Larry Berger - Up Your Score, 2013-2014 edition: The Underground Guide to the SAT

2013 2014 Edition

THE UNDERGROUND GUIDE TO THE SAT

by Larry Berger, Michael Colton, JaJa Liao, Manek Mistry, and Paul Rossi

Illustrations by Chris Kalb

WORKMAN PUBLISHING NEW YORK

Copyright 2012 by Larry Berger, Michael Colton, Manek Mistry, Paul Rossi

Interior illustrations: Chris Kalb
Cover art: John Ritter

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproducedmechanically, electronically, or by any other means, including photocopyingwithout written permission of the publisher. Published simultaneously in Canada by Thomas Allen & Son Limited.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

eISBN 9780761171287

SAT questions selected from the following publications of the College Entrance Examination Board: 5 SAT s (1981); 6 SAT s (1982); 10 SAT s (1983, 1986, 1990). Reprinted by permission of the Educational Testing Service, the copyright owner of the test questions.

Permission to reprint the SAT material does not constitute review or endorsement by the Educational Testing Service or the College Board of this publication as a whole or of any other testing information it may contain.

SAT is the registered trademark of the College Entrance Examination Board, which has not endorsed this publication.

Grateful acknowledgment is made for permission to reprint the following: You Can Call Me Al by Paul Simon 1986 Paul Simon.

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F LORENCE AND T OBY B ERGER
E LLEN AND C LARK C OLTON
D EAN AND E LAINE L IAO
V IRGINIA AND N ARIMAN M ISTRY
C HARLINE AND F AUST R OSSI

There are many people who have helped us with Up Your Score. Listed in alphabetical order, the following people deserve our deep gratitude:

Matt Alisch, Kara Klinke, John Murphy, Matt Pagel, Kabir Seth, Aaron Van Oosterhout, and Ying Zhang for their cultural expertise and numerous suggestions over the lunch table

Doris Berger, for her devoted promotional work

Florence Berger, Cornell University professor, for helping with the memory and concentration chapters, and for revealing her secret recipe for Sweet and Tasty 800 Bars

Toby Berger, electrical engineering professor at Cornell University, for calculating the statistics that prove our methods work, advising us on the math section, and correcting our mistayckes

David Bock, Ithaca High School, for being a terrific math teacher, for the valuable ideas he gave us for the guessing section, and for his editing assistance

Belle Cohen, for being the best PR and Marketing grandmother in the business

Brian Colton, for being himself

Clark Colton, for superb editing and negotiating

Ellen and Jill Colton, for support, encouragement, and TLC

Jason Colton, for his business savvy

Randy A. Faigin, for her suggestions and supportiveness

Dennis Ferguson, for his excellent proofreading

Nous remercions bien cordialement les Fougerays davoir si aimablement hberg Paul, et les Warchols davoir hberg Michael

Florence Harris, for her generous editing assistance and advice

Lynn C. Harris, for her extraordinary support, outstanding advice, and hilarious contributions

Sharon Herbstman, for helping with astuteness and zeal and everything in between

All our friends in the Ithaca High School Class of 86, and the Newton North High School Class of 93, for their all-around greatness, encouragement, and suggestions

Milton Kagan, one of the few SAT coaches who really knows his stuff, for sharing some of his excellent ideas with us

Andrea Kochie, Ithaca High School, for being an amazing college admissions advisor, and for helping us acquire so much of the information that we needed

Dean and Elaine Liao, for supporting JaJa in all of her various endeavors over the years, and Kristy Liao, for being the best sister imaginable

Dr. Elizabeth Mandell, for her medical consultation for the Little Circles section

Kevin McMahon, Ithaca High School math teacher, for his suggestions about the math section

James Pullman, amazing English teacher at IHS, for helping us plan the writing section

Rita Rosenkranz, the agent John Grisham wishes he had, for scoring a perfect 2400 on the Super Agent Test

Charline and Faust Rossi, for the many kind efforts they have made on our behalf

Bob Schaeffer and FairTest, for advice and information

David Schwarz, for his insightful editorial guidance

Linda Shapiro, for recommending Michael and launching his literary career

Helen Smith, for teaching Michael how to write good

Paul Sondel, Williamsville East High School, for helping with the new math topics, and for knowing that equations have emotions too, just like everybody else

Daniel Beasely, Jeffrey Chien, Sophia Chung, Aryana Derakshan, Vincent Donato, Nishani Mathi, Cori Shea, and Brian Tsai for always having JaJas back in the jungle

The folks at Workman Publishing, for their astuteness, audacity, alacrity, and ardorMargot Herrera and Heather Schwedel for their brilliant editing, Peter Workman for taking us on, Jessica Rozler for her attention to detail, and Ariana Abud for great design work

The Yale Class of 90: Deborah Bloom, Jeff Dolven, Amelia Eisch, David Franklin, James Hanaham, Chris Kincade, Julian Kleindorfer, Andrew Michaelson, Jim Rosenfeld, Zachary Silverstein, SM 1845J, Mike Warren, and Jay Withgott, for their contributions, humor, and support.

This book really stinks, Paul yawned as he pulled the crust off his sandwich, scattering Miracle Whip all over of Barrons SAT guide.

Yeah, whats the point of the SAT anyway?

To cause us pain and suffering, Manek mumbled.

You know whats wrong with these SAT review books?

No, what? asked Larry.

Theyre all written by embalmed educators who were born before the invention of the number 2 pencil, before the SAT itself, and before The Brady Bunch went on the air.

If I wrote an SAT review book, it wouldnt be so boring.

I know what you mean. If I wrote an SAT review book, it would be erudite, yet not bombastic, it would elucidate the turbid depths of this baneful examination, and carry students to new heights of academic self-actualization...

Yeah, and have lots of skin.

You know, Larrys right. If we could write an awesome manual telling confused, bored, and frustrated students like us across this great land how to rock on the SAT we would

We would be making a contribution to society that...

... that could bring us enough funds to pay for college.

... and a chance to get on Jimmy Fallon.

Fallon? Do you really think so?