Christopher Black - McGraw-Hill Education SAT 2018 Edition

CHRISTOPHER BLACK, MA

MARK ANESTIS, MA

and the TUTORS of
COLLEGE HILL COACHING

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Copyright 2017 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 LHS 22 21 20 19 18 17 (book for cross-platform prep course)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 LHS 22 21 20 19 18 17 (book alone)

ISBN 978-1-260-01040-4 (cross-platform prep course)

MHID 1-260-01040-6

e-ISBN 978-1-260-01041-1 (e-book cross-platform prep course)

e-MHID 1-260-01041-4

ISBN 978-1-260-01038-1 (book alone)

MHID 1-260-01038-4

e-ISBN 978-1-260-01039-8 (e-book alone)

e-MHID 1-260-01039-2

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College Hill Coaching is a trademark under the control of Christopher F. Black.

Visit the College Hill Coaching website at www.collegehillcoaching.com.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We would like to acknowledge the help of those who have contributed to this project: Elizabeth, Sarah, and Anna Black for their patience and support; Stephanie Anestis for her invaluable efforts in reading and editing the text and for her incredible love and support; and Robert, Janice, Michael, and Matthew Anestis, who also gave their insight on the work in progress. We appreciate the hard work of those at McGraw-Hill Education who made this project work and the thoughtful help of our agent, Grace Freedson. Finally, we would like to thank all the students of College Hill Coaching who have contributed to the growth of these materials over the years.

Beginning in spring 2016, the redesigned SAT features ten major changes.

1. More time per question

The redesigned SAT gives you more time per question, making it less likely that you will underperform due to time restrictions.

Bottom Line: The new SAT should give you a bit more time to breathe.

2. Rights-only scoring

The redesigned SAT no longer penalizes you 0.25 point for getting a multiple-choice question wrong. Now your raw score on each section is simply the total number of correct answers on that section. The College Board claims that this will encourage you to make educated guesses, and discourage you from thinking strategically about whether to guess on a question, since that is not central to the reasoning skills the SAT is designed to assess.

Bottom line:On the new SAT, answer every question. On the toughest questions, just pick an answer and move on rather than leaving it unanswered. You cant hurt your score, and you may help it.

3. Four choices instead of five

All multiple-choice questions now have four choices instead of five. This makes guessing on tough questions even more beneficial, since the chances of getting the question right by luck alone have now increased from 20% to 25%.

Bottom Line: All the more reason to guess rather than leaving a question unanswered.

4. Academic vocabulary in context

The SAT no longer includes sentence completion questions or any other specifically vocabulary-focused questions. Rather, it tests your knowledge of vocabulary by challenging you to read and analyze college-level prose in the liberal arts and sciences, and to answer questions about how vocabulary is used to clarify ideas, establish tone, and indicate point of view.

Bottom Line: discusses how SAT vocabulary is changing and provides comprehensive new SAT vocabulary and root lists.

5. Return to the 400-to-1600 point scale

The redesigned SAT scores return to the 400-to-1600 point scale, based on the sum of the Reading and Writing test score (from 200 to 800) and the Mathematics test score (from 200 to 800). The Essay component is no longer mandatory.

Bottom Line: Now you can compare your SAT scores with your parents SAT scores!

6. Essay optional, and a new essay task

On the new SAT, you have the option of taking the Essay component, in which you are given 50 minutes to read and analyze an argumentative essay that examines an idea, debate, or trend in the arts, sciences, culture, or politics. You are then expected to produce a clear and cogent written analysis in which [you] explain how the author builds an argument to persuade an audience through the use of evidence, reasoning, [and] stylistic and persuasive elements.

Many competitive colleges will require you to submit the SAT Essay score with the rest of your SAT scores. If you are considering applying to any of these schools, you should choose the Essay option when you register to take the SAT. Check the college websites for their policies on the SAT Essay.

Bottom Line: gives you complete review and practice in the new SAT essay, together with sample essays with complete grading explanations.

7. More advanced math questions

The redesigned SAT Math test includes questions on topics from trigonometry and second-year algebra, such as complex numbers, trigonometric identities, and analysis of polynomials.

Bottom Line: provide comprehensive review of these new more advanced math concepts, as well as lots of practice problems and answer explanations.