freshman year, most
students take it for the
first time in the spring
of their junior year and
possibly retake it in the
fall of their senior year. In
addition, you may also
need to take SAT subject
tests (many competitive
colleges require them), so
don’t leave everything to
the last minute. You can’t
take SAT and SAT Subject
Tests on the same day. Sit
down and plan a schedule.HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
This book is organized to provide as much—or as little—support as you need, so you can use it in
whatever way will be helpful to improving your score on the SAT. But before you can decide how to use
this book, you should take a practice test to determine your strengths and weaknesses and figure out how
to make an effective study plan. If you’re feeling test-phobic, remind yourself that a practice test is a tool
for diagnosing yourself—it’s not how well you do that matters, but how you use the information gleaned
from your performance to guide your preparation.
So, before you read any further, take Practice Test 1 that starts on this page of Part VII. Be sure to take it
in one sitting so as to mimic the real test-taking experience, and remember to follow the instructions that
appear at the beginning of each section of the exam.
After you take the test, check your answers against the Answers and Explanations that start on this page,
reflect on your performance, and determine the areas in which you need to improve. Which sections or
types of questions presented the most difficulty to you? Which sections or types of questions did you feel
most confident about? Based on your performance on each of the sections, should you focus your study
more on math, reading, or writing?
How you answer those questions will affect how you engage with Part II (How to Crack the Reading
Test), Part III (How to Crack the Writing and Language Test), Part IV (How to Crack the Math Test),
and Part V (How to Crack the Essay) of this book. Each of these parts is designed to give a
comprehensive review of the content tested on the SAT, including the level of detail you need to know and
how the content is tested. At the end of each of these chapters, you’ll have the opportunity to assess your
mastery of the content covered through targeted drills that reflect the types of questions and level of
difficulty you’ll see on the actual exam.
Scoring Your
Practice Tests
At the end of each
Answers and Explanations
chapter, we’ve provided
a table and step-by-step
equation to help you score
your practice test and