The SAT measures the skills you have learned in and outside of the classroom and how well you can apply that knowledge. It tests how you think, solve problems, and communicate.
The test is composed of three sections:
■ Critical reading, which has sentence completion and passage- based reading questions.
■ Mathematics, which is based on the math that college-bound students typically learn during their first three years of high school.
■ Writing, which has multiple-choice questions and a written essay
You have 3 hours and 45 minutes to complete the entire test.
■ In your test booklet, mark the questions that you skipped and to which you want to return. Mark your answers in the correct column of your answer sheet. The answer sheet has five circles for each question. In certain SAT Subject Tests, some questions have only three or four possible answers.
■ Check your answer sheet to make sure you are placing your
■ Always use a No. 2 pencil. All answer sheet circles must be filled in darkly and completely with a No. 2 pencil. The SAT essay must be written with a No. 2 pencil.
All multiple-choice questions are scored the same way: one point for each correct answer, and one-quarter point subtracted for a wrong answer. No points are subtracted for answers left blank.
The total score for each section is on a 200–800 scale.
The Critical Reading Section
The critical reading section gives you a chance to show how well you understand what you read. This section has two types of questions:
■ Sentence completions (19 questions)
■ Passage-based reading (48 questions)
Note: Calculators may not be on your desk or used on the critical reading section of the SAT.
Sentence Completions
Sentence completion questions measure your
■ knowledge of the meanings of words;
■ ability to understand how the diferent parts of a sentence fit together logically.
Passage-Based Reading
The reading questions on the SAT measure your ability to read and think carefully about several dif erent passages ranging in length from about 100 to about 850 words. Passages are taken from a variety of fi elds, including the humanities, social studies, natural sciences, and literary fi ction. They vary in style and can include narrative, argumentative, and expository elements. Some selections consist of a pair of related passages on a shared issue or theme; in some of the questions, you are asked to compare and contrast these passages.
The Mathematics Section
The mathematics section of the SAT contains two types of questions:
■ Standard multiple-choice (44 questions)
■ Student-produced response questions that provide no answer choices (10 questions)
Some questions are like those you may have seen in your mathematics courses. The ability to reason logically in a variety of situations, some of which may be new to you, is tested throughout.
The Writing section
The writing section includes both multiple-choice questions and a direct writing measure in the form of an essay.
The multiple-choice sections include:
■ Improving sentences (25 questions)
■ Identifying sentence errors (18 questions)
■ Improving paragraphs (6 questions)
The multiple-choice sections measure your ability to communicate ideas clearly and ef ectively;
■ communicate ideas clearly and ef ectively;
■ improve a piece of writing through revision and editing;
■ recognize and identify sentence-level errors;
■ understand grammatical elements and structures and how they relate to one another in a sentence;
■ recognize correctly formed grammatical structures;
■ clearly express ideas through sentence combining and use of transitional words and phrases;
■ improve coherence of ideas within and among paragraphs.
Contents:
The SAT ........3
The Critical Reading Section ..........3
The Mathematics Section ...........9
The Writing Section .............17
SAT Subject Tests .............26
Literature............. 26
United States History .............29
World History ..............32
Mathematics Level 1 and Level 2...........35
Biology E/M ...........41
Chemistry ...........46
Physics ...............50
Chinese with Listening ..............55
French and French with Listening ...........60
German and German with Listening........66
Modern Hebrew ......71
Italian ............ 74
Japanese with Listening .......... 76
Korean with Listening ............ 78
Latin ............ 82
Spanish and Spanish with Listening .........84
