Sat – Guessing Strategies

SAT PREP
(AND ACT BASICS)

SAT – Guessing Strategies

WHEN TO GUESS
Correct = 1 pt
Omitted = 0 pt
Wrong = Negative Pts
Guess when you can positively eliminate 1 answer
Exception: -- Math Quantitative Comparison -- Grid-In
-- GUESS:
No penalty for wrong answers

SAT – Guessing Sample

10 questions / 5 answer choices ( - ¼ for wrong answers)

JOHN
6 right + 6
4 wrong - 1
Score + 5

SARAH
6 right + 6
4 omitted 0
Score + 6

SAT – Pacing Strategies

Questions in each section begin with the easiest and get harder (except critical reading)

• Know where the easy questions are, and do them first.
• Know where the hard questions are, and consider omitting them. If a hard question looks easy, your answer is probably wrong.
• Generally, students who answer 50% of the questions right will have an average SAT score, 1000

SAT – Answer Sheet Strategies

Know the answer sheet
(especially the “grid-in” section)

SAT – Test Directions Strategies

Memorize the
test directions

SAT – Sentence Completion Strategies

At a recent press conference, the usually reserved biochemist was unexpectedly _____ in addressing the ethical questions posed by her work.

• correct
• forthright
• inarticulate
• retentive
• cautious

Because King Phillip’s desire to make Spain the dominant power in sixteenth-century Europe ran counter to Queen Elizabeth’s insistence on autonomy for England, _____ was _____.

• reconciliation .. assured
• warfare .. avoidable
• ruination .. impossible
• conflict .. inevitable
• compromise .. simple