Up Your Score (29 page)

A comparison between two unlike things without using the words
like
or
as.
For example, the Gym Class Heroes song “Stereo Hearts” uses metaphor to say that the singer’s heart is a stereo.

A feeling or emotional ambience created in a work, such as suspense, hope, fear, patriotism, or contentment.

A traditional story meant to explain why the world is the way it is. Many ancient cultures, for example, used myths to explain natural events they did not yet understand, like why the sun sets and rises.

A word that makes the sound that it describes. For example,
pow, zip, splash,
and
bam!
Think of the old Batman comics.

A combination of words that are opposites. For example,
deafening silence, jumbo shrimp, genuine imitation, act naturally,
or
military intelligence.

A simple story illustrating a moral or religious lesson. Many religious texts are full of ’em, especially the Bible.

Something that seems to contradict itself, but actually reveals a truth. For example, “Youth is wasted on the young.”

A series of sentences that uses the same basic structure. For example, Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech has parallel structure.

Something that humorously imitates another serious piece of work. Weird Al Yankovic parodies the songs that he rewrites, and
Scary Movie 1, 2
,
3
, and
4
all parody different horror flicks.

A literary piece nostalgic for the simplicity of rural life and natural settings.

A figure of speech in which animals or objects are given human or living characteristics. For example, “The engine growled” is personifying the noise of the engine.

The story. What actually happens. Hopefully the story has one.

The perspective from which the story is being told. It could be in the first person—“I”—or in the third person—“he/she.” The second person point of view—“you”—is rarely used, but a good example is the
Choose Your Own Adventure
books you remember reading when you were in second grade.

The central character (doesn’t necessarily have to be “the good guy”).

A play on words that uses different words with similar or identical sounds. Many of the sentences in the
Up Your Score
vocabulary section are puns.

A pattern of repeated end syllables. This is most applicable to poetry.

A story of a family told through many generations.

A work that’s making fun of its subject, usually to criticize it. For example, in Jonathan Swift’s
A Modest Proposal: For Preventing the Children of Poor People in Ireland from Being a Burden to Their Parents or Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Public,
Swift makes the satiric suggestion that poor Irish children should be
eaten
in order to cure their hunger and decrease the number of starving people. Through this outlandish suggestion, Swift criticizes the English government’s treatment of the Irish poor.

The time and place of a story.

Exactly what it says.

A comparison between two things that uses
like
or
as.
For example, “Life is like a box of chocolates.”

When a person talks to him- or herself, either aloud or in their head. For example, Hamlet’s famous speech that begins, “To be or not to be . . .”

A way of describing people that is overly simplistic and usually based on prejudices. For example, an athletic African American, an Asian American computer genius, a blonde bimbo, a lonesome cowboy, and a redneck southerner are all stereotypes.

Expectation and excitement in anticipation of an uncertain outcome, like waiting for your SAT scores.

When an object or a person describes an idea. For example, Enron now symbolizes corporate scandal for most Americans.

The general concept of the story. For example, the theme of Rebecca Black’s “Friday” is the joy of the end of the school week (or whatever you got out of it). Beware: The theme of a story is not necessarily what happened. A book could be about a girl traveling the world, while its theme is the importance of family.

Tone expresses the speaker’s attitude toward his reader or audience. There are as many tones in literature as there are in real-life conversations, such as anger, approval, pride, piety.

A literary genre in which many bad things happen to the protagonist, culminating in an unhappy ending.

Making something seem considerably less significant than it is. The opposite of a hyperbole. For example, if you get a perfect score on the SATs and you say, “I did okay,” you are understating your achievements.

Why was six afraid of seven?

Because seven ate nine.

With this lame joke as an introduction, we welcome you to the wonderful world of SAT math.

As most people know, the most appropriate place for doing math is in the bathroom. First of all, there are many geometric shapes in the bathroom: square tiles, round drains, cylindrical toilet paper rolls. Second, there is generally ample time for even the most freakish discoveries—an ancient Greek calculated pi to 70 digits while relaxing on a pay toilet in fourth-century Ithaca. Einstein himself concluded that space is bent while trying to catch a slippery bar of soap during an excursion in the tub. And everyone knows that Doc Brown from
Back to the Future
came up with the flux capacitor when he fell off the can.

What we mean to say is that when you go to the bathroom, you’re not doing anything else useful, so you might as well study math.

This was Larry’s idea, by the way.

The math sections of the SAT have standard multiple-choice questions and grid-in questions, both of which will be explained later.

This chapter covers seven main issues—calculator use, fractions/units, word problems, equations (including Algebra II problems), geometry problems, funny symbol problems, and grid-in problems. We do not intend to teach the fundamentals of math—instead we’re showing you test-wise problem-solving techniques.

On the next two pages is a list of topics covered by the math section of the SAT. If you have trouble with very basic things, or if you need additional help with any of these topics, go talk to your math teacher. Direct contact with a good teacher is far more useful than anything we could tell you, but be sure to use rubber gloves.

Arithmetic

• Averages (including mean, median, and mode)
  
• Percent
  
• Prime numbers
  
• Properties of odd and even numbers
  
• Ratio and proportion
  
• Sequences involving exponential growth
  
• Sets (elements, union, intersection)
  

Algebra

• Factoring
  
• Linear equations and inequalities
  
• Positive integer exponents
  
• Sequences
  
• Quadratic equations
  
• Word problems
  
• Simplifying algebraic expressions
  
• Substitution
  
• Absolute value
  
• Rational equations and inequalities
  
• Radical equations
  
• Integer and rational exponents
  
• Direct and inverse variation
  
• Function notation
  
• Concepts of domain and range
  
• Functions as models
  
• Linear functions: equations and graphs
  
• Quadratic functions: equations and graphs
  

Geometry

• Area and perimeter of a polygon
  
• Area and circumference of a circle
  
• Volume of a box, cube, and cylinder
  
• Pythagorean Theorem, including special properties of isosceles, equilateral, and right triangles
  
• Geometric notation for length, segments, lines, rays, and congruence
  
• Problems in which trigonometry may be used as an alternative method of solution
  
• Properties of tangent lines
  
• Higher-level coordinate geometry
  
• 30°-60°-90° and 45°-45°-90° triangles
  
• Properties of parallel and perpendicular lines
  
• Coordinate geometry
  
• Geometric visualization
  
• Slope
  
• Similarity
  
• Qualitative behavior of graphs and functions
  
• Transformations and their effect on graphs of function
  

Other

• Logical reasoning
  
• Newly defined symbols based on commonly used operations (“funny symbol problems”)
  
• Probability/Combinations
  
• Data interpretation, scatterplots, and matrices
  
• Geometric probability
  

Sometimes in this chapter, we discuss some relatively advanced subjects. If you are shooting for a good math score, we recommend that you learn the material in these sections. Even if your math experience is limited to Sudoku puzzles, you should still read all of the advanced sections anway, just to see where you are at. If you can follow along, great. Otherwise, if you are not shooting for a particularly high math score, don’t sweat it.