Contents
Preface v
Countdown to the SAT v
SAT Format and Test Dates ix
Acknowledgments x
PART ONE
Get Acquainted with the SAT
1 Let’s Look at the SAT 3
What Is the SAT? 3
The Critical Reading Sections 5
The Mathematics Sections 6
The Use of Calculators on the SAT 9
The Writing Skills Sections 10
2 Winning Tactics for the SAT 13
Setting Goals 13
Pacing Yourself 15
Guessing 16
Tactics for the Test 20
PART TWO
Pinpoint Your Trouble Spots
3 A Diagnostic SAT 27
Diagnostic Test 33
Answer Key 66
Self-Evaluation 68
Answer Explanations 73
PART THREE
Tactics, Strategies, Practice: Critical Reading
4 The Sentence Completion Question 87
5 The Critical Reading Question 103
6 Build Your Vocabulary 143
The SAT High-Frequency Word List 144
The SAT Hot Prospects Word List 145
The 3,500 Basic Word List 146
Basic Word Parts 248
Tactics, Strategies, Practice: Writing Skills
7 Grammar, Plain and Fanciful 269
8 Common Problems in Grammar
and Usage 273
9 The Writing Skills Questions 291
10 Writing a 25-Minute Essay 307
Tactics, Strategies, Practice: Mathematics
Introduction to the Math Sections 329
11 Math Strategies and Tactics 337
12 Reviewing Mathematics 371
12-A Basic Arithmetic Concepts 372
12-B Fractions and Decimals 385
12-C Percents 396
12-D Ratios and Proportions 404
12-E Averages 413
12-F Polynomials 419
12-G Solving Equations and Inequalities 425
12-H Word Problems 434
12-I Lines and Angles 441
12-J Triangles 448
12-K Quadrilaterals and Other Polygons 459
12-L Circles 465
12-M Solid Geometry 472
12-N Coordinate Geometry 477
12-O Counting and Probability 485
12-P Logical Reasoning 494
12-Q Interpretation of Data 499
12-R Functions and Their Graphs 507
PART FOUR
Test Yourself
13 Six Model SAT Tests 517
Model SAT Test 1 523
Model SAT Test 2 579
Model SAT Test 3 635
Model SAT Test 4 691
Model SAT Test 5 745
Model SAT Test 6 799
Preface
This edition of Barron’s
How to Prepare for the
SAT
reflects all of the changes in the
new
SAT. In
writing this book, we have aimed to give you the
advantages on the SAT that the students we tutor
and teach in classes have enjoyed for decades.
Therefore, we’d like you to think of this study guide
as your personal SAT tutor, because that’s precise-
ly what it is. Like any good tutor, it will work closely
with you, prompting you and giving you pointers to
improve your testing skills. It will help you pinpoint
your trouble spots and show you how to work on
them, and it will point out your strengths as well.
After working with your tutor, you should see
marked improvement in your performance.
Your personal tutor will be available to work
with you whenever you like, for as long or short a
time as you like. Working with your tutor, you can
go as quickly or as slowly as you like, repeating
sections as often as you need, skipping over sec-
tions you already know well. Your tutor will give
you explanations, not just correct answers, when
you make mistakes, and will be infinitely patient
and adaptable.
Here are just a few of the things your tutor
offers you:
• It takes you step by step through thousands
of critical reading, writing, and mathematical
questions, showing you how to solve them and
how to avoid going wrong.
• It offers you dozens of clear-cut Testing Tactics
and shows you how to use them to attack every
question type you will find on the new SAT.
• It enables you to simulate actual testing condi-
tions, providing you with a diagnostic test and
six model tests—all with answers fully
explained—each of which follows the format
of the SAT exactly.
• It provides comprehensive mathematics review
in arithmetic, algebra, and geometry—the
three math areas you need to know to do well
on the SAT.
• It pinpoints specific sources of SAT reading
passages, naming authors and books and mag-
azines, and provides a college-level reading list
that can guide you to these works and more.
• It gives you the 365-word High Frequency
Word List, 365 words from
abridge
to
zealot
that have been shown by computer analysis to
occur and reoccur on actual published SATs,
plus Barron’s 3,500 Basic Word List, your best
chance to acquaint yourself with the whole
range of college-level vocabulary you will face
on the SAT.
• It even gives you your own set of high-
frequency word list flash cards in a convenient
tear-out section at the back of the book. More
than 200 words that have appeared regularly
on previous SAT exams are presented, each
with its part of speech, pronunciation, defini-
tion, and illustrative sentence. Separate the
cards and carry some with you to study in
spare moments. Or devise a competitive
game, and use them with a partner.
No other book offers you as much. Your person-
al tutor embodies Barron’s ongoing commitment to
provide you with the best possible coaching for the
SAT and every other important test you take. It has
benefited from the dedicated labors of Linda Turner
and other members of the editorial staff of Barron’s,
all of whom wish you the best as you settle down
with your tutor to work on the SAT.
BEFORE THE TEST
Set out your test kit the night before. You will need
your admission ticket, a photo ID (a driver’s license
or a non-driver picture ID, a passport, or a school
ID), your calculator, four or five sharp No. 2 pencils
(with erasers), plus a map or directions showing
how to get to the test center.
Get a good night’s sleep so you are well rested
and alert.
Wear comfortable clothes. Dress in layers.
Bring a sweater in case the room is cold.
Bring an accurate watch—not one that beeps—
in case the room has no clock.
Bring a small snack for quick energy.
Don’t be late. Allow plenty of time for getting to
the test site. You want to be in your seat, relaxed,
before the test begins.
Countdown to the SAT
The day before you take the test, don’t do practice tests. Do look over all the
tactics listed below so they will be fresh in your mind.
v
vi
DURING THE TEST
First answer all the easy questions; then tackle the
hard ones if you have time.
Pace yourself. Don’t work so fast that you start
making careless errors. On the other hand, don’t
get bogged down on any one question.
Play the percentages: guess whenever you can
eliminate one or more of the answers.
Make educated guesses, not random ones. As
a rule, don’t fill in answers when you haven’t even
looked at the questions.
Watch out for eye-catchers, answer choices that
are designed to tempt you into guessing wrong.
Change answers only if you have a reason for
doing so; don’t change them on a last-minute
hunch or whim.
Check your assumptions. Make sure you are
answering the question asked and not the one you
thought
was going to be asked.
Remember that you are allowed to write in the
test booklet. Use it to do your math computations
and to draw diagrams. Underline key words in sen-
tence completion questions, grammar questions,
and reading passages. Cross out any answer
choices you are
sure
are wrong. Circle questions
you want to return to.
Be careful not to make any stray marks on your
answer sheet. The test is graded by a machine,
and a machine cannot always tell the difference
between an accidental mark and an intentionally
filled-in answer.
Check frequently to make sure you are answer-
ing the questions in the right spots.
Remember that you don’t have to answer every
question to do well.
TIPS FOR THE CRITICAL READING QUESTIONS
Read all the answer choices before you decide
which is best.
Think of a context for an unfamiliar word; the
context may help you come up with the word’s
meaning.
Break down unfamiliar words into recognizable
parts.
Consider secondary meanings of words. If none
of the answer choices seems right to you, take
another look. A word may have more than one
meaning.
Sentence Completion Questions
First, read the sentence carefully to get a feel for
its meaning.
Before you look at the choices, think of a word
that makes sense.
Watch for words that signal a contrast (
but,
although, however
) or indicate the continuation of
a thought (
also, additionally, besides, furthermore
).
These signal words are clues that can help you
figure out what a sentence actually means.
Look for words that signal the unexpected, such
as
abnormal, illogical,
and
ironic.
These words
indicate that something unexpected, possibly even
unwanted, exists or has occurred.
In double-blank sentences, go through the
answers, testing the first word in each choice (and
eliminating the ones that don’t fit).
Reading Passage Questions
When you have a choice, tackle reading passages
with familiar subjects before passages with unfa-
miliar ones.
Make use of the introductions to acquaint your-
self with the text.
Read as rapidly as you can with understanding,
but do not force yourself.
As you read the opening sentence, try to antici-
pate what the passage is about.
When you tackle the questions, use any line
references given to help in the passage.
Base your answer only on what is written in the
passage, not on what you know from other books
or courses.
In answering questions on the long paired read-
ing passages, first read one passage and answer
the questions based on it; then read the second
passage and tackle the remaining questions.
Try to answer
all
the questions on a particular
passage.
TIPS FOR THE MATHEMATICS QUESTIONS
Whenever you know how to answer a question
directly, just do it. The tactics that are reviewed
below should be used only when you need them.
Memorize all the formulas you need to know.
Even though some of them are printed on the first
page of each math section, during the test you do
not want to waste any time referring to that refer-
ence material.
Be sure to bring a calculator, but use it only
when you need it. Don’t use it for simple arithmetic
that you can easily do in your head.
Remember that no problem requires lengthy or
difficult computations. If you find yourself doing a
lot of arithmetic, stop and reread the question. You
are probably not answering the question asked.
Answer every question you attempt. Even if you
can’t solve it, you can almost always eliminate two
or more choices. Often you know that an answer
must be negative, but two or three of the choices
are positive, or an answer must be even, and
some of the choices are odd.
Unless a diagram is labeled “Note: Figure not
drawn to scale,” it is perfectly accurate, and you
can trust it in making an estimate.
When a diagram has not been provided, draw
one, especially on a geometry problem.
If a diagram has been provided, feel free to
label it, and mark it up in any way, including
adding line segments, if necessary.
Answer any question for which you can esti-
mate the answer, even if you are not sure you are
correct.
Don’t panic when you see a strange symbol in a
question; it will always be defined. Getting the cor-
rect answer just involves using the information
given in the definition.
When a question involves two equations, either
add them or subtract them. If there are three or
more, just add them.
Never make unwarranted assumptions. Do not
assume numbers are positive or integers. If a
question refers to two numbers, do not assume
that they have to be different. If you know a figure
has four sides, do not assume that it is a rectangle.
Be sure to work in consistent units. If the width
and length of a rectangle are 8 inches and 2 feet,
respectively, either convert the 2 feet to 24 inches
or the 8 inches to two-thirds of a foot before calcu-
lating the area or perimeter.
Standard Multiple-Choice Questions
Whenever you answer a question by backsolving,
start with choice C.
When you replace variables with numbers,
choose easy-to-use numbers, whether or not they
are realistic.
Choose appropriate numbers. The best number
to use in percent problems is 100. In problems
involving fractions, the best number to use is the
least common denominator.
When you have no idea how to solve a prob-
lem, eliminate all of the absurd choices and guess.
Student-Produced Response (Grid-in)
Questions
Write your answer in the four spaces at the top of
the grid, and
carefully
grid in your answer below.
No credit is given for a correct answer if it has
been gridded improperly.
Remember that the answer to a grid-in question
can never be negative.
You can never grid in a mixed number—you
must convert it to an improper fraction or a decimal.
Never round off your answers, and never
reduce fractions. If a fraction can fit in the four
spaces of the grid, enter it. If not, use your calcula-
tor to convert it to a decimal (by dividing) and
enter a decimal point followed by the first three
decimal digits.
When gridding a decimal, do not write a zero
before the decimal point.
If a question has more than one possible
answer, grid in only one of them.
There is no penalty for wrong answers on grid-
in questions, so you should grid in anything that
seems reasonable, rather than omit a question.
TIPS FOR THE WRITING SKILLS QUESTIONS
Read all the answer choices before you decide
which is correct.
Use your ear for the language to help you
decide whether something is wrong.
Pay particular attention to the shorter answer
choices. Good prose is economical. Often the cor-
rect answer choice will be the shortest, most direct
way of making a point.
Remember that not every sentence contains an
error or needs to be improved.
Identifying Sentence Error Questions
First read the sentence to get a feel for its struc-
ture and sense.
Remember that the error, if there is one, must
be in an underlined part of the sentence.
Look first for the most common errors (lack of
subject-verb agreement, pronoun-antecedent prob-
lems, faulty diction, incorrect verb tense).
Improving Sentence Questions
If you immediately spot an error in the underlined
section, eliminate any answer choice that repeats
the error.
If you don’t spot an error in the underlined sec-
tion, look at the answer choices to see what is
changed in each one. The nature of the changes
may reveal what kind of error is present.
vii
viii
Make sure that all parts of the sentence are
logically connected.
Make sure that all sentence parts arranged as
a series are similar in form. If they are not, the
sentence suffers from a lack of parallel structure.
Improving Paragraph Questions
First read the passage; then read the questions.
First tackle the questions that ask you to
improve individual sentences; then tackle the ones
that ask you to strengthen the passage as a
whole.
Consider whether the addition of signal words
or phrases—transitions—would strengthen the
passage or particular sentences within it.
When you tackle the questions,
go back to the
passage
to verify each answer choice.
Tips for the Essay
First, read and re-read the prompt with care. Be
sure you understand the topic.
Decide on your thesis, the main point you want
to make.
Pace yourself: keep to your essay-writing plan.
Allow yourself 5 minutes for pre-writing and
outlining.
Keep careful track of your time. Allow yourself
time to come to a conclusion.
Write as legibly as you can.
Length counts: write as much as you can (while
still making sense) within the allotted time.
Follow traditional essay-writing conventions.
Indent paragraphs. Use transitions.
Upgrade your vocabulary judiciously. Avoid
throwing in big words that you don’t understand.
ix
SAT FORMAT TOTAL TIME: 4 HOURS AND 5 MINUTES*
SSecctioon 11: Esssayy
Time—25 minutes
SSeecctioon 2: CCriticcal Reeaaddingg—2244 QQuesstioons
8 Sentence Completion
Time—25 minutes
4 Reading Comprehension (2 short passages)
12 Reading Comprehension (1 long passage)
SSeecctioon 33: Matheematicss—2200 QQueesstioonss
20 Standard Multiple-Choice
Time—25 minutes
BBreeakk
Time—10 minutes
SSeecctioon 4: WWritingg SSkkillss—3355 QQueestioonss
11 Improving Sentences
Time—25 minutes
18 Identifying Sentence Errors
6 Improving Paragraphs
SSeecctioon 55: Exxppeerimentaal
This section can be Critical Reading, Mathematics,
Time—25 minutes
or Writing Skills
SSeecctioon 66: CCriticcal Reeaaddingg—2244 QQuesstioons
5 Sentence Completion
Time—25 minutes
4 Reading Comprehension (paired short passages)
15 Reading Comprehension (2 long passages)
BBreeakk
Time—10 minutes
SSeecctioon 7: Matheematicss—1188 QQueesstioonss
8 Standard Multiple-Choice
Time—25 minutes
10 Student-Produced Response (Grid-in)
SSeecctioon 88: CCriticcal Reeaaddingg—1199 QQuesstioons
6 Sentence Completion
Time—20 minutes
13 Reading Comprehension (paired long passages)
SSeecctioon 99: Matheematicss—1166 QQueesstioonss
16 Standard Multiple-Choice
Time—20 minutes
SSeecctioon 100: WWritingg SSkkillss—14 Queestioons
14 Improving Sentences
Time—10 minutes
Note
: As stated above, the “experimental” section can be an extra 25-minute Critical Reading, Mathematics, or Writing Skills section.
This section, which permits the test-makers to try out new questions, does not count in your score; but because there is no way to
know which section is the experimental one, you must do your best on every section.
Section 1 is
always
the essay. Sections 2–7, which are each 25-minutes long, can come
in any order
. In particular, the experimenal
section is not necessarily
Section 5—it can be any of Sections 2–7. Sections 8 and 9 are
always
a 20-minute Mathematics section
and a 20-minute Critical Reading section—
in either order
. Section 10 is always the 10-minute Writing Skills section.
*The above format is used in all the model tests in the book (including the diagnostic test), except that the model tests don’t have an
experimental section. Therefore, the model tests take 25 minutes less than an actual SAT.
SAT TEST DATES
Teest DDaateess RReeggistraatioon DDeeaaddlineess
RReeggulaarr Laatee
22000077
March 10 February 2 February 14
May 5 April 3 April 11
June 2 April 27 May 9
The authors gratefully acknowledge the following copyright
holders for permission to reprint material used in the reading
passages.
Page 6: From A Handbook to Literature by C. Hugh Holman,
©1995. Reprinted by permission of Prentice Hall, Inc.
Pages 35–36: From Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian
History of the American West by Dee Brown ©1970 by Dee
Brown. Reprinted with permission of Henry Holt & Co., LLC.
Page 49: From Black Boy by Richard Wright. Copyright ©1937,
1942, 1944, 1945 by Richard Wright. Renewed 1973 by Ellen
Wright. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins, Inc.
Page 50: From King Solomon’s Ring by Konrad Z. Lorenz,
©1952 Harper & Row. Reprinted with permission of
HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.
Page 57: From “Let’s Say You Wrote Badly This Morning” in
The Writing Habit by David Huddle, ©1989, 1994 University
Press of New England.
Pages 57–58: From “My Two One-Eyed Coaches” by George
Garrett, ©1987. Reprinted with permission of The Virginia
Quarterly Review, Spring 1987, Vol. 63, No. 2.
Page 113: From Summer of ’49 by David Halberstam, ©1989.
Reprinted with permission of William Morrow & Co.
Pages 113–114: From Take Time For Paradise ©1989 by the
Estate of A. Bartlett Giamatti. Reprinted by permission of
Estate of A. Bartlett Giamatti.
Pages 123–124: From Sculpture/Inuit, ©1971. Reprinted with
permission of the Canadian Eskimo Arts Council and James
Houston.
Page 127: From “Renaissance to Modern Tapestries in the
Metropolitan Museum of Art” in the Metropolitan Museum of
Art Bulletin, Spring 1987, by Edith Appleton Standen, copy-
right ©1987 by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Reprinted
courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Pages 128–129: From “I Love Paul Revere Whether He Rode
or Not” by Richard Shenkman. Copyright ©1991 by Richard
Shenkman.
Pages 129–130: From One Writer’s Beginnings by Eudora
Welty, Reprinted with permission of Faber and Faber Limited.
Copyright ©1983 by Eudora Welty.
Pages 131–132: From “African Sculpture Speaks,” by Ladislas
Segy, ©1958 by permission of Dover Publications.
Pages 132–133: From “Yonder Peasant, Who Is He?” in
Memories of a Catholic Girlhood, ©1948 and renewed 1975 by
Mary McCarthy, reprinted with permission of Harcourt, Inc.
Page 133: From Reinventing Womanhood by Caroline G.
Heilbrun. Copyright ©1979 by Carolyn G. Heilbrun. Reprinted
with permission of W.W. Norton & Co., Inc.
Page 546: From Take Time for Paradise ©1989 by the Estate
of A. Bartlett Giamatti. Reprinted by permission of Estate of
A.B. Giamatti.
Pages 546–547: From City by William H. Whyte. Copyright
©1989 by William Whyte. Used by permission of Doubleday,
a division of Random House, Inc.
Page 582: From Teaching a Stone to Talk by Annie Dillard.
Copyright ©1982 by Annie Dillard. Reprinted by permission of
HarperCollins, Inc.
Page 595: From The Waning of the Middle Ages by J. Huizinga.
Reprinted with permission of Edward Arnold.
Page 596: From Hunger of Memory by Richard Rodriquez.
Reprinted with permission of David R. Godine, Publishers, Inc.
Copyright ©1982 by Richard Rodriquez.
Page 602: From “The Guilty Vicarage” in The Dyer’s Hand and
Other Essays by W.H. Auden. Copyright ©1948 by W.H.
Auden. Reprinted with permission of Random House, Inc.
Pages 602–603: From Modus Operandi: An Excursion into
Detective Fiction by Robin W. Winks, ©1982, pp. 118–119.
Reprinted by permission of Robin W. Winks.
Pages 651–652: From Athabasca by Alistair MacLean.
Copyright ©1980 by Alistair MacLean. Reprinted by permis-
sion of Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc.
Page 653: From The Uses of Enchantment by Bruno
Bettelheim. Copyright ©1975, 1976 by Bruno Bettelheim.
Reprinted with permission of Alfred A. Knopf.
Page 660: From Native Stranger: A Black American’s Journey
into the Heart of Africa by Eddy L. Harris, ©1992. Reprinted
by permission of Simon & Schuster.
Pages 660–661: From Turning Japanese by David Mura,
©1991 by David Mura. Reprinted by permission of
Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
Page 707: From The Overworked American: The Unexpected
Decline of Leisure by Juliet B. Schor. Copyright ©1991 by
BasicBooks, a division of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.
Reprinted by permission of BasicBooks, a member of Perseus
Books, L.L.C.
Page 714: From The Soul of the Night by Chet Raymo, ©1985.
Reprinted by permission of Chet Raymo.
Pages 747–748: From “The Art of Mickey Mouse” edited by
Craig Yoe and Janet Morra-Yoe. Introduction by John Updike.
Copyright ©1991 by The Walt Disney Company. Introduction
©1991 by John Updike. Reprinted by permission of Disney
Editions, an imprint of Disney Publishing Worldwide.
Page 762: From The Indian in America (New American Nation
Series) by Wilcomb E. Washburn. Copyright ©1975 by
Wilcomb E. Washburn. Reprinted with permission of
HarperCollins, Inc.
Pages 768–769: From The Greenpeace Book of Dolphins by
John May, ©1990. Reprinted with permission of Greenpeace ©
Greenpeace.
Page 816: From Civilisation by Kenneth Clark. Copyright
©1969 by Kenneth C. Clark. Reprinted with permission of
HarperCollins, Inc.
Page 817: From Mortal Lessons:
Notes on the Art of Surgery by
Richard Selzer. Copyright © 1974, 1975, 1976 by Richard
Selzer. Reprinted by permission of Georges Borchardt, Inc., for
the author.
Page 824: From “Tradition and Practice” in George
Santayana’s America: Essays on Literature and Culture, James
C. Ballowe, editor. ©1966 Reprinted with permission of the
University of Illinois Press, Urbana.
Pages 824–825: From “Postscript: The Almighty Dollar” in
The Dyer’s Hand and Other Essays by W.H. Auden. Copyright
©1948 by W.H. Auden. Reprinted with permission of Random
House, Inc.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
x
Get Acquainted with
the SAT
PART ONE
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