couldn’t do one of the cruel math or reading questions, they would guess
randomly and, out of sheer luck, get it right. This sort of thing just wouldn’t do.
The Serpent had two brilliant ideas. One, it decided to include wrong answers
that students would most likely come up with if they made an error. Two, it
included answers that would tempt students away from the correct answer. It
called these tricky wrong answer choices Impostors. With this concept
incorporated throughout the SAT, students would once again live in fear. The
Serpent chuckled hideously. It knew that its delicious years of tyranny would
continue . . . forever.
Picking off the weak—just natural selection at work.
—Samantha
Okay, don’t get frightened. We didn’t mean to scare you. Actually, the truth is
that the Serpent didn’t plan on Up Your Score. We’ve gone deep into its system
of Impostors and discovered that, if you use them properly, they actually make
the SAT easier. In this section, we show you several techniques to recognize
Impostors, avoid them, and best the Serpent by using them to help you find the
right answer.
Impostors are used in both the Evidenced-Based Reading and Writing Tests
and the Math Test. They are the tempting answers that look right but aren’t.
For an example of a reading Impostor, look at this question: