Up Your Score SAT, 2018-2019 Edition The Underground Guide to Outsmarting The Test

RULE 3: CHOOSE AN ANSWER THAT CONTAINS THE NUMBER

REPRESENTED IN THE MOST ANSWER CHOICES.

This rule pertains to a type of question that comes up occasionally in math
questions in the following nasty format:

Let x   and y   be  numbers such    that    –x  <   y   <   x.  Which   of  the following

is  true?

I.      |   y   |   <   x

II. y   >   0

III.    x   >   0

A)  I   only

B)  II  only

C)  I   and III only

D)  I,  II, III

Following Rule 3, in this example you should pick an answer that has a I in it
because I shows up three times in the answer choices, whereas II and III show up
only two times each. This works because, if indeed I is true, the Evil Testing
Serpent considers any wrong answer with a I in it to be an Impostor. If you have
no idea at all about whether the other statements are true, select I only. However,
if you have a hunch that statement III is correct as well, then you would go with
C because that contains both I (which shows up the most) and III, which you
think might be correct.
Sometimes there is a tie between two numbers. Say I and II showed up three
times each. In this case, choose an answer that has both I and II in it.
Of course, if you think the best answer is one that I doesn’t appear in, go with
that. Don’t use any of these rules against your better judgment.

RULE 4: IN READING PASSAGES, BEWARE OF ANSWER CHOICES THAT EXPRESS AN
OPINION TOO STRONGLY OR THAT MAKE AN ABSOLUTE STATEMENT.
Be wary of "never" and "always" in answer choices. They tend to imply absolute statements.
—Samantha

For example, without even reading the passage, we can make a good guess on
this SAT question: