.

If question is in the last half of the section the answer is probably a hard word.

Read the sentence and decide whether the blank (or blanks) should be positive or negative. Write the sign in the blank. Then check the words and determine which ones fit. Cross out the ones that dont work.

If the passage or sentence completion has to do with women or minorities.the answer will almost always paint them in a positive light.

If you chose to read the passage first, underline key phrases or nouns as you read . As you answer the questions you can refer back to your underlines.

When comparing two passages the question will refer you to a line or passage number answer the questions about the first passage first. Then, answer the ones about the second passage. Finally, answer the rest.

If you pretend you are interested in the passage you will do better. Your brain does not remember things that it finds boring.

Beware of the answers that sound too intelligent..they are usually wrong. The right answer is usually the one that is most basic and simple .

If you quickly skim the questions first.you will have an Idea of what you need to know when you read the passage. When you go back to read the passage circle phrases that answer the questions you read.

If you are running out of time on the subsections.skip the final and longest reading passageit takes too much time.

If the answer states an absolute or definite point of view it is usually wrong . Cross it out.

If you see the following words or phrases in the answer it is probably WRONG:

Always, Extremely, Must, Never ,Could Only, Undoubtedly, Fully

If you see the following words or phrases the answer is probably CORRECT.

Could Be, May Be, Might Be, Minorly, Suggests, Implies, Could Be Seen As, Arguably

If the question refers to a line number.the answer is somewhere between 4 lines above it or 4 lines below it forget the rest of the passage.

If the question doesnt give you a line number the answer is in the first few lines or the last few lines of the passage!

If the question asks you about the authors Primary Purpose the answer is in the first few lines of the passage or the last few lines .

If you see a question with Roman Numerals, and you dont know the answer, guess the Roman Numeral that shows up most in the answers .

Example:

Which of the following is true?

(A) I only

(B) II only

(C) I and II only

(D) I and III only

(E) I, II and III

Since ( I ) shows up 4 times, you should choose (A). If you think there is also another answer, choose (C) because ( II ) shows up 3 times.

Dont read the example problemsthey are a waste of your time. You should know the directions beforehand.

Always read the intro to a passage it will help you understand what you are about to read and identify people or definitions that you need to know.

There will always be a Scientific Passage. You do not need to understand scientific terms to answer the questions about the passage. The sentence before or after the term you dont understand usually explains it.

If there is a historical passage, underline the names of historians who might agree or disagree with the author. There will probably be a question about them.

If there is a passage about Art, it will usually be positive. The answers will usually be complimentary towards whoever or whatever type of art is discussed.

Note: Art can refer to painting, sculpture, literature, music or craft; or a particular artist, musician or writer.

Because it is so big, the questions tend to follow the order in which the answers appear in the passage. The first questions are about the early parts of the passage. The middle questions are about the middle part of the passage. The last questions are about the last part of the passage.

Prefixes: If a word starts with the following prefix, it can help you decode words you dont know.