<p>Oh!I have read some posts & Xingi said that the CB prep book is the best .But how about Barron, Kaplan workbooks.....Are they fine?</p>
<p>nope...they dont have accurate practice tests</p>
<p>NEVER use any other company's tests:
1. They have typos, while the ETS ones are all meticulous
2. Their explanations for their answers sometimes contradict those of ETS, so your thinking process will be skewed, especially for CR
3. Just use past tests from the SAT and SAT II writing. . .</p>
<p>Really ?But many students in my country use Barron ,Kaplan prep books while there is only one book of CB ( 10real SAT or sth else).?</p>
<p>CollegeBoard has like two huge books. . .which is enough . . i personally would do each book over two or three times to make sure you understand your mistakes and recognize CB's stupid patterns. and memorize a lot of vocab. . .I don't know why Xiggi's against this. . .even if you know all of CB's secret strategies, you're still screwed if you don't know what "sophistry" means. . .(i thought it had something to do with sophisticated, but I was WAY wrong) . . .but I guess that people in Asian countries study a lot of vocab already (I hope that wasn't too bad of a stereotype. . .)</p>
<p>does anyone know how to factor binormials or trinomials like: 2x^3+54=0 or - 11x^2=8x^2=3x? Thanks!! I am soo stumped on these problems</p>
<p>correction -11x^2=8x^3+3x</p>
<p>-11x^2=8x^3+3x
8x^3+11x^2+3x=0
x(8x^2+11x+3)=0
use your calculator or the quadratic formula. . .
x(x+1)(8x+3)</p>
<p>2x^3+54=0
2(x^3+27)=0
(a^3 + b^3) = (a-b)(a^2+2ab+b2) you just have to know this, like the FOIL method. . .
2(x-3)(x^x+6x+9)
2(x-3)(x+3)(x+3)</p>
<p>hahahaa. . .oops. . .that doesn't work out. . .I accidentally typed in a two on the computer. . .:</p>
<p>(a^3 + b^3) = (a+b)(a^2 - ab + b^2)</p>
<p>yeah. . .plug this in. . .
and I guess it gets dirtier, but just use the quadratic formula</p>
<p>I really can't follow that. Factoring confuses me soo badly I did understand how you got the 1st answer. x(x+1)(8x+3) thanks. But for problems like the other one, I don't know how to set them up: 2x^3+54=0 or anything esle with a cube root and higher in the equation. I am in AP Cal and my teahcer didn't even teach us this in Pre-Cal. I understand the process of factoring if someone shows me. Thanks!!!</p>
<p>I have another one, what abot x^2-5=0 ?</p>
<p>Sorry you didn't understand my second explanation - just so that you know, for factoring polynomials beyond the third power, you can't really guess and check or anything, so there are only a few approaches:
1. memorize the basic formulas
2. use your graphing calculator to graph the equation (set y = blahblah)
3. just use your calculator to find the roots :)
4. use the different thereoms: complex and irration roots, rational root theorem, integral root thereom, intermdeiate value theorem to find a root that works, and then use synthetic division - I think this is the most orthodox and solid way of learning to factor, but it is WAY complicated. . .I can't elucidate this way on the computer. . .go out and buy a college algebra book.</p>
<p>I don't think anybody can really explain to you the fundamentals of factoring without actually talking to you or something. . .you'll need to buy a book and ask your calc teacher.
I CAN tell you, however, that the whole point of factoring is to find the roots of an equation. By root, I mean the value of x. For polynomial equations, there are many different values of x, so some smart guy in the past realized that if you multiply a string of values together, and if any one value is zero, the whole thing will equal to zero. Therefore, if you set up an equation so that you have (x - a number)(y - a number)........(z - a number) = 0, you can assume that if any one of the terms equal to zero, you have found the value of the variable. . .</p>
<p>and I realize that i have just made a lot of mistakes in this explanation, so just go buy a book. . . </p>
<p>btw, you can't really factor your question any further. . .just solve for x. You CAN use the formula (x-a)(x+a)=0, so you have (x + sqrt 5)(x - sqrt 5) = 0, but that would just be more complicated.</p>
<p>Thanks , that helped alot in some kind of way. I just started school and my AP Cal teachers expects us to know this from Algebra and Pre-CAl and honest to everyting. Non of my teachers taught our class how to factor. I have been trying to learn on my own for a while, but not sure what I am doing half of the time. My Cal teacher told us on friday that we will be using the quadratic formula or either a-qaud to find out the solutions. We also have to solve for these problem. Oh NOO :(</p>
<p>A request to everyone: Let's try to keep this thread dedicated to discussion of SAT prep strategy and avoid discussion of individual practice questions - please put those in seperate threads so that this one can stay consice and informative</p>
<p>Do you guys have any advice on how to maximize your score on test day? (other than take a deep breath, calm down, concentrate, etc.) I have been preparing for the PSAT / SAT a long time, and I don't want to ruin it by somehow screwing up on test day.</p>
<p>What ever tanman, that was an SAT/ACT Prep question that my teacher just happened to give us out of a Prep book. Besides, Xiggi personally told me to post any type of question I might have about a particular math problem on this site that might help me and everyone who is having the same type of Problem on the SAT. So I am going to continue to ask questions because this is what this site is for. :)</p>
<p>Xiggi,</p>
<p>First off, Thank you for sharing such a good.. method :)</p>
<p>I have a questions tho, would you recommend people whose native language is NOT English to memorize vocabulary? Because it seems to me that the reason I'm not doing well on the Sentence Completiong (as well as Critical Reading) is because I have trouble with the vocab.</p>
<p>Thanks again.</p>
<p>method sounds great :].. kind of similar to what my old sat tutor had me do. but back then i didn't think it would work.. guess i overrated college board..</p>
<p>Perhaps somebody can help me. I continually score 750 and above on every CB blue book test and easily finish them in the time allotted. When I took the test in May, I scored almost 150 points less on each part and I wasn't nervous. The May test didn't seem any more difficult than the blue book. Since I can't find out the questions that I missed, I am perplexed as to what to do. Help! What can I do to improve my score when I take it again in November?</p>