Multiple problems that I need help with!

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
1

<p>So i just got done taking two practice SAT's in preparation for the March SAT (i have not taken one in a WHILE...lol). My first practice one was not surprisingly low. I got a 1820, then in my 2nd practice test i got a 1940 (with an essay score of an 8). My big problem is the writing section. I keep getting around 570-600. For example, on my last practice test i got a 700 on the critical reading, a 650 on math but a 590 on writing. I really want to break a 2000 so what are some tips to do good on the writing? I have already read over the sparknotes rules which i thought would help -_-.... </p>

<p>Anyways here are some problems i did not get over the two practice tests. Thanks to anyone that can help! </p>

<p>MATH>>>>></p>

<ol>
<li><p>If x^2- y^2 =10 and x+y= 5, what is the value of x-y? Answer is 2</p></li>
<li><p>pg. 835 blue book edition 2, number 16. It says in the figure above, what is the area of the shaded region? Answer is 5</p></li>
<li><p>pg. 860 blue book number 12 </p></li>
<li><p>refer to the following functions g and h</p></li>
</ol>

<p>: g(n) = n^2 + n
: h(n)= n^2- n</p>

<p>Which of the following is equivalent to h (m+1). </p>

<p>g(m) is the answer.. how? </p>

<ol>
<li>Three distinct points P,Q,R lie on a line l; the four distinct points S,T,U, AND V lie on a different line that is parallel to line l. What is the total number of different lines that can be drawn so that each line contains exactly two of the seven points? </li>
</ol>

<p>I got 9 but the answer is 12? </p>

<ol>
<li>Alice and Connor stand back-to back. They each take 10 steps in opposite directions away from each other and stop. Alice then turns around, walks toward Corinne, and reaches her in 17 steps. The length of one of Alice's steps is how many times the length of one of Corinne's steps? (all of alice's steps are the same length and all of Corinne's steps are the same length). </li>
</ol>

<p>The answer is 10/7. I get the whole concept and can get it by guessing and checking but how would u set up the equation? </p>

<ol>
<li>Let the function f be defined by f(x) = x^2+ 18. If m is a positive number such that f (2m) = 2f(m), what is the value of m?</li>
</ol>

<p>No clue on this one... answer is 3</p>

<ol>
<li>Let the function h be defined by h(t) = 2 (t^3-3). When h(t)= -60, what is the value of 2-3t? </li>
</ol>

<p>As you can see i struggle with functions big time.. answer is 11</p>

<ol>
<li><p>blue book edition 2 page 907, number 16 </p></li>
<li><p>blue book edition 2 page 908, number 20 </p></li>
<li><p>If n and p are integers greater than 1 and if p is a factor of both n+3 and n+10, what is the value of p? </p></li>
</ol>

<p>Answer is 7</p>

<ol>
<li><p>blue book edition 2 pg 919, number 15</p></li>
<li><p>If xy= 7 and x-y = 5, then x^2y- xy^2 = </p></li>
</ol>

<p>Answer is 35</p>

<p>Once again if you dont have the blue book dont worry about those. But i can tell from these problems that my biggest weaknesses are geometry and functions. Good thing geometry problems are no longer that stressed on the latest SAT's! </p>

<p>WRITING- </p>

<ol>
<li>(Given her strong sense) of social justice, Burns (vehemently) (protested over) her party's failure (to support) a tax decrease for senior citizens. NO ERROR </li>
</ol>

<p>Why is the answer protested over? </p>

<ol>
<li>(Today) a medical doctor must often (make a choice) between (engaging in) private practice (or) engaging in research. no error. </li>
</ol>

<p>HOW IS IT OR???????? </p>

<ol>
<li>Because the workers approached their jobs with very little interest and almost no energy, (their productivity was, not surprisingly, very low.) </li>
</ol>

<p>The answer is somehow THAT????????? How, its extremely awkward </p>

<ol>
<li>(Although the global food crisis is most obvious in the tropics, the ) temperate zones may have a similar problem soon. </li>
</ol>

<p>This is the answer but i picked, Although the global food crisis had been most obvious in the tropics, the... </p>

<p>Can't they both be right? </p>

<ol>
<li>High school graduates usually do not end up earning as much income as college graduates (do, this being why so many high school graduates) go on to pursue college degrees. </li>
</ol>

<p>The right answer is do; this fact explains why so many high school students... </p>

<p>Why can't it be- do, explaining why so many high school students... </p>

<ol>
<li>(Because economic hardship is the real source of many other problems it is the reason why) the revolutionary government attacked inflation first.</li>
</ol>

<p>I was between these 2
Because economic hardship is the real source of many other problems,
As a result of economic hardship causing many other problems,</p>

<p>The first one is the answer...why?</p>

<ol>
<li><p>The department (has introduced) pictorial traffic signs because drivers can react to (this) (more quickly) than (to verbal ones). Why is it this, can't it be to verbal ones as well? </p></li>
<li><p>(Alerted by) the nervousness and evasiveness of the witness, the jurors were quick (to perceive) that his statements were (inconsistent to) (those) he had made earlier. NO error. </p></li>
</ol>

<p>Answer is inconsistent to.. why? </p>

<ol>
<li>When we read, we first form innumerable (impressions and then those impressions are evaluated) as we read on.<br></li>
</ol>

<p>I was between 2
impressions and then evaluate those impressions..
impressions, then we evaluate those impressions... </p>

<p>The answer is the first choice...why? </p>

<ol>
<li>(The eerie songs of humpback whales, often lower in pitch and longer than birds, ) are intriguing to scientists partly because whales have no functional vocal chords. </li>
</ol>

<p>Too many possible answer but the answer is this, why? :</p>

<p>The eerie songs of humpback whales, often lower in pitch and lasting loner than birds, ....</p>

2

<p>For number 1 in the math section, just factor because it is a diffrence of squares. x^2-y^2=10 can factor into (x-y)(x+y)=10 They tell you (x+y)=5, so (x-y) has to equal 2…2 times 5 is 10.</p>

3

<p>Number 2 in the math section: they tell you the left side is divided into 2 parts, with lengths 1 and 2, respectively. The bottom of the square is 3, so we assume the small part of this side is 1. That gives us 2 sides of the triangle in the lower left corner, so we apply the pythagorean theorem, a^2 + b^2=c^2. so, we have 2^2 + 1^2=c^2. This is 5=c^2. Take the square root of c, and you get c=5^(1/2) (the same as the square root of 5 if you dont know…i dont know how to make the square root symbol.) You now have one side of the square, so just square it to get the area…the square root of 5 squared is 5.</p>

4

<p>thanks!!!</p>

5

<p>Number 3 in the math section: Since they tell you PB is 4, and points P, A, and B are equally spaced out, we know segment PA is 2, and AB is 2. Same for the other side: segment PQ is 3 and QR is also 3. They also tell us Segment AQ is 4. With this, we have the lengths of 3 of the 4 sides of the quadrilateral and just need the last one to find the perimeter…so, if you recall from geometry, there is something called the midline theorem (I had to look it up to make sure I was using it right). Since segment AQ divides the 2 sides of the triangle PBR into equal parts, we know that segment AQ is both parallel to the last side of the triangle and is half the length of it. Since, AQ is 4, the last side of the triangle BR is 8. So, adding the sides we get the perimeter to be 2+3+4+8=17.</p>

6

<p>Ohh wow, i was having trouble finding line segment BR but that makes sense for it to be 8… thanks once again</p>

7

<p>BUMP bump bump</p>

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<p>i got number 6 math now, but please help with the writing especially!!!</p>

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<p>1.protest against. idiomatic error… and please make your questions clearer… i have trouble distinguishing from what’s part of the error in a question and the correct parts.</p>

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<p>BUMP, help with the writing mainly</p>

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<p>On the writing questions:</p>

<h1>2: He must decide between this AND that. It is idiomatically incorrect to say “between this or that.”</h1>

<h1>3: It really would help if you would print the entire question! I agree the sentence as written is not stylistically as elegant as it could be. However, it is better than options B-E.</h1>

<h1>4: Your choice changes the meaning of the sentence, which is illegitimate on the SAT. When you say that the food crisis HAD been most obvious in the tropics, you are implying that it is not longer the most obvious there. However, the meaning of the original clearly states that - in the present - it is still the most obvious.</h1>

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<p>More:</p>

<h1>5: The correct answer choice corrects a run on sentence with a semicolon. Your answer choice introduces a participle ambiguity into the sentence. In your selection, it grammatically seems as if the graduate students are doing the explaining. Logically, it is a particular fact that explains another fact, and your choice doesn’t clarify that properly.</h1>

<h1>6: The original was redundant. Your selection eliminates that, but it is awkward and wordy. Stylistically, it is a worse choice than the correct answer.</h1>

<h1>7: No. The word “this” in the original sentence is supposed to refer to “traffic signs.” Since “signs” is plural, you need a plural pronoun as well (i.e. “them”).</h1>

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<p>Still more:</p>

<h1>8: “Inconsistent to” is idiomatically incorrect. We should say “inconsistent with.”</h1>

<h1>9: The problem with the original is that is switches between active and passive voice, so the structure isn’t parallel. Both of your listed options correct that error. However, your selection introduces a new error . . . a run-on. Your selection would only work if that comma was changed to a semicolon (or if the word “and” was added right after the comma).</h1>

<h1>10: In the original, the songs are longer than birds. What does that even mean? That the song is longer than 6 inches? One of the other answer choices introduces an agreement error (“that” cannot modify “songs”). I have no other idea what the other answer choices are, so I can’t comment on why they are wrong.</h1>

<p>Next time, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE carefully type out the whole question and the answer choices, and put the parts that could be replaced in parentheses. This was really annoying - I had to look up every question to even understand what you were asking. There are lots of people on this BB that want to help you out, but not if you make it difficult.</p>

14

<p>I know, i tried to be clear and that took an hour and a half to do. If i put out all the answer choices that would take even longer. Next time i will though, to make it easier.</p>

<p>So thank you for the help, i noticed that i struggle with the proper idioms. How can I improve on this? And i feel there are so many rules on the writing section that its impossible to do well. Like why can’t you choose between this or that? Why does it have to be this and that?
Also, i feel like the SAT often makes you choose between 2 grammatically correct sentences where you have to decide which is less awkward. Can’t that be different for people? I’m referring to number 6 on the writing section by the way. </p>

<p>It just baffles me how people can get an 800 on the writing. Personally i want to improve from the 570 im currently at and get to a 700. Think its possible?</p>