Up Your Score (58 page)

you should choose (B). Why? Because four out of five choices have a
in them, the correct answer probably has a
as well, so you can eliminate choice (D). Since four out of five choices have a 2 in the denominator, the correct answer probably does too; so eliminate (A). Since four out of five answers are positive, the answer probably is too; eliminate (C). None of the answers (A) through (D) has a 5 in it, so (E) is probably wrong. This leaves (B) as the best guess.

Rule 2: Problems increase in difficulty as you go along.

We have repeatedly pointed out that all of the subsections (with the exception of the reading passages) of the SAT get progressively more difficult as they go along. The first problem in the subsection should be easy; the last problem should be
hard. This should be taken into account when you guess. If, on one of the questions near the end of a subsection, the Serpent puts in an answer choice that can be arrived at through a simple calculation, it is probably an Impostor. Look at the following problem:

What is the ratio of the area of a rectangle with
width
w
and length 2
w
to the area of an isosceles
right triangle with hypotenuse of length
w
?

If you do not know how to do this problem, or if you don’t have time to do this problem, or if you have a personal grudge against the word
hypotenuse
, you should keep in mind Rule 2. This was problem 25—the last question in the section and therefore the hardest. According to this rule, you would eliminate answers (C) and (D) because they are both simple ratios of the two numbers that are in the problem (i.e., 2
w/w
, or
w
/2
w
). If that was all you had to do to solve this problem, it would have been easy and therefore it wouldn’t have been the last question in the section.

You could actually solve this problem by drawing the following sketch:

The sketch immediately shows you that 8 isosceles right triangles with hypotenuse
w
fit in 1 rectangle with width
w
and length 2
w
. In other words, the rectangle is 8 times as large as 1 triangle. So the answer is (A).

Rule 3: Three’s a crowd.

You know how you freak out when, for a couple of multiple-choice questions in a row, you keep getting the same letter for your answer? Well, the Serpent has been watching you and knows this. You’d think that he would use this information to cruelly blow your mind by making all the answers for the whole test (D). Yet he does not do this. Although it may seem that the Serpent decided to show some mercy to his victims, he knows that if nine times in a row the correct choice was (D), the students taking the SAT would panic and die from heart failure. That wouldn’t be any fun for the Serpent because then they could never again be subjected to his torturous exams. Nice reptile, don’t you think?

So, the ETS deliberately makes sure that there aren’t many “runs”—three or more answers in a row that are the same letter. In a sample of 20 tests, there were only 9 triples; statistically there should have been about 24. Also, there were no runs of 4 or more, and there should have been about 9 according to the laws of probability (see
page 234
).

So if you pick (C) for two questions in a row that you think you got right, and you’re not sure about the next one, don’t guess (C). You should apply this rule if, for instance, you choose (D) on question 15, skip question 16, and then choose (D) again on question 17. When you go back to guess at question 16, don’t guess (D).

Note:
If somewhere in the test your answers form a triple but you are confident that they are correct, don’t change them. It might, however, be wise to pay special attention to those questions if you have time to check your answers.

Rule 4: Choose an answer that contains the number represented in the most answer choices.

This rule pertains to a type of question that comes up occasionally in math and critical reading questions in the following nasty format:

Based on what you read in the passage, which is true?

I. Bart Simpson will be the class valedictorian.

II. MTV will stop showing music videos once and for all and become “Mime TV.”

III. Bell-bottoms will come back into style every 20 years from now on.

(A) I only

(B) II only

(C) I and II only

(D) I and III only

(E) I, II, and III

Following Rule 4, in this example you should pick an answer that has a I in it because I shows up four times in the answer choices, whereas II only shows up three times and III only twice. This works because, if indeed I is true, the Serpent considers any wrong answer with a I in it to be an Impostor. If you have no idea at all about whether the other statements are true, select
I only
. However, if you have a hunch that statement II is correct as well, then you would go with (C) because that contains both I (which shows up the most) and II, which you think might be correct.

Sometimes there is a tie between two numbers. Say I and III showed up three times each. In this case, choose an answer that has both I and III in it, whichever one you think is correct.

Of course, if you think the best answer is one that I doesn’t appear in, go with that. Don’t use any of these rules against your better judgment.

Rule 5: Pick “nonanswers” at the beginning, not at the end.

In the math section, there will always be a few questions that have as an answer choice “It cannot be determined from the information given.” The Princeton Review has devised a good rule for guessing on this type of question. They say that if “It cannot be determined . . .” is offered at the
beginning
of a math section, then it has about a 50 percent chance of being correct.
However, if it is offered near the
end
of the test, it’s probably wrong. (Probably, but not
always
wrong; if you think it’s probably right, then choose it.)

Why does this work? Well, the Evil Testing Serpent knows that most students will not be able to do the last couple of questions. He wants to make sure that there is a tempting answer choice for those students. So he makes one of them “It cannot be determined from the information given.” Many students are conned into selecting this sort of answer at the end, when the problems are hard, because they are usually rushed for time and don’t see a way to solve the problem right away, even though there is one. In other words, when a “nonanswer” is offered near the end of a section, it’s probably a trick.

Rule 6: In the reading section, beware of answer choices that express an opinion too strongly or that make an absolute statement.

For example, without even reading the passage, we can make a good guess on this SAT question:

The author’s attitude toward Aristotle’s writings is best described as one of

(A) unqualified endorsement

(B) apologetic approval

(C) analytical objectivity

(D) skeptical reserve

(E) scholarly dissatisfaction

Choice (A) is making too absolute a statement. While the authors of SAT reading passages usually take a positive stance toward their subject, they almost never make an “unqualified endorsement.” You might also eliminate choice (C) and choice (D) because they are redundant. To be “analytical” is pretty much the same thing as to be “objective”; to be “skeptical” is pretty much the same thing as to show “reserve.” You can tell that the Serpent had to find two-word Impostors that would match the real answer, so he used redundant words in these choices. If “reserve” or “objectivity” had been the right answer,
he wouldn’t have bothered to make any of the choices have two words. So that leaves (B) and (E), but you can eliminate (E) because it is saying something negative about Aristotle, so the correct answer is (B).