Math practice

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
1

<p>Hey guys,</p>

<p>I’ve been spending a lot of time on this forum for the past few weeks, generally admiring the community spirit of this place and hopefully being helpful when I’ve chimed in. A few of you have visited the site I’ve recently started to build, and I’ve valued the feedback I’ve been given in PMs. </p>

<p>I’ve been working for a test prep company for a long time, but I’m trying lately to develop some of my own materials to bolster the quality of my work with that company, but also to start putting some of the test prep insight I’ve gained in my employment back out into the world for general use. I like being paid to do SAT prep, but I also like the idea of this information being available for free to those who are motivated to work on their own without me breathing down their necks or calling them between sessions just to remind them to do their homework.</p>

<p>I haven’t been writing material for very long and I’m trying really hard to write questions that resemble College Board’s own style. That’s where this long-winded intro is going, I guess. There are a lot of very good math students on this board, and a lot of purists who insist that the BB is the only good place to go for practice questions.</p>

<p>Obviously, if they’re as good as I hope they are, they’ll be good practice for you, too. </p>

<p>Alright, this is getting really long. Here’s the link to a problem set I put together:
<a href=“PWN the SAT Math Diagnostic 1.pdf - Google Drive”>PWN the SAT Math Diagnostic 1.pdf - Google Drive;

<p>It’s 20 questions, but it’s not meant to be done in 25 minutes; it’s much harder than a regular SAT section and it doesn’t necessarily go in order of difficulty. It’s really meant to diagnose some common errors I’ve noticed in my students over the years, to give kids some direction as they begin their prep journeys. The answer key can be found at the end, as can technique suggestions based on errors. I’d say, if you want to time yourself, that 30-35 minutes is probably reasonable. </p>

<p>Thanks guys, and I hope you enjoy. Hah, there aren’t many boards I’d feel comfortable saying that to after I post a math drill. :)</p>

2

<p>Thanks, that helped a lot! I thought these questions resembled very difficult BB problems. I learned from the mistakes I made on that drill which is always good!</p>

3

<p>Looking at the questions made me sick, so they seem pretty good from a testmaker’s POV.</p>

<p>From a summary glance, 17 seemed a bit too complex, but maybe just because I didn’t want to bother doing math at midnight.</p>

4

<p>Thanks guys! </p>

<p>@chaseholl: #17 is tough, but it’s actually based on a question form I’ve seen a number of times on various QAS’s I’ve come across, and it’s quite similar to Test 2 Section 2 #20 in the BB.</p>

<p>Here’s how to do it:
Line n has a slope of -1/2, and line l is perpendicular to it, so its slope has to be +2. Since we know it passes through the origin and through the point (a, a+2), we can put those two points into the slope formula to figure out a:
(a+2-0)/(a-0) = 2
(a+2)/a=2
a+2=2a
a = 2</p>

<p>You could also intuit that since the slope is 2 and the line goes through the origin, the y-value must be twice the x-value, and just sorta figure out that a must be 2.</p>

<p>Any other questions people had trouble with?</p>