Princeton Review - Cracking the SAT Spanish Subject Test, 2013-2014 Edition

Editorial
Rob Franek, Senior VP, Publisher
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Selena Coppock, Senior Editor
Calvin Cato, Editor
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Meave Shelton, Editor Random House Publishing Team
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E-mail: Copyright 2013 by TPR Education IP Holdings, LLC. Cover art Jonathan Pozniak All rights reserved under International and Pan-American
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in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto. SAT is a registered trademark of the College Board, which does not sponsor or endorse this product.
The Princeton Review is not affiliated with Princeton University. eBook ISBN: 978-0-307-94579-2
Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-0-307-94559-4 Editor: Calvin S.

Cato
Production Artist: Sandra M. Schmeil
Production Editor: Seamus Mullarkey 20132014 Edition v3.1

Para Roberto, Carmina y Enrique, sin quienes no estuviese donde estoy. To Ernie and Bert, for helping me learn to speak English. G.R.P. For Eric Holt, the one who inspired me to continue studying Spanish in college and who provided invaluable assistance during the revision process of this book. For my mom, my first Spanish teacher and one of the best bilingual teachers the Los Angeles Unified School District has ever had.

For my wife, Lisa, who inspires me in so many ways. D.S. To Mom and Dadlos quiero mucho. A.B. Thank you to Albert Beniada for his careful update of this edition of the book. Special thanks to Adam Robinson, who conceived of and perfected the Joe Bloggs approach to standardized tests and many of the other successful techniques used by The Princeton Review.

The Princeton Review would like to give a special thanks to Michael Giammarino for his review of this edition and his creation of the listening practice section of the book.

The SAT Spanish Subject Test is an hour-long, multiple-choice exam intended for students who have had a minimum of two years of high schoollevel Spanish, or the equivalent. In this chapter, we explain why youve made a wise decision to prepare with The Princeton Review and discuss the reasons you should take this exam. We also present the structure of the exam. Congratulations! By purchasing this book, youve taken the first step toward raising your score on the SAT Spanish Subject Tests. Now you just have to read the book, practice the strategies, and take the practice tests.

We know that taking a standardized test is about as exciting as watching paint dry, but weve done everything possible to make working through this book as painless and fun as possible. To get the most out of this book, you should tackle it in bite-size pieces. Youll drive yourself crazy and lose interest if you try to 0read through the entire book in one sitting or one weekend. We recommend that you figure out how much time you have left before you take the actual test and come up with a game plan that makes sense. Just be sure to set aside a solid hour to take each one of the practice tests.

The Princeton Review is a test-preparation company founded in New York City. The Princeton Review is a test-preparation company founded in New York City.

We have branches across the United States and abroad. Weve developed the techniques youll find in our books, courses, and online resources by analyzing actual exams and testing their effectiveness with our students. What makes our techniques unique is that we base our principles on the same ones used by the people who write the tests. We dont want you to waste your time with superfluous information; well give you just the information youll need to improve your scores. Youll learn to recognize and comprehend the relatively small amount of information thats actually tested. Youll also learn to avoid common traps, to think like the test writers, to find answers to questions of which youre unsure, and to budget your time effectively.

You need to do only two things: trust the techniques, and practice, practice, practice.

The Princeton Review is on your side. We didnt create the tests, and we dont force anyone to take them. We simply help students do better on them. In this book, youll find a thorough review of the content that will be covered on the test, test-taking strategies that will help you apply your existing knowledge, and enough practice tests for you to determine your own personal strengths and weaknesses. There are two different Spanish Subject Tests: The traditional Spanish Subject Test and the Spanish with Listening Subject Test. There are two different Spanish Subject Tests: The traditional Spanish Subject Test and the Spanish with Listening Subject Test.

Most of you will take the traditional Spanish Subject Test, and the majority of this book will be dedicated to that exam. However, for those of you who are planning to take the Spanish with Listening Subject Test, we provide some strategies to help you do your best. Both SAT Spanish Subject Tests are hour-long, multiple-choice exams that are supposed to measure your knowledge of Spanish. In fact, the College Board claims that the subject tests provide a reliable measure of your academic achievement and can help in assessing how well prepared you are for different programs of college study. Do the SAT Spanish Subject Tests really accomplish this? Absolutely not. If you want to know how well you speak Spanish, you should try reading a Spanish newspaper, watching a Spanish television show, or speaking Spanish with a native speaker.