Ron Woldoff

Article / Updated 10-05-2023

Most questions on the GRE are multiple choice. Most require you to select the one best answer choice, but some require you to select two or more answers. The questions that require two or more answers are easy to spot because the answer choices have small check boxes (rather than ovals or words to select) and the directions say, “Pick two answers” or “Pick all applicable answers.” To help you select the correct answer(s), keep these tips in mind: If you don’t know the answer, rule out as many obviously incorrect choices as possible and guess from the remaining choices. Don’t spend more than 2 or 3 minutes on any one question. Guess an answer, mark the question for review, and come back to it at the end of the section. As long as you have time left in that section, you can revisit previous questions. Guessing an answer is better than leaving the question unanswered. A wrong answer counts the same as no answer, so there’s no harm in guessing. You may as well throw the mental dice and try to get it right—just mark it for review and come back to it later during that section.

Article / Updated 08-14-2023

Sitting through the actual SAT is like being on stage. No matter how well you know the song or the routine, the first time you get up there it’s a new experience and your performance goes south. However, the second time is always much better. Students tell me again and again that the second time they took the SAT went much better than the first time, partly because they had more practice, but also because the second time they were used to it. This may be how the testing process goes, but you can close that gap and make your first SAT go much better by using the SAT practice tests to prepare for the testing experience. Here are 10 ways to get the most from the practice SATs. Practice an Entire SAT in One Sitting How well you can answer the questions doesn’t matter if you can’t maintain your energy for the length of the exam. When you’re in a pressure cooker like the actual exam, your brain is in overdrive. Whether you’re omitting the essay (for a four-hour exam) or including it (for five hours), you need to become used to working intensely for these hours in one stretch so you can go the distance on exam day. Practice Not Making Mistakes Under Pressure Did you get stuck on an early question and not finish the SAT Writing and Language Test? Did you skip a line on the bubble sheet? Did you get lost in the pages, unable to find the question that you wanted to return to? Did you know better than to make these mistakes? Of course you did, but this happens to everyone, especially under pressure. Only by falling into a trap do you learn out how to avoid it. Work out the bugs on a practice SAT. Make these mistakes at home, where it doesn’t matter, instead of on the actual exam, where it’s life or death (or a scholarship). Practice with Others in the Room Nothing is more distracting on your SAT than hearing someone using scratch paper, sighing, turning pages, cursing, or chuckling confidently while she works her exam. Get used to distractions by taking your practice SAT with friends or others who are also taking the SAT and, therefore, need to practice. The sounds as they work and sigh and groan or pat themselves on the back (because they also used SAT For Dummies) become less of a distraction as you get used to the noises and the now-present feeling of competition. This also helps your friends improve their scores while they help you improve yours. Practice as a Dress Rehearsal Play by the rules of the testing center. No phone, hat, drink, snack, neck brace, or anything that brings a modicum of comfort is allowed within reach in the exam room. Your breaks are short, and your scratch paper is your test booklet. If this is not something that you’re used to, it will drive you nuts on exam day, so make sure it’s a road that you’ve been down before, and it won’t be as bad. Do you get thirsty? Hungry? Uncomfortable? Chilly? What do you wish you had: water, a sandwich, a power bar, coffee, aspirin? Keep these thoughts in mind and plan accordingly on test day. You have access to your personal belongings during the breaks, so bring these things in a bag and grab a quick refreshment during your break. Practice Your Competitive Edge The practice test doesn’t matter, so why try hard? In the third hour of the practice, you’re exhausted, and you just want to get through it — and that’s okay because it’s a practice test, right? Wrong. If you’ve never tried as hard as you can for four or five hours, you won’t do it easily on exam day. You may intend to, but working at half effort on the practice exam is a hard habit to break, and it carries to the real thing. It’s like running a race by yourself versus running a race against someone else: You try harder when others are in the game. One way to get around this is by recording your scores and trying to beat your last performance. Another way is to try to beat a friend’s score. The best way, though, is to take the practice exam with a friend in the room also taking the same exam. Try to beat this person: This makes it real and competitive, and you’ll bring this edge to the actual exam. Practice Your Test-Taking Strategies As you study and practice, you develop strategies for taking the exam. Maybe you work all the easy math questions first and then go back to the tougher questions. Maybe you try different ways to take on the SAT Reading Test. These strategies give you control over the exam, but different strategies work for different test-takers. What works for you? What doesn’t? What does it depend on? You should know the answers to these questions before you take the actual exam. As you take the practice SATs, focus on your strategies. You will find things that work and things that don’t, or you’ll find your own take on an established strategy. Finding and honing your strategies that work is a very important part of your prep process, but do this before test day. One thing you could do is go through a practice SAT that you’ve already worked. Because the questions are familiar to you, you can focus more on the test-taking strategies. Practice Using the Bubble Sheet Students hate the bubble sheet. They practice and circle the answers in the test booklet, and they stop right there. Like it or not, the bubble sheet is part of the exam, and I’ve seen enough practice exams where the math or English question is answered correctly in the booklet but bubbled incorrectly on the sheet. It counts just as wrong, and the student is mad. One student refused to practice with a bubble sheet. Then he took the actual SAT, and he told me after that he had somehow bubbled two answers on a single line! I think he had also lost count of which line he was on, so he missed a lot of questions. This was a top-scoring student who consistently answered 19 out of 20 questions correctly in practice, but he bombed the exam because he wasn’t used to the bubble sheet. This didn’t have to happen. Practice Finding Your Areas of Focus Do you struggle more with reading Science or Social Studies passages? Do you handle triangles better than you do exponents? Do you lose steam (causing your performance to drop) by the third hour? Do you run out of time? With these practice SATs, you can get a sense of how you work and where you need to focus, and then you can close those gaps. You cannot fix your gaps unless you find them first. There are no truer words. Review the Practice SAT Answers and Explanations After taking a four- or five-hour practice SAT, the last thing you probably want to do is spend time reviewing answers and explanations, so take a well-deserved break and save the answers and explanations for later. But be sure to review them. After you’re rested, take the following steps to review: Identify which questions you answered incorrectly. Read the answer explanations and review any relevant material so you’re prepared for a similar question next time. Fully close that gap by practicing similar questions from 1,001 SAT Practice Questions For Dummies (also published by Wiley). Here’s another thing you can do. While you’re taking the exam, mark any questions you’re not sure of, and read the explanations for those answers after the practice. This way, even if you guessed correctly, you’ll review that question along with the ones that you missed. Review the Practice SAT with Other Students After taking a practice SAT along with your friends who are also taking the practice SAT, or even if your friends took the practice SAT separately, review your practice exam along with them. For each question that you miss, your friend can explain it to you; or if your friend also missed it, you can seek the answer together. Your friend will also have missed questions that you got right, so you can explain those to them! You boost their scores while they boost yours.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 08-02-2023

You’re approaching the end of your Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) prep journey — nicely done! It isn’t easy, but it doesn’t have to be easy for you to handle it and do great. Here are a few tips to help you do well on exam day.

Article / Updated 07-07-2023

On the Graduate Record Examination (GRE), Text Completion and Sentence Equivalence questions hold all the clues you need to answer them correctly. By using key strategies and avoiding common mistakes, you can breeze through these GRE test questions and rack up points in a hurry. Because Text Completion and Sentence Equivalence questions are so similar, the strategy is the same for both: Text Completion: A Text Completion question consists of a sentence or paragraph with one, two, or three missing words or phrases, along with a short list of word or phrase choices to complete the text. If the text has one word missing, the list has five choices, while if the text has two or three words missing, each has a list of three choices. Each choice gives the text a different meaning. Your job is to choose the word or words that best support the meaning of the sentence. If the text is missing more than one word, you don’t get partial credit for choosing only one correct word. Text Completion questions tend to have slightly easier vocabulary but are more challenging to interpret. Sentence Equivalence: A Sentence Equivalence question consists of a single sentence with exactly one word missing and a list of six choices to complete it. Your job is to select the two words that fit the sentence and mean the same thing, and, as with the Text Completion questions, you don’t get partial credit for choosing only one correct word. Sentence Completion questions tend to be easier to interpret but have more challenging vocabulary. The correct answers are always synonyms, so if you find a word that supports the meaning but doesn’t have a match, then you’ve found a trap word. Both question types: The answer choices always fit perfectly and have perfect grammar: Make your choice based on the meaning of the words. Each word you plug in gives the sentence a different meaning, so find the meaning of the text without the answer choices, and then eliminate the wrong answer choices. How many answers are expected? Don’t worry about knowing how many answers to select. When you're taking the GRE it’s clear, and just to be sure, at the top of the screen is always an instruction that reads something like, “Pick one answer for each missing word (in Text Completion),” or “Pick two answer choices that create sentences most alike in meaning (in Sentence Equivalence).” Also, the one-answer questions allow you to select only one answer, and the two-answer questions allow you to select more than one. Go through it once and you’ll be fine. Trying it out The following example of a Text Completion question shows how all answer choices appear to fit perfectly but only two specific words actually make logical sense. Directions: For each blank, select one entry from the corresponding column of choices. Fill all blanks in the way that best completes the text. Frustrated that the GRE question was actually so easy, Faye (i) _____ her book out the window with such (ii) _____ that it soared high into the sky, prompting three of her neighbors to grab their phones and post the video on Instagram. The key word in this example is frustrated, which conveys a strong negative emotion. Choices (B) and (D), hurled and ferocity, are the only choices that support such a negative emotion. Note that this is a single, two-part question. You may select any of the three answer choices for each blank, but you must choose both correct answers to earn credit for the question. Develop your skills for finding the correct answers Text Completion and Sentence Equivalence questions are designed to measure two core proficiencies: interpreting the text and using the vocabulary. These are two distinct skills that you build separately but must use together. Most of the vocab words that you encounter on the GRE are used commonly in most professional industries, including business and journalism. One student came in with a New York Times article that had three of the vocab words that we’d reviewed in class! Such words as ephemeral (fleeting), abscond (sneak away), and imbroglio (entanglement) stump exam takers every day but appear regularly in publications. Interpreting the Text 101 Interpreting the text means discerning its meaning in the absence of the key words. Doing this prior to looking at the answer choices is the best way to quickly eliminate choices that don’t make sense, and the GRE-makers have fun trying to trick you. Getting the gist of the text One way to figure out the meaning of a challenging sentence is to see whether it has a positive or negative connotation. This high-level perspective can help you find words that convey the correct meaning. Take the best and only approach Whether you’re taking on a Text Completion or Sentence Equivalence question, your approach is the same. These steps are the only way to knock out these questions so you can ace the exam and get on with your life. Interpret the text without looking at the answer choices. Complete the text with your own words. Eliminate wrong answer choices. The following sections explain these steps in detail. Interpret the text without looking at the answer choices First, figure out what the sentence is saying. If you know this, then you know the meanings of the words that go in the blanks. How else do you know which answer choices work, and more importantly, which choices don’t work? While interpreting the text, don’t look at the answer choices! Each answer choice not only seems to fit perfectly but also gives the sentence a very different meaning. Then, you have no idea what the sentence is trying to say, and you’ve turned a relatively workable question into something that’s impossible. Whoa, right into the trap. Instead, get the meaning of the sentence first and then look at the answer choices! To avoid involuntarily glancing at the answer choices, cover them up with your scratch paper. Hold that scratch paper right up on the computer screen. (You’re not working math now, anyway.) Silly? Yes. Effective? Absolutely. Students tell me it’s a lifesaver. Complete the text with your own words The next step is finding your own words to complete the text. Your words don’t have to be perfect — you’re not writing the sentence — but they do have to support the meaning of the sentence. This way, you know exactly what to look for and can eliminate answer choices (which is the following step). Right now, you’re still covering up the answer choices with your scratch paper. Try to picture what’s happening in the text. Even though you may arrange it differently, your key words will match the missing words in the question. Your own words may not fit perfectly or match the answer choices — but they don’t have to. Instead, they serve a more important purpose. They make the wrong answers clearly stand out. Now you go to the next step: Eliminate wrong answer choices. Eliminate wrong answer choices The final step to knocking out these questions is eliminating the wrong answer choices. Now that you know what the sentence is saying, the wrong answers are clear. These questions can be challenging, so if you’re not sure whether an answer choice should be crossed off, don’t spend time on it. Instead, mark it as “maybe” and go on to the next answer choice. Usually, you’ll finish reviewing the answer choices with one marked “maybe” and the others eliminated. Go with the “maybe” choice and move on. Worst case, if you have to guess, you’ve narrowed down the answers to guess from. Then mark the question for review and return to it later. These verbal questions should take you less than a minute each, saving you valuable time for the time-intensive Reading Comprehension questions. Interpreting trickier sentences If every Text Completion and Sentence Equivalence question were as easy, everyone would get a perfect 170 on the Verbal section, and testing would be pointless. However, the actual GRE questions can be more challenging to interpret. When you come across these sentences, start with the three basic strategies mentioned earlier and build on them with these steps: Use transition words to get the gist of the phrases. Start with the second or third missing word. Use transition words to get the gist of the phrases Transition words exist in almost all Text Completion and Sentence Equivalence questions (and other sentences) and serve as valuable clues to interpreting the meaning of a sentence. (Transition words connect two ideas in a sentence or paragraph and tell you whether the two ideas in the sentence agree or contradict one another.) Transition words help you decipher the meaning of a sentence with key words missing. For example, changing the transition word in the following sentence completely alters its meaning: Although he ran as fast as he could, Eric _____ the bus. The transition word although, indicating contrast, tells you that Eric missed the bus. Consider the same sentence with a different transition word: Because he ran as fast as he could, Eric _____ the bus. The transition word because, indicating cause-and-effect, tells you that Eric caught the bus. With a little practice, transition words become easy to identify and use to your advantage. They’re helpful when breaking the sentence into pieces (which is the next step) and are used frequently in the Analytical Writing portion of the GRE. Common transition words include the following: although and because but despite either/or however in spite of moreover nonetheless therefore or The English language has hundreds of transition words. Fortunately, you don’t need to memorize them, but you do need to be able to spot them. Most transition words can be divided into two categories: continuing and contrasting. Continuing transition words — and, because, moreover, and therefore — indicate that the one part of the sentence will continue the thought of the other part. Contrasting transition words — although, but, despite, however, in spite of, and nonetheless — indicate that one part of the sentence will contrast the other part. In the previous example with Eric and the bus, changing the transition from a continuing to a contrasting word (in this case, although to because) directly changes the meaning of the sentence. Note that the transition word isn’t always in the middle of the sentence. Now to work on the second step. Start with the second or third missing word Many Text Completion questions have two or three words missing. Often the first missing word could be anything, and the second (or third) missing word tells you the first one. Look at this example: Although she usually was of a (i) _____ nature, Patty was (ii) _____ when the professor assigned a paper due the day after spring break. The transition word although clues you in to the gist of the first phrase. It tells you that Patty’s usual nature is different from the way she felt when receiving her assignment. But this isn’t enough — Patty could usually be of any nature: good, bad, cantankerous (cranky), sanguine (cheerful), capricious (fickle). You need the gist of the second missing word to find the first one. Second missing word: Patty was _____ when the professor assigned a paper due the day after spring break. From the second missing word, you can infer that she was annoyed when the professor assigned a paper. It could be different, but probably not. Most people are usually some form of disappointed when assigned papers, especially over spring break. Anyway, knowing she wasn’t happy, the continuing transition word although tells you that she’s usually the opposite: First missing word: Although she usually was of a _____ nature, The opposite of annoyed is happy. Patty is usually happy but today is annoyed. Now take on the whole question: Although she usually was of a (i) _____ nature, Patty was (ii) _____ when the professor assigned a paper due the day after spring break. Eliminate answer choices that don’t match the words you used (happy and annoyed) to complete the text. Start with the second missing word. Using the word clue annoyed, which words from the second column can you eliminate? Enigmatic means mysterious or cryptic, which doesn’t match annoyed. If you don’t know what lugubrious and ebullient mean, you can guess that lugubrious is heavy and ebullient means upbeat, based on how the words sound. (Ebullient means very happy, and lugubrious means sad. Eliminate ebullient for not matching annoyed, so lugubrious remains and is the second missing word. Now for the first missing word. Using the word clue happy, which words from the first column can you eliminate? Frugal doesn’t fit based solely on its meaning (economical), and it has no opposite in the second column. Keen, which means intense, also doesn’t fit, so cheerful seems to be the remaining choice for the first blank. The correct answers are Choices (C) and (E).

Cheat Sheet / Updated 05-17-2023

The Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) is your gateway to getting into the graduate school of your choice, maybe even with a scholarship, which then opens the doors to your career path. This Cheat Sheet is a collection of tips and key information that can help you score well on the GRE, get into graduate school, and further your career goals.

Article / Updated 04-18-2023

You can’t get around it: You absolutely must know vocabulary to do well on the graduate record examination (GRE). The GRE tests your grasp of commonly used academic and intellectual vocabulary words. Mastering prefixes, suffixes, and word roots can bump up your Verbal score significantly. Although prefixes and suffixes abound, the ones discussed here are the most common. Take the time to memorize them. If English isn’t your first language, vocabulary may be the hardest part of the exam for you. Using roots, prefixes, and suffixes to tell a word’s meaning can help you. Prefixes to know when taking the GRE A prefix is one or more letters at the beginning of a word that alters its meaning. For example, if a feat is possible, then you can do it. With a simple prefix, you can change that feat to impossible, meaning you can’t do it. Knowing that in this case im- means not, you can narrow down the possible meanings of a word starting with im-, such as impermeable. Whatever the word is, the im- usually stands for not. (Because permeate means to pass through, impermeable means not capable of being passed through.) Following are the most common prefixes you need to know with several related examples: a-/an- = not or without: Someone amoral is without morals or conscience; someone atypical isn’t typical or normal. Someone apathetic is uncaring or without feeling. Similarly, an anaerobic environment is without oxygen, and anarchy is without rule or government. ambi- = dual: Someone ambidextrous uses both left and right hands equally well; an ambivert is both introverted and extroverted. Something ambiguous has dual meanings, but that word typically refers to something that’s unclear. ante- = before: When the clock reads 5 a.m., the m. stands for ante meridiem, which means before the middle of the day. Antebellum means before the war. Tara in Gone with the Wind was an antebellum mansion, built before the Civil War. ben-/bon- = good: A benefit is something that has a good result, an advantage. Someone benevolent is good and kind. Bon voyage means have a good voyage; a bon vivant is a person who lives the good life. contra- = against: A medical treatment that’s contraindicated for a certain condition is something that would make the condition worse, not better. Contravene means to deny or oppose. de- = down from, away from (to put down): To descend or depart is to go down from or away from. To denounce is to put down or to speak badly of, and demote means to reduce in rank or stature. Many unknown words on the GRE that start with de- mean to put down in the sense of to criticize or bad-mouth. Here are a few more: demean, denounce, denigrate, derogate, deprecate, and decry. eu- = good: A eulogy is a good speech, usually given for the dearly departed at a funeral. A euphemism is a good way of saying something or a polite expression, like saying, “Oh, dang!” instead of using certain other words. ex- = out of, away from: An exit is literally out of or away from it — ex-it. (The word exit is probably one of the most logical words around.) To extricate is to get out of something. To exculpate is to let off the hook — literally to make away from guilt, as culp means guilt. im-/in- = not: Something impossible isn’t possible — it just can’t happen. Someone immortal isn’t going to die but will live forever, because mortal means able to die. Someone implacable can’t be calmed down, because placate means to ease one’s anger. Similarly, something inappropriate isn’t appropriate, and someone inept isn’t adept, meaning he’s not skillful. Someone who’s insolvent has no money and is bankrupt, like most students after four years of college. Note that im- and in- can also mean into — (immerse means to put into), inside (innate means something born inside of you), or beginning (as in initial) — but these meanings are less common. ne-/mal- = bad: Something negative is bad, like a negative attitude. Someone nefarious is full of bad, or wicked and evil; you may read about a nefarious wizard in a fantasy novel. Something malicious also is full of bad, or wicked and harmful, such as a malicious rumor. post- = after: When the clock reads 5 p.m., the m. stands for post meridiem, which means after the middle of the day. Something postmortem occurs after death. There’s an exception to every prefix. For example, a-/an- may mean the opposite in most contexts, but with the word aver, it does not refer to the opposite of ver, which means truth. The prefix ambi- may refer to dual, but someone ambitious doesn’t necessarily have dual goals. Suffixes you should know before taking the GRE A suffix is usually three or four letters at the end of a word that give the word a specific inflection or change its type, such as from a verb to an adjective; for example, to transform the verb study into the adjective studious, you change the y to i and add the suffix -ous. Following are some common suffixes along with related examples: -ate = to make: To duplicate is to make double. To renovate is to make new again (nov means new). To placate is to make peaceful or calm (plac means peace or calm). -ette = little: A cigarette is a little cigar. A dinette table is a little dining table. A coquette is a little flirt (literally, a little chicken, but that doesn’t sound as pretty). -illo = little: An armadillo is a little armored animal. A peccadillo is a little sin. (You might know that pecar means “to sin.”) -ify (-efy) = to make: To beautify is to make beautiful. To ossify is to become rigid or make bone. (If you break your wrist, it takes weeks to ossify again, or for the bone to regenerate.) To deify is to make into a deity, a god. To liquefy is to turn a solid into a liquid. -ist = a person: A typist is a person who types. A pugilist is a person who fights, a boxer (pug means war or fight). A pacifist is a person who believes in peace, a noncombatant (pac means peace or calm). -ity = a noun suffix that doesn’t actually mean anything; it just turns a word into a noun: Anxiety is the noun form of anxious. Serenity is the noun form of serene. Timidity is the noun form of timid. -ize = to make: To alphabetize is to make alphabetical. To immunize is to make immune. To ostracize is to make separate from the group, or to shun. -ous = full of (very): Someone joyous is full of joy. Someone amorous is full of amour, or love. Someone pulchritudinous is full of beauty and, therefore, beautiful. Try saying that to your loved one. Word roots to know for the GRE test The root of a word is the core part of a word that gives the word its basic meaning. Recognizing a common root helps you discern the meaning of an unfamiliar word. For example, knowing that ver means truth, as in verify, you can recognize that the unfamiliar word aver has something to do with truth. Aver means to hold true or affirm the truth. Following are some common roots along with related examples: ambu = walk, move: In a hospital, patients are either bedridden (they can’t move) or ambulatory (they can walk and move about). A somnambulist is a sleepwalker. Som- means sleep, -ist is a person, and ambu is to walk or move. andro = man: An android is a robot shaped like a man. Someone androgynous exhibits both male (andro) and female (gyn) anthro = human or mankind: Anthropology is the study of humans, and a misanthrope hates humans. bellu, belli = war, fight: If you’re belligerent, you’re ready to fight — and an antebellum mansion, mentioned above with prefixes, was created before the Civil War. (Remember that ante- means before.) cred = trust or belief: Something incredible is unbelievable, such as the excuse “I would’ve picked you up on time, but there was a 15-car pileup on the freeway. I barely got out of there!” Saying something is incredible is like saying it’s unbelievable, and if you’re credulous, you’re trusting and naive (literally, full of trust). Be careful not to confuse the words credible and credulous. Something credible is trustable or believable. A credible excuse can get you out of trouble if you turn a paper in late. Credulous, on the other hand, means full of trust, naive, or gullible. The more credulous your professor is, the less credible that excuse needs to be. Furthermore, if you’re incredulous, then you doubt something is true. gnos = knowledge: A doctor shows his or her knowledge by making a diagnosis (analysis of the situation) or a prognosis (prediction about the future of the illness). An agnostic is a person who doesn’t know whether a god exists. Differentiate an agnostic from an atheist: An atheist is literally without god, a person who believes there’s no god. An agnostic hasn’t decided yet. greg = group, herd: A congregation is a group of people. A gregarious person likes to be part of a group — he or she is sociable. To segregate is literally to make away from the group. (Se- means apart or away from, as in separate, sever, sequester, and ) gyn = woman: A gynecologist is a physician who treats conditions and ailments specific to women. A misogynist is a person who hates women. loq, log, loc, lix = speech or talk: Someone prolix or loquacious talks a lot. A dialogue is talk or conversation between two or more people. Elocution is proper speech. luc, lum, lus = light, clear: Something luminous is shiny and full of light. Ask the teacher to elucidate something you don’t understand (literally, to make clear). Lustrous hair reflects the light and is sleek and glossy. meta = beyond, after: A metamorphosis is a change of shape beyond the present shape. morph = shape: Something amorphous is without shape, while morphology is the study of shape. mut = change: Something mutates from one state to the next, and something immutable isn’t changeable; it remains constant. Don’t confuse mut (change) with mute (silent). pac = peace, calm: Why do you give a baby a pacifier? To calm him or her down. To get its name, the Pacific Ocean must have appeared calm at the time it was discovered. path = feeling: Something pathetic arouses feeling or pity. To sympathize is to share the feelings (literally, to make the same feeling). Antipathy is a dislike — literally, a feeling against. phon = sound: Phonics helps you to sound out words. Cacophony is bad sound; euphony is good sound. Homophones are words that sound the same, such as red and And of course, there’s the phone you use to talk to someone. plac = peace, calm: To placate someone is to calm him or her down or to make peace with that person. Someone implacable can’t be calmed down. pro = big, much: Profuse apologies are big, or much — in essence, a lot of apologies. A prolific writer produces a great deal of material. Pro has two additional meanings less commonly used on the GRE. It can mean before, as in “A prologue comes before a play.” Similarly, to prognosticate is to make knowledge before, or to predict. A prognosticator is a fortune-teller. Pro can also mean for. Someone who is pro freedom of speech is in favor of freedom of speech. Someone with a proclivity toward a certain activity is for that activity or has a natural tendency toward it. pug = war, fight: Someone pugnacious is ready to fight. A pugilist is a person who likes to fight, such as a professional boxer. Also, the large sticks that marines train with in hand-to-hand combat are called pugil sticks. scien = knowledge: A scientist is a person with knowledge. Someone prescient has forethought or knowledge ahead of time — for example, a prognosticator. (A fortune-teller, remember?) One who is omniscient is all-knowing. somn = sleep: If you have insomnia, you can’t sleep. (The prefix in- means not.) son = sound: A sonic boom breaks the sound barrier. Dissonance is clashing sounds. A sonorous voice has a good sound.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 05-13-2022

Yes, this is an SAT cheat sheet . . . but it’s not about cheating. It’s more of a shortcut sheet, giving you the basics of the exam and some advice for improving your score. You'll also find time management tips and pointers for doing well on the reading, writing, math, and essay sections of the SAT.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 04-11-2022

The Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) is your gateway to getting into the graduate school of your choice, maybe even with a scholarship, and then the doors to your career path are open wide. This Cheat Sheet is a collection of tips and key information that can help you score well on the GRE, get into graduate school, and further your career goals.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 02-25-2022

Yes, this is an SAT cheat sheet . . . but it’s not about cheating. This is more of a shortcut sheet, giving you the basics of the exam and some advice for improving your score. You'll find time management tips and pointers for doing well on the Reading, Writing, Math, and Essay sections of the SAT.

Article / Updated 10-27-2021

There are two math tests on the SAT, back to back. The first math test features 20 questions for 25 minutes, with no calculator allowed. The second math test has 38 questions for 55 minutes, and you are allowed to use a calculator. Other than that, the two tests are basically the same. One thing to note is that the questions tend to start out at a low level of difficulty, which increases as you progress through the test. Difficulty is relative. A question that’s easy for you may be challenging for your friend, and vice versa. It doesn’t matter anyway, because if you know how to approach the question, it’s easy no matter what. The SAT determines difficulty by the number of students who missed the question during a trial, not by the question itself. So, a “difficult” question to the SAT is simply one where more students didn’t know how to approach it. If you know how to approach the question, the question is easy. Furthermore, if you know how to approach an SAT math question, then it takes less than a minute to answer. This means that if you know what to do, you can answer all of the questions in the SAT math tests easily and without rushing. And this leads to the first two bits of wisdom: Make each question easy by knowing what you’re doing. There aren’t that many topics on SAT Math. There are a few, and they’re all topics that most students see in high school. There are plenty of math topics that you don’t see, such as matrices, which only appear on the ACT. Don’t rush, because you’ll make all kinds of mistakes. Instead, to speed up your progress through the test, make sure you don’t get stuck. The way you don’t get stuck is by knowing what you’re doing. Then you’ll answer all the questions easily with time to spare. Here are more bits of wisdom (also known as Math Test Strategies) along those same lines: Don’t take more than a minute on any one question. If you don’t know what to do and you get stuck, that’s okay. Take a guess and move on: Take a guess in your answer sheet. Circle the question in your booklet. Fold the corner of the page in your booklet. Move on to the next question. Come back to this question at the end of the section. If you find yourself working a lot of math, you missed what the question is asking. An SAT Math question is more like a puzzle than a math problem. It never takes a lot of math, but it may take a strategic approach. If you understand the question and set it up correctly, all the fractions cancel and everything lands nicely and neatly. If you don’t understand what it’s asking, you start working a lot of math, so step back and follow the preceding strategy: Take a guess, move on, and come back to this question at the end of the section. You’ll probably spot how to work the question on this second look. Treat each question like it’s worth the same number of points. A question that goes fast is worth the same points as one that takes forever. So, work the fast questions first! Then go back to the time-consumers. Use the test booklet as your scratch paper. Write your calculations in the extra blank space, but take time to bubble in your answers. Even though the proctor collects the test booklet, your notes and figuring don’t affect your score. If you’re almost out of time, bubble 'til the end. Really, this shouldn’t happen. Worst case, take the plunge and guess through the end of the test. A wrong answer is no worse than an unanswered one, so you may as well take a shot at getting it right. Bubble your answer after each question. Don’t wait until the end and then go back and bubble them all. What could possibly go wrong? Formulas on the SAT math tests The first page of each math test has a set of formulas to help you solve the problems. By the time you’re on the second page of the test, you’ll probably forget it’s there — almost everyone does — but these formulas, shown, are still good to know. Just gridding Of the 58 math test questions, most are good ol' multiple choice, but 13 (five in the first math test and eight in the second) ask you to provide your own answers and bubble them into a grid. These questions are known as grid-ins. This figure shows a sample blank grid-in. The grid-in problems are normal math questions but with certain rules: Write your answer and then darken the ovals. The little boxes to write your answer are just there to help you grid the answer properly. You have to darken the circles for the scanner to read it. You can’t grid in negative numbers. No answer is negative, so each answer must be positive or zero. Don’t grid in a mixed number. If you come up with 5-1/2 as your answer, don’t grid in 51/2, because the scanner will read “51 over 2,” not “five and one-half.” Instead, convert your answer to an improper fraction. Grid in 11/2 (11 over 2), as shown, or grid in a decimal: 5.5. You can start from the left, right, or middle. Just be sure that you have enough boxes for the whole answer. If there is more than one correct answer, pick one and go with it. If it turns out that the answer can be either 4 or 5, just pick one and grid it in. Don’t worry about the other answer: The system will accept either one. That also goes for a range: If your answer is between 3 and 7, then any number between 3 and 7 is considered correct. Check whether the answer needs to be rounded. If you find that the answer is between 6 and 12, check and see whether the answer must be an integer. A lot of times when the answer is a decimal, the question specifies that it should be rounded to a certain number of decimal places. For example, if you correctly compute an answer of 1.75, and the question specifies that the answer needs to be rounded to one decimal place, then a gridded answer of 1.75 is considered incorrect, while the rounded answer of 1.8 is considered correct. Don’t place zeroes before a decimal point. If your answer is .5, darken the oval for the decimal point and the five, as in .5, not 00.5. If your answer is a repeating decimal, fill in all the boxes, rounding off the last number only. In other words, darken the ovals for .333 or .667 ( 1/3 and 2/3 expressed as decimals), not .3 or .67 (See C in the figure). Note that you don’t have to round the last number: If the answer is 2/3, you can grid that, or .666 or .667: any of those three is correct. Probably just grid the fraction. Don’t worry if you get more than one possible answer. Some grid-in questions have several possible right answers. (Usually those problems read something like, “what is one possible value of . . .”) Just pick one answer and you’re set. Get familiar with the math tests Worried? Don’t be. The most important thing to know — that phrase is used a lot, but it’s always true — is that certain math topics are on the SAT, and certain math topics aren’t. If you know what these topics are, and the way that the SAT asks about them, then each answer in the math tests is within your reach. These topics are listed here. The SAT throws the occasional curveball question in its math tests. There may be some unusual topic just on the edge or outside the scope of SAT Math. These are few and far between, but if you encounter one, you know what to do: Circle it, take a guess, and come back to it later. If you know how to answer most of the math questions, you can answer them quickly and have time left over to focus on the harder questions. That means you. What are those math topics? Glad you asked. Numbers and operations: These are about a quarter of the math test questions. Basically, anything that doesn’t involve an x or a drawing falls into this category, which includes whole number operations, fractions, ratios, exponents, and radicals. Of these, ratios and exponents are typically the most commonly occurring. Algebra and functions: These are just under half of the math test questions and include anything with an x or any other letter that represents a number. The most commonly occurring algebra questions include linear equations, systems of equations (which are basically two linear equations), and parabolas. Geometry and trigonometry: These are about a quarter of the math test questions and include the typical circles and trapezoids along with 3-D shapes, such as cubes and cylinders. There’s some subtracting the areas or volumes of shapes, and just a little trig. The most common questions in this group involve triangles and parts of circles (such as half of a wheel) along with trig. Statistics and probability: These are just a few of the math test questions and involve averages and graphs, including scatterplots. The most common questions in this group are definitely the graphs. So, there you are. You now know the secrets of the SAT math tests. Nice! Note that whether a group of questions is about a quarter or half of the Math Test questions, or whether certain topics are more common than others, varies from exam to exam. The preceding assessments, along with the estimated priority of each math topic, are based on the review of countless SATs with students. Each exam is different, and yours may not have a quarter of this question type or half of that one. But it’ll be close. Also, unlike the Reading Test and Writing and Language Test, where you learn strategies to take on 11 questions at a time, the math test strategies focus on one question at a time.