SAT Math and Logic

I just checked today’s College Board Question of the Day (like all of you should be doing on a daily basis) and at first I was overjoyed because I saw what appeared to be a new, non-SAT-esque type of question of which I have not previously seen. For those of you who have been to my first SAT session you know that the entire class is focused on being able to talk about mathematics in plain English. For a moment it looked as though College Board was thinking about beginning to test your mathematical repertoire:

“If equals y squared, which of the following must be equivalent to x?”

They listed five options to choose from, but the answer isn’t the important element of this discussion. The reason I thought this was such a great question is because it forces you to think about mathematics in terms of language. They do not provide a mechanical setup so you cannot solve it mechanically (yet). You have to actually understand what the words mean to even set it up.  In fact, Page 252 in the incredible College Board: Official SAT Study Guide attempts to get this idea across.

Much to nothing, I then realized that I needed to “display images” in the screen settings and up popped a picture of all of the thinking already done for me. I didn’t even have to set up anything – which is all too typical of most SAT Math questions. (Remember, it’s a timed test so they will nearly always give you an easy way out.) Without a doubt those of you who are willing to invest the time to do this in your head will be much farther along than the person who spends five seconds, guesses, gets it wrong, and moves on. Master being a student and you will, yourself, become a master.

– Andrew Turner

www.thinkarchimedes.com