Introduction to the SAT

1. Introduction to the SAT

2. The SAT is… THE MOST IMPORTANT TEST OF YOUR LIFE!

3. Setting Goals • Know what you’re getting yourself into before you start • Saying to yourself, “I want to do well on the SAT” is RECIPE FOR FAILURE! • Instead, define what “Well” means for YOU!

4. Do your Homework! • The UC’s tend to go with students that score in the 1900-2000 range • CSUs go with scores ranging in the 1650+ range…. • Score requirements depend on GPA • The average score (1500) equates to a 50% • SAT has 1/3 easy, 1/3 medium, & 1/3 hard • If you get all easy and medium and zero hards, you will score 1750-1800 • Figure out what schools you are interested in an research last year’s numbers. Look at the range of scores that were accepted to see if that is attainable for you. Is it realistic? You want to set yourself up for SUCCESS!

5. CSU average SAT Scores (Math/Reading) • Bakersfield – 950 • Cal Poly SLO – 1220 • Channel Islands – 970 • Chico State – 1030 • Fresno – 940 • Fullerton – 1000 • Long Beach – 1020 • Northridge – 930 • San Diego State – 1090 • San Francisco State - 1010

6. UC average SAT Score • Berkeley - 2040 • Davis - 1810 • Irvine - 1770 • UCLA - 1950 • Merced – 1520 • Riverside - 1570 • San Diego - 1910 • Santa Barbara - 1820 • Santa Cruz - 1700

8. Setting Specific Goals • Look for the “scaled score” that corresponds with your chosen colleges • Note the corresponding “raw” score • Use the raw score formula to determine how many questions you need to answer correctly in each section in order to achieve your goals

9. How is the SAT Scored? The SAT is not scored in the same way that most tests. For every question you answer correctly you will receive 1 raw point. For each question that you answer incorrectly, you will lose ¼ of a raw point. Every question that you leave blank will not count towards your score.

10. Scaled vs. Raw Scores • Raw scores are what you want to worry about • Raw simply means (# correct)-(# wrong(.25)) • Scaled scores are the scores out 800 that colleges will look at • Once you figure out what scaled scores you will need to reach your goals, then you’ll be able to see what raw score you’ll need to get there!

11. Section I: SAT Basics

12. SAT Introduction: “Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.” -John Wooden Before we can succeed on the SAT, we need to understand what will be tested and how the questions will be asked

13. Question • How many points do you think make the difference between being accepted to a college/university and being rejected from that college/ university?

14. Answer • The Wall Street Journal found that 30 points is all it takes to separate you from your competition. • This is roughly 3-4 questions on the SAT.

15. What does the SAT measure? SAT Questions include: Math (Algebra, Geometry, Fundamentals) Reading (Vocabulary, Reading Comprehension) Writing (Grammar, Essay) What Does this mean for you? The SAT claims to measure your reasoning ability in these subject areas… but really the SAT simply measures your knowledge of the SAT itself.

16. Who writes the SAT? You may think that a bunch of college presidents get together each year to write the SAT. Just because they are the ones who use the test doesn’t mean that they write it! The SAT is written by the Educational Testing Service, (ETS) who also write many other standardized tests.

17. Why did the SAT change? In 2005, ETS added an essay, took away analogies and made the exam almost an hour longer than before, why? The University of California became growingly concerned that the SAT did not provide an accurate measurement for a student’s success in college.

18. When is the Test Offered? The 2012-2013 test dates and registration deadlines can be found by visiting the College Board’s website SAT Exams Offered in… • October 6 • November 3 • December 1 • January 26 • March 9 • May 4 • June 1

19. How is the SAT scored? Each subject area of the test, math, reading and writing, is scored on a scale between 200 and 800. The three sub-scores are then added together for a total score of between 600 and 2400. The SAT is graded on a curve and each section is scaled so that the average score is approximately 500.

20. Section II: Test Taking Tips

21. The Test Booklet: Your answer sheet will be the old thing that will be graded. Make sure to mark up your test booklet. Physically cross out wrong answers, draw diagrams and don’t be afraid to show your work.

22. Process of Elimination: Every multiple choice question on the SAT has four wrong answers and only one correct answer. By looking for the wrong answers instead of the correct ones, you will often be left with just a few answer choices to make an educated guess from.

23. The Guessing Penalty & Basic Strategy: Think about a new way of playing blackjack. What if every time you win a hand that you win $1 and that every time you lose a hand, you lose a quarter. Would this be a game that you would want to play?

24. Here’s an Example: What is the capital of North Dakota? (A) Billings (B) Dallas (C) Bismarck (D) Fargo (E) Boston

25. Order of Difficulty? Order of Difficulty: • Sentence completions, • All math questions • Error ID’s • Improving sentences No Order of Difficulty: • The essay • All reading comprehension • improving paragraphs

26. Be Quick But Don’t Hurry Part I: On the SAT, every question is worth the same amount. How does this help you? Don’t rush through the easy and medium questions to get to the hard ones.

27. Be Quick But Don’t Hurry Part II: Most test-takers hurt their scores by trying to answer every question. The ONLY people who should make sure to try to answer every question are those looking to score over 700 in each section.

28. Section III: Outsmarting ETS

29. John Q. Public: Think about the type of student that ETS, the test writers, want you to be. Throughout our lessons, we will refer to the average student as John Q. Public. John is the average student in both test scores and high school grades. John is the type of student who will fall for all of ETS’s traps.

30. Example 19. Cindy walked to work at an average speed of 6 miles an hour and biked back along the same route at 10 miles per hour. If her total traveling time was 2 hours, how many miles were in the round trip? (A) 6 (B) 6.25 (C) 7.5 (D) 8 (E) 10

31. John Q. Public Summary: On EASY questions, John trusts his hunches, and he gets those problems right. On MEDIUM questions, John trusts his hunches, and they are sometimes right and sometimes wrong. On DIFFICULT questions, John trusts his hunches and they are never correct!