Who got an 800 on Math?

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
#1

<p>The question is two fold:
1) This is from the PSAT last year:</p>

<p>Points A, B, and X do not all lie on the same line. Point X is 5 units from A and 3 units from B. How many other points in the same plane as A, B, and X are also 5 units from A and 3 units from B ?</p>

<p>(A) None
(B) One
(C) Two
(D) Four
(E) More than four</p>

<p>What answer did you choose? And how did you work out from that?</p>

<p>2) I'm not sure about the SAT. But on the PSAT I'm never guaranteed to get a 800. I would do the Hard math first for the first 5 minutes, working from number 17->20, and usually got half of the hard question right. Then I proceed on from the beginning to #16 until 5 minutes before the end. But then I will make silly mistakes, since I have 20 questions to check in 5 mins and I will run out of time doing that. So basically my score will be deducted a lot, and honestly I've never touched a 700 on Math.</p>

<p>Hey 800-er, the question I want to ask you for this part is: How do you think I should pace myself? Please don't just say find your comfortable pace, but also show you way. How do you tackle the hard problems since they are usually out of the pattern with so little time?
Thank you</p>

#2

<p>and I have already went over Grubber, He doesn't help me much</p>

#3

<p>have gone ****</p>

#4

<p>Well, I don't remember this question from the PSAT, but I did get a full score in the math section (didn't do so well in CR or Writing). My guess for this problem would be that the answer is (B) One. The way I arrived at this answer is by drawing a figure to represent A,B, and X. If you think about it, all the points that are 5 units away from A can be represented by a circle with a radius of 5 units, for B, it is a circle with a radius of 3 units. X is the intersection of these circles, where the two radii join perfectly, to create a point 5 away from A and 3 away from B. There are 2 points of intersection when circles intersect, thus there is only one other point with the same properties as X. Of course, this is only a guess, and I may be wrong. </p>

<p>To answer your second question, to be honest, I just go through the problems in order, and if there are any that seem hard, I circle them and come back to them later. The thing I love about the math section is that there is almost definitely some way to check your answer for each question, and that's what I do as well.</p>

#5

<p>you indeed are right according to the collegeboard's explanation, but seriously I had never thought of this. It says on a plane, but there are infinite points on a plane so there should be infinite points that satisfy the question?
so how do you often tackle the Math portion?</p>

#6

<p>Well to answer your question about the infinite plane, A and B are fixed points in this plane, think of them as immutable, only one point A and only one point B in the whole plane. They are a certain distance apart, but the distance is less than 8 (if it were 8, they would lie on the same line, if it were greater, then there would never be a point X :P) now draw your circles, see where they intersect, one is point X, and the other is the point which is the answer. </p>

<p>To be honest, the Math portion has always been the easiest for me, I go in order, and problems that seem hard or time-consuming, I circle and return to later. It is the section where I have the most confidence as well, since there is ALWAYS a way to check you answer (even if it means doing the problem again, but sometimes you can use a different method to check your work, or work backwards from the answer).</p>

#7

<p>hey math 117,
So how do you think of two circles right away? Reading the problem again, I realize that I have misread the question. When actually plot the point out after carefully reading it, I have seen what chu mean, but certainly never think of it as a circle though.
So do you plot this problem out or do it in your head?
And as I said above, I always make careless mistake. Sometimes due to not reading it correctly, but I tend to panic because I'm not that good at math so I kind of skim through the questions, many of my points have been lost because of that.
Because there are 20 problems on the test, do you usually go back to check all of them? in how much time? How do youu guard against silly mistakes ?</p>

<p>Sorry if it seems like too much. I'm really panic right now</p>

#8

<p>Well, I didn't think of two circles right away :P What I did is I drew a set of points that were "5 units" away from point A. It kinda started to look like a circle to me. I definitely plot this problem, a lot of this math is logic based, you can definitely figure it out. When I took the PSAT and got my perfect score on math, I didn't study or review concepts at all. Instead, the main principle is the ability to figure things out, NOT memorizing things (at least that's how i see math). I don't go back to check all of them, to be honest, I'm way too lazy to do that. Instead, I check as I go. What this means is that as soon as I get the answer, I try plugging it into the original equation, or doing the problem another way to see if I get the same problem, or in extreme cases, just check all my work again. And don't worry too much, I have quite a bit of panic myself, I'm going to take the SAT for the first time in October, as well as the PSAT again. In fact, I was wondering if you could give me any advice on the CR Passage questions where you have to infer things from the passage, or find out things about the author, like the purpose of the passage, or the reason for doing a certain thing. Thanks!</p>

#9

<p>Math117,
oh you are a junior like me.
So you check as you go? I know it would cost a lot of time for me to linger onto a questions. Time is a restrain for me
and about the inference stuff, DON'T actually infer; if everyone does then the answer is in the air. The idea is stated in the passage, you just have to go through all the answer choices and choose the one that PARAPHRASE the idea the most. That is the correct answer.
The purpose one, wait till you have done everything else and answer it last.</p>

<p>How do you increase your speed, by the way, and how do you attack hard problems?</p>

#10

<p>I got 4 straight 800s in BB this summer and I'll probably get 800 in October.
You want my advice?</p>

#11

<p>^ That sounded straight up condescending. lol</p>

<p>I went from a 650 to a 800 within ~8 months of practice.</p>

<p>This was MY approach.</p>

<p>First, I went through all the problems and skipped the ones I felt unsure about. Afterwards, I went back to the ones I skipped and attempted them. If one way didn't work, I would try another. I even tried plugging the answers back into the question for some. </p>

<p>(this took around 10 minutes)</p>

<p>Afterwards, I redid all the questions ANOTHER way. The only way you are sure you are correct is if you end up with the right answers two different ways. </p>

<p>(this took 5-7 minutes)</p>

<p>The rest of the time was spent triple checking the ones I wasn't sure on.</p>

<p>This strategy helped me find two errors that would have prevented me from getting that 800.</p>

#12

<p>I remember that question on the PSAT. I remember missing it . </p>

<p>I have not encountered a question like that on the SAT and I would have never thought of the two circles but I still managed to score a 770 on the SAT, which I am proud of.</p>

#13

<p>Yo I got six straight 800s on BB tests and then got four straight 800s on the actual SAT. I'm taking the SAT again in October, November, and December; expecting 800s on all of them. Want my help?</p>

#14

<p>^ If you want to help,help. Don't waist your post by bragging about your score.</p>

#15

<p>^He was mocking an above poster.</p>

#16

<p>I got 5 straight 800s in the blue book, and felt extremely confident going into the SAT.
January 2010 I got a 770 (-1), missing an easy question.
June 2010 I got a 760 (-1), missing another easy question (even easier than the previous).</p>

<p>I guess the approach is different depending on your understanding of problem solving. In each of the 3 years of middle school, I took a class that involved a lot of problem solving, and it has proved helpful for the SAT.</p>

<p>I just speed through the easy questions, going extremely fast and not checking work. If I get to a question that takes more than about 45 seconds, I skip it. After I finish the easy questions, I work through the hard ones, work on anything I skipped, and check my work (starting with the easiest ones) all in that order. Apparently I didn't check my work on the two problems I missed, but I feel that I am just as capable of getting an 800 as anyone who actually scored that on the real test.</p>

<p>A couple different school-wide competitions we did in middle school were Math League, and AMC 8 (American Mathematics Competition). These problems may be a little bit harder than SAT problems, but doing them will prepare you for the harder questions, and the easier ones at the same time. I'm not sure if this will work, but I guess it's worth a shot. Just search them in Google and you should be able to find sample tests.</p>

#17

<p>Belly,
Thanks for the advice. To increase your speed in math, I would suggest practice. Take lots of practice tests, and concentrate on the math section. The trick is to get faster at the easier problems that appear first, so that you can take up as much time as you need on the harder ones. Of course, you must NOT sacrifice accuracy for speed, I would suggest first increasing your accuracy, take your time but get every single problem correct. Next, find out how to increase your speed, while still maintaining your accuracy. This may mean cutting out unnecessary steps, or even just practicing more. Now, my approach to hard problems is that (for MC) there is definitely one correct answer sitting out there, one of those numbers is correct. If its an equation and you don't know how to solve it, why not just plug in each answer and see which one fits? If it's something more complicated that you don't know how to solve, look at the solution, and practice those types of problems more.</p>

#18

<p>hi,
It's perfectly fine for anyone to brag about their scores here. After all, I cherish all of your help.
And it doesn't mean 800 on the SAT only, but if you score consistently at 800 on practice tests, you are welcome to help. Just tell me your strategies. So thank you math117, avidstudent, anhtimmy, Xtewodros, PioneerJones, Envoy707.
What practice tests did you guys use? Because I'm using BB and several PSAT practice tests by collegeboard, but I kind of want to save them to September</p>

<p>@Anhtimmy: How fast are you at solving all of them at once without checking? Because solving them only takes me around 17-20 minutes, and still leave two or three to do. Then I'm panic because I havent checked the work yet. How do you increase your speed? And how do you solve hard problems?</p>

<p>@ Envoy:
Your approach is kinda like mine initially. But I'm not trained for any of those competition. I don't like Math or science and don't think I will major in them. So how do you solve hard problems, and I assume you solve problems fast and still have time to check it?</p>

<p>@Math117: You're welcome. How many practice tests did you use? From what source? How do you prevent careless mistakes? About the plug in, I find that very useful but cost time. and refer back to my example, how do you plug in?</p>

<p>@All others: Please help by giving me advice and showcasing your approach. How do you prevent careless mistakes? How much practice tests did you use? How do you tackle the Hard questions?</p>

<p>Thank you</p>

#19

<p>I didn't use any practice tests for the math section, but I would recommend the CB official study guide. The only way I check careless mistakes is by checking my work as I go. And I plug-in with my calculator. I recommend the plugging-in method when there is an equation that you cannot solve, or if you'd like to check your work after you solved an equation. Another great bit of advice I forgot to mention is to use your calculator to its full potential. Sometimes, there are certain problems which makes statements about numbers, and you can use your calculator to verify different statements. By the way, did you use any source to practice CR?</p>

#20

<p>Math117: So what source did you use? So you come to the test- blank, and unprepared for the SAT? Are you highly trained for any Math competition? And how do you check as you go because checking as I go certainly slows my speed down.</p>

<p>Initially I use CB Blue book, but afraid I might run out of tests, I stopped for a while. Then I find some practice PSAT online (issued by the collegeboard) and practice a little with them. But recently I am using Princeton review 11 tests. It is harder on Math, but I think it's kinda easier than CB on CR. Recently I scored perfect on one such section. Don't know if it counts, but I had never been able to score perfect on any CR section before so I'm glad. I'll attempt CB's actual material this Tuesday, though, to see how it goes</p>

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