What is tested on the SAT Math Section?

For those of you who hate math, never fear.  Read on and let us take the mystique out of the SAT Math section.  SAT Math is broken down into three sections, with 44 multiple-choice questions and 10 grid-in (or “open response”) questions.

The SAT does not test beyond traditional high school sophomore math.

Believe it.

There is no trigonometry and no calculus.  There are no proofs and no imaginary numbers. There will be questions that concern arithmetic, algebra, geometry, probability & statistics, sequences, ratios, and the interpretation of figures.  It’s all, or at least mostly, stuff you’ve seen before.  It’s just asked about in strange ways.

Remember that even kids taking college Calc II in high school are not scoring perfect 800s on SAT Math.  This is because the SAT phrases questions in weird ways and attempts to trick you by asking things you’d never be asked in a classroom setting.  For instance, a problem may require you to solve for 6w.  I guarantee your high school math teacher has never asked you for 6w.  No, he’d ask you to solve for w.  In addition to understanding the material, the SAT can be an exercise in understanding their tricks and reading directions and problems very, very carefully.

However, there is a wonderful boon on SAT Math.  You’ve been given 44 out of 54 answers!  They’re all there in the test booklet—in the form of multiple-choice.  When it comes to the multiple choice questions, you want to use the principle that one of those five answer choices must be right.  This little fact is really wonderful.  There is an uncountable infinity of numbers out there in the world, but only 5 of them will be answer choices on a given problem.

In order to further increase your chances of getting a problem correct, you must get into the habit of eliminating incorrect answers just as much as looking for right answers.  You should guess on the SAT whenever you can eliminate at least one answer choice as wrong.  That might turn out to be a lot of guessing, but even with the small penalty for guessing wrong, you’ll do better if you guess when you can eliminate at least one answer choice.

We’ll talk about more of these tricks and traps to watch out for in future posts.  For now, rest assured that you’ve already learned everything you need to know in math class to be prepared academically for the SAT.  Now a little review and a few tips should have you fine-tuned in no time!