DAILY SAT Problems

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
1

<p>College board offers Problem of the Day so I got the idea off from there. Since there are many threads for SAT problems, I thought 'why not have a daily one?" So here is how this thing works.</p>

<li><p>Everyday I’ll post couple SAT problems. If it’s math sections, it’ll be around 4-5 problems in various difficulty and topics. If it’s CR sections, it’ll be either Sentence Completion or Reading Comprehension. If it’s Sentence Completion, there will be 4-5 problems. If it’s Reading Comprehension, it will be 5 questions dealing with short passage or 7 questions dealing with long passage. If it’s writing, it will be 5 questions on Identifying Sentence Errors, Improving Sentences, and Improving Paragraphs. </p></li>
<li><p>Please post your solutions here. I don’t care if you post solutions to problems that someone answered already but don’t just copy word by word (or almost word by word). Try to answer unanswered questions as well.</p></li>
<li><p>After each day, I’ll point it out if the answers are wrong or not. If no one got the question right, then I’ll post full solution with correct answer. And oh yeah, please try to give explanations. Don’t just pick C because it’s most appearing answer.</p></li>
<li><p>This doesn’t take a long time. So, stop by and answer some questions! </p></li>
</ol>

<p>Ready to go? Some problems may be original by me. Some problems may be off from internet.</p>

<p>Day 1
Subject: Math</p>

<li><p>If x = 5+4t^2 and y = 3+2t, what is x in terms of y?
A) y^2 - 6y + 14
B) y^2 + 6y + 14
C) 4y^2 - 24y + 36
D) 4y^2 - 24y + 41
E) 4y^2 + 24y + 41</p></li>
<li><p>(Grid-in type) If 0 <= x <= y and (x+y)^2 - (x-y)^2 => 25, compute the least possible value of y.</p></li>
<li><p>If k,n,x, and y are positive numbers satisfying:</p></li>
</ol>

<p>x^(-4/3) = k^(-2), y^(4/3) = n^2</p>

<p>what is (xy)^(-2/3) in terms of n and k?</p>

<p>A) 1/(nk)
B) n/k
C) k/n
D) nk
E) 1</p>

<li>StarBucks shop sold 35 cups of coffee. Of these, 15 contained sugar and 12 contained milk. If 13 contained neither sugar nor sugar, how many cups contain both sugar and milk?</li>
</ol>

<p>A) 3
B) 5
C) 7
D) 8
E) 12</p>

2

<p>Not much interest on math I suppose. :-P</p>

<p>Solutions:

  1. Since x = 5+4t^2 and y = 3+2t are both in terms of t, it’ll be good idea to use them in terms of t. We want x = in terms of y so let’s deal with y first. </p>

<p>y = 3+2t so (y-3)/2 = t</p>

<p>Substitute this in place of t in x = 5+4t^2.</p>

<p>x = 5 + 4((y-3)/2)^2 = 5 + 4((y-3)^2/4) = 5 + (y-3)^2 = 5+y^2-6y+9 = y^2-6y+14, or A.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>I’m positive that this problem appeared on CB’s blue book before. Through either brute-forcing or a^2-b^2 = (a-b)(a+b), you get xy => 25/4. To minimize y, y must be equal to x since y => x => 0. So, y^2 => 25/4 which means y => 5/2. Therefore, the minimum is 5/2.</p></li>
<li><p>Cubing the equations and using some algebra, we get x = k^(3/2) and y = n^(3/2).</p></li>
</ol>

<p>So, (xy)^(-2/3) = ((kn)^(3/2))^(-2/3) = (kn)^(-1) = 1/(kn) or A.</p>

<ol>
<li>This is a good problem using Venn Diagram. First, draw a big rectangle. Within this rectangle, draw then two circles intersecting with each other and name one part “sugar” and other one “milk.” Let the part only in sugar be s, only in milk be m, and in both areas be b.</li>
</ol>

<p>We know that s+b+m = 35-13 = 22. Since s+b = 15 and m+b = 12, we can use systems of equations to solve this. Solving this gives b = 5 or B.</p>

3

<p>COme on ppl, this thread has potential! I’ll start tomorrow.</p>

4

<p>I would if they were W/CR questions…</p>

5

<p>math sucks and it’s really hard to type the answers. go with W or CR</p>

6

<p>that i agree with, mainly CR for me</p>

7

<p>Sorry I didn’t get to type in Day 2 problems.</p>

<p>Day 2
Subject: Critical Reading</p>

<p>*The following passage is an excerpt from a book by novelist Gregor von Rezzori. *</p>

<p>Skushno is a Russian word that is difficult to translate. It means more than dreary boredom: a spiritual void that sucks you in like a vague but intensely urgent longing. When I was thirteen, at a phase that educators used to call the awkward age, my parents were at their wits’ end. We lived in the Bukovina, today an almost astronomically remote province in southeastern Europe. The story I’m telling seems as distant ----- not only in space but also in time ----- as if I’d merely dreamed it. Yet it begins as a very ordinary story.
I had been expelled by a consilium abeundi ----- an advisory board with authority to expel unworthy students ----- from the schools of the then Kingdom of Rumania, whose subjects we had become upon the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire after the first great war. An attempt to harmonize the imbalances in my character by means of strict discipline at a boarding school in Styria (my people still regarded Austira as our cultural homeland) nearly led to the same ignominious end, and only my pseudo-voluntary departure from the institution in the nick of time prevented my final ostracism from the privileged ranks of those for whom the path to higher education was open. Again in the jargon of those assigned the responsible taks of raising children to become “useful mebers of society,” I was a “virtually hopeless case.” My parents, blind to how the contradictions within me had grown out of the highly charged difference between their own natures, agreed with the schoolmasters; the mix of neurotic sensitivity and a tendency to violence, alert perception and inability to learn, tender need for support and lack of adjustability, would only develop into something criminal.
One of the trivial aphorisms my generation owes to Wilhelm Busch’s Pious Helene is the homily “Once your reputation’s done/ You can live a life of fun.” But this optimistic notion results more from wishful thinking than from practical experience. In my case, had anyone asked me about my state of mind, I would have sighed and answered, “Skushno!” Even though rebellious thoughts occasionally surged within me, I dragged myself, or rather I let my self be dragged, listlessly through my bleak experience in the snail’s pace of days. Nor was I ever free of a sense of guilt, for my feeling guilty was not entirely foisted upon me by others; there were deep reasons I could not explain to myself; had I been able to do so, my life would have been much easier.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>It can be inferred from the passage that the author’s parents were
(A) frustrated by the author’s inability to do well in school
(B) oblivious to the author’s poor academic performance
(C) wealthy, making them insensitive to the needs of the poor
(D) schoolmasters who believed in the strict disciplining of youth
(E) living in Russia while their son lived in Bukovina</p></li>
<li><p>Phrase “An attempt… higher education was open.” are used by the author to demonstrate that
(A) the author was an unstable and dangerous person
(B) the schools that the author attended were too difficult
(C) the tactics being used to make the author a more stable person were failing
(D) the author was not accepted well by his classmates
(E) the author’s academic career was nearing an end</p></li>
<li><p>The word “ignominious” in second paragraph means
(A) dangerous
(B) pitiless
(C) unappreciated
(D) disgraceful
(E) honorable</p></li>
<li><p>In second paragraph, the word “ostracism” most likely means
(A) praise
(B) abuse
(C) appreciation
(D) departure
(E) banishment</p></li>
<li><p>The passage as a whole suggests that the author felt
(A) happy because he was separated from his parents
(B) upset because he was unable to maintain good friends
(C) melancholy and unsettled in his environment
(D) suicidal and desperate because of his living in Russia
(E) hopeful because he’d soon be out of school</p></li>
<li><p>The passage indicates that the author regarded the aphorism mentioned in the last paragraph with
(A) relief because it showed him that he would eventually feel better
(B) disdain because he found it unrealistic
(C) contempt because he saw it working for others
(D) bemusement because of his immunity from it
(E) sorrow because his faith in it nearly killed him</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Please answer them with explanations. Thanks and good luck!</p>

8

<p>LOL you got to be kidding me</p>

9

<p>A- “my parents were at their wits’ end”
C- the attempts to harmonize the imbalances led to an ignominious end and so were unsuccessful
D- disgraceful, despite the school’s attempts to harmonzie the imbalances, he remains unchanged and indifferent to the school’s attempts
E- The context implies that otstracism rmeans somthing similar to “removal from.” Banishment matches this.
C- the passage begins by defining a term and later relates this term, which means a spiritual void that sucks you in like a vague but intensely urgent longing, to his own situation. The whole indifference and gloomy tone of the passage imply that he is melancholy and unsettled.
B-"But this optimistic notion results more from wishful thinking than from practical experience. " So, the phrase was unpractical</p>

10

<p>Um, I wouldn’t recommend doing this because there are copyright laws and if you’re copying problems from elsewhere, you’re not doing that legally.</p>

<p>And no offense, there’s no benefit to doing practice questions that you personally have made up, because you’re not a test writer!</p>

11

<p>Hmm I’m not posting entire book but I’m not taking my chances. Oh well I won’t continue this anymore I suppose.</p>