Cracking The SAT Premium

Translation, Please!

On the SAT Math Test, we can convert (or translate) words into arithmetic symbols. Here are some of the
most common:

Word Symbol

is, are,    costs =

greater than,   more    than +

fewer   than,   less    than –

of ×    (multiply)

percent ÷   100

what n  (variable)

Do You Speak Math?

Problem: What number is 5 more than 10 percent of 20?

Students often make careless errors on questions like this because they aren’t sure how to turn the words

they are reading into math. You won’t make mistakes if you take the words slowly and translate each one

into a mathematical symbol. Let’s use the chart on the previous page to write this question in math. What

number means “variable” so we can write that as n (or x or whatever letter works for you!). Is means

“equals,” so now we have n = 5. More than translates to +, and 10 percent is . This gives us n = 5 +

    Finally,    of  20  means   multiply    by  20, so  we’ve   got our equation:

n   =   5   +    (20)

n   =   5   +   2

n   =   7

You will see the words of, is, product, sum, and what pop up a lot in the Math sections of the SAT. Don’t
let these words fool you because they all translate into simple math functions. Memorize all of these terms
and their math equivalents. It will save you time on the test and make your life with the SAT much nicer.

What Percent of What Percent of What?

On harder SAT questions, you may be asked to determine the effect of a series of percentage increases or