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Introduction
In this document we’re going to be talking about the types of things you need to know for the SAT
math section. The ideas in this document are taken from the College Board's Official SAT Study Guide,
pages 228 to 302. If you want to follow along with these ideas in that book, it won't hurt. Also, if you find
that my treatment of an idea in this document doesn't quite cover everything you feel like you need, you
can look in those pages for additional help.
But it's very important to realize that many of the things that appear in the College Board's Official
SAT Study Guide are not actually tested in the way you would expect from reading pages 228 to 302 in
the study guide. Many of the issues related to graphs and functions cannot be tested directly because of
the College Board's self-imposed limitations when it comes to the format of the SAT. For instance, the
College Board cannot possibly test your ability to graph a function on the SAT 1; the best it can do is give
you several answer choices with different versions of the graph and have you pick the one that's correct.
Such a selection can be accomplished just by knowing how to read points off a coordinate plane, which
means that you don't actually have to know how to graph a function as you would in a precalculus or
calculus class. This is only one of the many limitations of the SAT’s multiple-choice format. To learn
more about them, take a look at my other materials, particularly at these free video lessons.
There are several examples of things like this, situations where you can answer questions
correctly without actually knowing exactly how to do the things that appear in the math practice portion of
the College Board's Official SAT Study Guide.
Another thing that separates SAT math from classroom math is the quantity, and the quality, of
word problems that appear on the test. In a classroom setting, word problems are generally
straightforward and usually bear some similarity to the work that you've been doing before the test. On
the SAT, word problems aren't really like that. On the SAT, word problems may freely combine any ideas
that are allowed to appear on the test. Many times, students are unable to follow the word problems that
appear on the SAT math section not because they don't understand all the phrases and concepts in the
question, but because they don't trust themselves enough and they can't believe that the test would really
be asking what it's asking. So when it comes to word problems on the SAT don't panic. Keep it simple.
Look for phrases you can translate into mathematical ideas. Don't get upset if you're looking at
something and you can't figure out a formula to apply to it. On the SAT, there may not be a formula; or, if
there is a formula, it may still not be the fastest solution to the problem. Remember, to do well on this test
you have to learn to resist the temptation to think formulaically.
So the best way to make sure you understand the basic concepts necessary for the SAT 1 is to
start with the explanations in this document and then refer back to the College Board's own book
afterwards. If you start out instead by working from the College Board's practice math materials, you run
the risk of frustrating yourself for no reason.
With that out of the way, let's begin.
Properties of integers
Simply put, integers are the numbers most of us think of when we think of numbers. 1 is an
integer, 2 is an integer, and so on. The opposites of those numbers are also integers: -1, -2, -3, -4, and
so on are all integers.
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If you want a more formal definition, you can just remember that integers are all the numbers you
can write without any kind of symbol, the decimal point, or fraction bar. So -457 is an integer, and so is
457, but 4.57 is not.
Another way to think about integers is to say that integers are all the numbers you can get to if
you start at zero and keep adding or subtracting one.
By the way, it's a very, very important to remember that zero is an integer!
All the integers greater than zero are called positive integers.
All the integers less than zero are called negative integers.
Zero itself is neither positive nor negative.
So the positive integers are all the integers from 1 on up, and the negative integers are all the
integers from -1 on down. But be careful: the nonnegative integers are all the integers from zero on up,
and the nonpositive integers are all the integers from zero on down. Do you see the difference between
positive and nonnegative, and the difference between negative and nonpositive?
Although these integer issues are very basic, they come up fairly often on the SAT. (For one
example, see question 4 on page 595 of the College Board's Official SAT Study Guide.) As we mention
over and over again on the website, this is because the SAT math section is heavily concerned with the
properties and definitions of basic mathematical concepts.
You also need to know the difference between odd numbers and even numbers. Even numbers
are integers that can be divided by two without leaving a decimal or remainder. Odd numbers are
integers that cannot be divided by two without leaving a decimal or remainder. Numbers that are not
integers, like 4.75, are neither even nor odd. (By the way, although I've never seen it come up on a real
SAT math question, the College Board notes that zero is an even number.)
On page 228 of the Official SAT Study Guide, the College Board notes the results of adding or
multiplying various combinations of odd and even integers together. There's no need to memorize this
because it's very easy to see for yourself at a moment's notice, but it's still a good idea to think about
these things, so let's talk about them.
An even number plus an even number gives an even sum: for example, 16 plus 14 equals 30. An
odd number plus an odd number also gives an even sum: for example, 7 plus 11 equals 18. Finally, an
even number plus an odd number gives an odd sum: for example, 6 plus 3 equals 9.
An even number times an even number gives an even product (8 times 12 equals 96). An even
number times an odd number also gives an even product (8 times 11 equals 88). And an odd number
times an odd number gives an odd result (7 times 7 equals 49).
These are very basic ideas, but they can be combined to create math questions that many SAT
takers find challenging. For example, see question number 20 on page 860 of the College Board's
Official SAT Study Guide. Remember that what makes SAT math problems challenging is usually the
theoretical idea behind them, not a complicated formula or calculation.
You also need to know the meaning of the word "consecutive." Consecutive integers are integers
that follow one another in a series. For example, here is a list of five consecutive integers: -2, -1, 0, 1, 2.
(You can see a very challenging math problem that most students miss simply because they forget zero
is an integer on question 20, page 400 of the College Board's Official SAT Study Guide.)
If the test refers to "consecutive even" or "consecutive odd" integers, it's talking about a series of
odd or even integers that follow one another in succession. For example, here are four consecutive even
integers: 12, 14, 16, 18. And here are four consecutive odd integers: 13, 15, 17, 19.
If you want to describe a series of consecutive integers algebraically, you can do it like this: n,
n+1, n+2, n+3, n+4, and so on. If you wanted an algebraic description of a series of consecutive even
integers or consecutive odd integers, that would be n, n+2, n+4, n+6, n+8, and so on. (These ideas
appear fairly often on the test. For one example, see question 15 on page 491 of the College Board's
Official SAT Study Guide.)
Fractions
Fractions appear pretty frequently on the SAT, and a lot of students are afraid of them. But really
there's nothing to be afraid of.
If you already know how fractions work, then there's no point covering that material again here. I
recommend you read over this section to remind yourself of any definitions or properties you might have
forgotten.
If you don't already know how fractions work, it's unlikely that this brief discussion will do more to
fix the problem than years and years of math class have done. In this situation, the important thing to
remember is that a calculator will help you with many of the fraction questions that appear in the SAT, but
you still want to have a rough familiarity with the proper way to multiply, divide, add, and subtract when it
comes to fractions.
Multiplying two fractions is probably the easiest thing we can do with fractions. To do that, you
just multiply the two top numbers together and make the result the top number in the product fraction, and
then you multiply the two bottom numbers together and make the result the bottom number of the product
fraction. So, for example, 5/6 * 2/9 = 10/54.
Dividing two fractions is also pretty easy. To do that, you just take the second fraction, flip it over,
and multiply. For instance, 5/9 divided by 2/3 is 15/18, or 5/6. (By the way, when you "flip over" a fraction,
that's also known as "taking the reciprocal" of the fraction. For instance, the reciprocal of 2/5 is 5/2, and
the reciprocal of 5/2 is 2/5.)
For SAT purposes, you will need to be able to manipulate fractions in basic ways. For instance,
you need to know that any fraction in which the number on the top and the number on the bottom are
equal is the same thing as the number 1, and you need to be able to convert back and forth between
equivalent fractions by multiplying the top number and the bottom number by the same amount.
For example, if we have the fraction 3/5 and we multiply it by the fraction 4/4, the resulting
fraction, 12/20, is still equal to 3/5.
You may be asking yourself why we would even bother to create an equivalent fraction from an
existing fraction. After all, what good does it do to make a fraction that's exactly the same as a fraction
you already have? The only reason that you need to be able to convert fractions in this way is so that you
can change the bottom number in the fraction without changing the fraction's value. This is necessary for
adding and subtracting fractions.
When we add and subtract two fractions, the bottom numbers in both fractions must be the same.
Once they're the same, all you do is add or subtract the top numbers and make the resulting sum or
difference the top number of the new fraction; the bottom number of the new fraction will be the same as
the bottom number in the original two fractions. For instance, 7/9 minus 2/9 equals 5/9.
The SAT is really not going to ask you that many questions that require you to do numerical
calculations with fractions. Instead, the test is more likely to ask you questions in which you have to
manipulate algebraic expressions within fractions. Even when the test does ask you to do a numerical
calculation with fractions, there will typically be some sort of twist thrown in, as we see on question 4 on
page 531 of the College Board's Official SAT Study Guide.
It will also sometimes be useful to know how to convert fractions into decimals and vice versa. To
convert a fraction into a decimal, just get out your calculator and divide the top number by the bottom
number. For instance, 3/5 = “3 divided by 5” = 0.6. Some calculators can also convert decimals into
fractions. If yours can't, there's no need to worry, since the decimal equivalents that appear on the SAT
are usually pretty easy to figure out anyway. Just remember that .5 is the same thing as 1/2, .25 is the
same thing as 1/4, and .33333... is the same thing as 1/3. There are a few questions, if any, that require
you to know these decimal conversions, but some students feel more comfortable working in decimals
than they do in fractions.
Number lines on the SAT

A number line is a type of diagram that shows the relative numerical values of different quantities.
That might sound complicated, but there's no need to worry. If you've ever had a pre-algebra class or an
algebra class, you've seen plenty of number lines before and you know how to use them.
On the SAT, the vertical hashmarks that indicate different positions on a number line will always
be evenly spaced, and number lines on the SAT will always be drawn to scale.
Sometimes the College Board will ask you a question that requires you to figure out the value of
an unknown quantity based on its position on a number line. Sometimes you'll be asked about the sum or
difference of two numbers on the number line. (For example, see question number 6 on page 583 of the
College Board's Official SAT Study Guide.)
On an SAT number line, remember that numbers to the right are bigger than numbers to the left.
The "absolute value" of a number is the distance of that number from zero on a number line. The
absolute value of the number 24 is 24, because the number 24 is 24 units away from the number zero on
a number line. The absolute value of the number -24 is also 24, because the number -24 is also 24 units
away from the number zero on a number line. In mathematical notation, the absolute value of a number
is written with special vertical brackets, like this: |-24| = 24.
Squares and square roots

When you "square" a number, it means that you multiply that number by itself. The product that
results when you multiply that number by itself is called the square of the original number, and the original
number itself is the square root of its square. In other words, since 3 times 3 is 9, 9 is the square of 3 and
3 is the square root of 9.
A few questions on the test will go a lot faster for you if you can recognize square numbers right
off the bat. Towards that end, here are the first 15 squares:
1 (1 times 1)
4 (2 times 2)
9 (3 times 3)
16 (4 times 4)
25 (5 times 5)
36 (6 times 6)
49 (7 times 7)
64 (8 times 8)
81 (9 times 9)
100 (10 times 10)
121 (11 times 11)
144 (12 times 12)
169 (13 times 13)
196 (14 times 14)
225 (15 times 15)
Of course, you don't need to memorize these in order to answer SAT math questions correctly.
But knowing them will help to improve your facility with math and speed the process up sometimes.
When you square a negative number, the result will always be positive. For that reason, the
square root of the number 16 might be either 4 or -4. Always remember this.
When you square a positive fraction, you end up with a number that's smaller than your original
fraction. For instance, 1/4 squared is 1/16, which is less than 1/4.
When you square a negative fraction, you end up with a result that's greater than your original
negative fraction (because the result is positive but the original fraction was negative) but that has a
smaller absolute value then your original fraction. For instance, -1/4 squared is 1/16.
The College Board loves to test these ideas. For examples of two questions that test this idea
directly, take a look at question number 8 on page 745 of the College Board's Official SAT Study Guide,
and question number 13 on page 585.
Place value and scientific notation

Although it doesn't come up too often, sometimes you'll see a question that talks about place
value. The idea here is fairly simple; you probably learned it in kindergarten or first grade. Basically, you
need to know that in the number 451, for example, the number 4 is in the "hundreds column" or
"hundreds place," the number 5 is in the "tens column" or "tens place," and the number one is in the
"ones column" or "ones place."
For an example of a question that tests this concept, see question 13 on page 736 of the College
Board’s Official SAT Study Guide.
Factors, multiples, and remainders

When you can divide one number by another number without anything left over, the second
number is said to be a factor of the first number. For instance, 18 divided by 6 is 3, with nothing left over,
so 6 is a factor of 18. (Similarly, 18 divided by 3 is 6 with nothing left over, so 3 is also a factor of 18.)
But 19 divided by 6 is 3 with a little bit left over, so 6 and 3 are not factors of 19.
A remainder is the number that's left over when you divide one number by another number that is
not one of its factors. For instance, 29 divided by 6 is 4 with a remainder of 5. This is because six cannot
be multiplied by another integer to get 29; the best we can do is multiply 6 x 4 to get 24, which leaves five
more needed to make 29.
A multiple of an integer is a number that can be reached by multiplying the original integer by
another integer. For instance, 60 is a multiple of 20 because 20 times 3 is 60.
If one number is a factor of another number, then the second number is said to be "divisible by"
the first number. For instance, since 6 is a factor of 18, 18 is divisible by 6. Remember that every
number is a factor of itself!
The related ideas of factors, multiples, and divisibility come up fairly often on the SAT, usually in
conjunction with other basic mathematical concepts. For instance, see:
• question 6 on page 595

• question 15 on page 795
• question 14 page 807
of the College Board's Official SAT Study Guide.
Remainders appear on the test less frequently. For an example of a question that relies on
remainders, see question 6 on page 839 of the College Board's Official SAT Study Guide.
Prime numbers
Prime numbers are a special class of numbers that have only two factors: 1 and themselves.
For instance, the number 5 is prime because it has no factors apart from 5 and 1. The number 6
is not prime because its factors include 1, 2, 3, and 6.
The only even prime number is 2, because all even numbers greater than 2 have 2 as a factor.
The number 1 is not prime, nor is the number zero.
The prime factors of a number are the factors of the number that are prime themselves. For
instance, the number 6 is not prime itself, as we just saw; but the prime factors of 6 are 2 and 3. Every
non-prime number except 1 has multiple prime factors, while prime numbers have only themselves as
prime factors.
Prime numbers come up fairly frequently on the SAT math section. For an example, see question
17 on page 657 of the College Board's Official SAT Study Guide.
Ratios, proportions, and percents

You'll see a fair number of questions on the SAT that refer to ratios and proportions. For SAT
purposes, these are essentially the same thing as fractions.
For instance, you might see a ratio or proportion written as 3:5 or "3 to 5." While these are not,
strictly speaking, the same thing as the fraction 3/5, on the SAT you can convert freely from one to
another for the purposes of calculation. Because of the limitations of the multiple-choice and grid-in
question formats on the SAT, there will never be a time when fraction notation cannot be substituted for
ratio or proportion notation.
For an example of the way proportions, ratios, and fractions can appear on the SAT, see question
number 19 on page 587 of the College Board's Official SAT Study Guide. (Also, note that this question
was one of the most challenging questions on the whole test for most students, and it involves nothing
more complicated or advanced than a basic knowledge of fractions and algebra.)
Percentages on the SAT are largely equivalent to decimals; the difference is that a decimal
shows a quantity as a fraction of one unit, while a percentage shows a quantity as a fraction of 100 units.
For this reason, on the SAT, you need to remember that dividing one number by another will give you a
decimal, and multiplying that decimal by 100 will give the corresponding percentage. For instance, 3/4 =
0.75, and 0.75 equal 75%.
Sequences
Sequences on the SAT are fairly different from the types of sequences that you may have studied
in algebra or precalculus. In the sequences you've studied in math class, your job was usually to find a
particular term in a given sequence, or find the sum of a series of terms, or even generate an algebraic
expression to describe the sequence. While those skills are not harmful when it comes to sequences on
the SAT, they won't be too much help either.
On the SAT, sequences of numbers are best viewed as just that: sequences. Don't try to apply
any of the standard formulas that you might have learned in math class, because they're very unlikely to
work. (If a standard formula is called for, you'll know because the test will provide it.) Instead, just look at
the sequence and try to figure out what's going on. To do this, all you'll need to know is the basics of
addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, and how to follow instructions.
For instance, take a look at question 13 on page 398 of the College Board's Official SAT Study
Guide, or at question 2 on page 518. Both of those questions involve sequences of numbers, but neither
one can be answered using standard math class tactics.
Again, this is very much in keeping with the College Board's general strategy when it comes to
designing the SAT math section. Remember that the SAT math section is challenging because it plays
with the definitions and properties of basic ideas, not because it requires memorizing all kinds of obscure
formulas and rules.
Sets
A lot of students are intimidated by the idea of sets on the math section. But, as is the case with
most SAT-related things, this isn't necessary.
A set is just a group of things. That's all.
When you have two or more sets, then you can talk about the "union" or the "intersection" of the
sets.
The union of two sets is a list of everything in both sets, with duplicate items only listed once. For
instance, if set X is {70, 85, 932} and set Y is {25, 32, 70, 85}, then the union of the two sets is {25, 32,
70, 85, 932}.
The intersection of two sets is a list of the things that appear in both sets. For instance, the
intersection of set X and set Y above is {70, 85}.
We've already seen in many cases that the College Board prefers to test the limits of the ideas
that appear on the math section instead of being more straightforward, and sets are no exception. To
answer the few set-based questions that you're ever likely to see on the SAT, all you need to do is read
closely and apply some basic critical thinking. For an example of a question that most students find
extremely challenging, but that involves only basic set theory, see question 16 on page 427 of the College
Board's Official SAT Study Guide.
“Counting” problems
Occasionally, the SAT math section will include a problem that involves what the College Board
calls "counting." In these problems, you are given a description of a simple situation, and asked to count
up the total number of possibilities according to that description.
In some cases, these "counting" problems turn out to be fairly simple and require no special
approach all. For instance, see question 5 on page 460 of the College Board's Official SAT Guide.
In other cases, you will need some sort of a special approach. Luckily for us, the College Board
never gets too complicated with these counting problems, so if we know the basics these questions will
be fairly easy (or, at least, when they're difficult, it won't be because of the counting, but because of some
other element in the question).
The first step in a counting problem is to figure out whether the events described in the problem
are independent of one another or not. For instance, if I'm trying to get dressed in the morning and I have
12 shirts and 9 pairs of pants, my choice of shirt has no impact on my choice of pants, so the selection of
the shirt and the selection of the pants are independent events. (Assume for this question that I have no
fashion sense and will wear any pair of pants with any shirt.) (As you can tell from watching my free SAT
video lessons at www.mysterytutor.com , this is a pretty safe assumption on your part.)
When the events in a situation are independent of one another, then it's very easy to figure out
how many different outcomes are possible: all you have to do is multiply the number of outcomes for the
first event by the number of outcomes for the other event. In the example above, since there are 12
possible shirts I might pick and 9 possible pairs of pants I might pick, the total number of combinations of
shirts and pants that I can choose from is 12 times 9, or 108.
For an example of a question that uses this type of counting, see question number 2 on page 611
of the College Board's Official SAT Study Guide.
In some situations, the outcome of one event affects the possibilities for the outcomes of other
events. On the SAT, these situations will usually involve making multiple selections from the same group,
or taking a group of things and arranging them in a particular order. For instance, if my father and I are
each going to choose one of my 12 shirts to wear, whoever chooses first will limit the number of choices
that the second person can make, because after the first person selects one of the 12 shirts, the second
person will only be able to select from 11 shirts. So in this instance, the total number of possible
combinations of my shirt and my father's shirt is 12 times 11, or 132.
Whether the outcomes of the events are independent from one another or not, the total number of
combinations will always be found by multiplying together the number of possibilities for the events in the
situation. When the outcome of one event is dependent on the outcome of earlier events, we have to be
careful to remember to use the right number for the total possibilities for the later events. For instance,
when my father and I are both choosing one of the 12 shirts, it would be incorrect to try to find the total
number of outcomes for those two events by multiplying 12 x 12, because the person who chooses
second cannot choose the same shirt as the person who chose first, so he would only have 11 options
and not 12.
Sometimes, you'll have more than two events to worry about, but the process is still the same: no
matter how many events you have to deal with, the number of total possible combinations of outcomes for
all the events is found by multiplying together the number of outcomes for each individual event.
For an example of a straightforward counting question in which the outcomes of earlier events
affect the possible outcomes of later events, see question 14 on page 411 of the College Board's Official
SAT Study Guide. For an example of a counting question with an added twist, see question number 18
on page 476 of the College Board's Official SAT Study Guide.
These concepts don't come up on the test too often, but they do appear from time to time. You
should also be aware that the basic concepts of counting problems may sometimes appear in probability
questions, because probability questions sometimes require you to figure out the total number of possible
outcomes for a situation.
Reasoning
While reasoning as a general skill is tested on every single SAT math question (not to mention on
every single SAT question of any kind), there are some SAT math questions that rely exclusively on logic
and don't even involve numbers.
Although they intimidate a lot of test-takers, these questions are actually among the easiest on
the entire SAT. All you have to do to answer them is read carefully and not make any assumptions about
anything. In other words, treat them exactly the same as you would any other SAT question.
So, for instance, when the test uses the word "some," you have to recognize that this isn't the
same thing as the word "all." That's really all there is to it. Just read closely and the questions will take
care of themselves. Don't be distracted by the fact that there is no formulaic way to approach these
questions. Remember that most SAT math questions cannot be approached in a formulaic way.
For an example of such a question, see number 8 on page 857 of the College Board's Official
SAT Study Guide.
General Algebra Ideas

Algebra on the SAT can seem a little bit different from the algebra that you encounter in high
school. As with everything else on the SAT math section, SAT algebra is about properties and definitions
of concepts, and not so much about solving for every variable you run into. In high school algebra class,
for the most part, if you come across a variable, your job is to figure out the value for that variable, like in
question 1 on page 518 of the College Board’s Official SAT Study Guide.
On the SAT, though, you'll frequently come across variables that you not only don't need to solve
for but actually cannot possibly solve for, like in question 5 on page 472 of the College Board’s Official
SAT Study Guide. It's also not uncommon for SAT questions to ask you to solve for the sum or product of
two or more variables even though you can't know the individual values of the variables themselves, like
on question 12 on page 398 of the College Board’s Official SAT Study Guide
You’ll also see some questions in which you are asked to solve for one variable in terms of
another. Here again, you’re not finding the actual numerical value for the variable. See question 17 on
page 399 of the College Board’s Official SAT Study Guide for an example of this.
Remember, it's not about algebra: it's about using algebraic concepts to solve little puzzles
masquerading as math problems. That's all.
Factoring
The SAT math section includes a lot of algebraic expressions, just like you might expect. In many
instances, the best way to approach these questions involves some kind of algebraic factoring.
The good news is that you'll never have to apply the quadratic formula to a problem on the SAT
1. All of the factoring on the SAT will be pretty straightforward to anyone who is familiar with factoring at
all.
Perhaps the most important factoring situation to be able to recognize is the difference of
squares. A difference of squares exists whenever an algebraic expression consists entirely of one
squared variable being subtracted from another squared variable. For instance, if you have the
expression x² - y² or the expression a² - b² or whatever, those are all differences of squares.
You should always remember that a difference of squares can be factored into the sum of the
variables times the difference between the variables. So x² - y² = (x + y)(x - y), and a² - b² = (a + b)(a - b).
You need to get to a point where every time you see a difference of squares, whether it's in a question or
in an answer choice, you automatically factor it in your mind. For an example of a question that becomes
much easier once you realize you can factor a difference of squares, see question number 15 on page
721 of the College Board's Official SAT Study Guide.
Another type of factoring that comes up frequently on the SAT involves finding common factors.
To do this, you take a look at all of the terms in an expression and try to see if any of them involve a
common factor. For example, if you have the expression 2x + 8x² +10x³, you might notice that each of
the three terms in the expression has a factor of 2x. This means you can factor the expression like this:
2x + 8x² +10x³ = 2x(1 + 4x + 5x²). This type of factoring comes up most often when a question involves a
fraction with algebraic expressions in it, and you have to reduce the fraction.
The third type of factoring that comes up on the SAT involves looking at a quadratic expression
and kind of "reverse-FOILing" it. FOIL, as you may recall, stands for "first, outer, inner, last," and refers to
the way you multiply together two binomial expressions to produce a quadratic expression. There's no
need to get into quadratic factoring too much on the SAT because it doesn't really appear that often, and,
when it does appear, a brief familiarity with the idea will be sufficient. (But remember, of course, that the
College Board loves to combine multiple mathematical ideas in one SAT question, so even though the
factoring may not be too difficult, the question can still be challenging in other ways.) For an example of a
question like this, see question 17 on page 859 of the College Board's Official SAT Study Guide.
Exponents
In most respects, exponents on the SAT are not as complicated as they usually are in high school
math classes. You mainly need to remember a few basic concepts.
When you see nx, it basically means "multiply n by itself x number of times." So, for instance, n² =
n * n, and
b12 = b * b * b * b * b * b * b * b * b * b * b * b.
Raising a number to the 1/2 exponent is the same thing as taking the square root of the number.
So n(1/2) = √(n).
Raising a number to a negative exponent is the same thing as raising the number to the positive
exponent and then taking the reciprocal. So n-10 = 1/n10.
Raising a number to the exponent 1 does not change the number. So a¹ = a.
Raising a number to the exponent zero results in the number one. So a0 = 1.
In order to combine and simplify expressions that involve exponents, you have to make sure that
the exponent expressions have the same base. Once they do, combining and simplifying only involves
two simple rules:
To multiply two expressions with the same base, leave the base unchanged and add the value of
the exponents to get the value of the exponent in the product. For instance, x² * x³ = x5, and x2/x3 = x-1,
which is the same thing as 1/x.
To divide two expressions with the same base, leave the base unchanged and subtract one
exponent from the other to get the value of the exponent in the quotient. So x³/x² = x1 = x.
When an exponential expression itself is raised to an exponent, leave the base unchanged and
multiply the two exponents to find the value of the exponent in the new product. So (x²)³ = x6.
Sometimes a question will involve fractional exponents besides 1/2. But don't make the mistake
of thinking that you need to know how to handle those. If you simplify and combine exponents, you'll find
that you can answer SAT questions just fine without worrying about tricky fractional exponents. In fact, if
you ever find yourself working with fractional exponents besides one half, you're probably approaching a
problem in the wrong way. For examples of this concept, see question 8 on page 596 and question 19 on
page 674 of the College Board's Official SAT Study Guide. Both of these questions appear to involve
fractional exponents at first glance but actually involve knowing how to simplify and combine exponential
expressions.
Also be on the lookout for questions that seem to involve normal exponential solutions but really
don't. Sometimes you'll have questions like number 6 on page 532 or question 5 on page 717 of the
College Board's Official SAT Study Guide, which are fairly straightforward in their use of exponents, but
sometimes you'll have trickier questions like number 15 on page 779, which can look at first glance like a
problem involving the multiplication of exponents but really isn't that kind of a problem at all.
Radical expressions
On the SAT, the only radical expressions you will encounter involved the square root. You won't
see any other roots. You also won't see any questions involving finding the square root of a negative
number.
Remember, by the way, that the square root of a positive number can be either positive or
negative.
Even though the SAT limits itself to pretty straightforward things when it comes to radical expressions, the
questions it asks about them can still be pretty challenging for a lot of students. For example, see
question 7 on page 473 of the College Board's Official SAT Study Guide.
Inequalities
As you probably remember from math class, an inequality is a type of mathematical statement
that shows that one quantity is greater than another quantity. Inequalities may use the "less than sign"
(<), the "greater than sign" (>), the "less than or equal to sign" (<), or the "greater than or equal to sign"
(>).
For the most part, you won't be working with inequalities that you'll need to solve directly. So you
won't really be manipulating them the way you would in a math class. Instead, when you see inequalities
on the test, you have to be prepared to think about them in an open-minded way. They won't usually be
presented in the same way they would be presented in a math class. For examples of the strange ways
that the College Board can use inequalities on the SAT, see question number 19 on page 400 and
question number 14 on page 521 of the College Board's Official SAT Study Guide.
Systems of equations and inequalities

Many SAT math questions will ask you to do something with a group of equations or inequalities.
Sometimes you'll have to take a value from one equation and apply it to another equation, or sometimes
one equation will tell you something important about another equation.
But, again, the questions featuring these groups of equations will not usually be similar to the
questions about systems of equations that you would encounter in math class. You won't usually be
adding two equations together, though you will occasionally solve one equation for a variable and then
plug the value for that variable into the other equation. More frequently, though, you'll be using multiple
equations together in other ways. For an example of the type of question that involves multiple equations
but doesn't reward you for combining those equations, see question 14 on page 598 of the College
Board's Official SAT Study Guide. If you try to solve the problem by isolating a variable in one equation
so that you can then solve for x or y, you'll get very frustrated. But if you recognize the opportunities for
factoring, you can solve the problem in seconds, possibly without even picking up a pencil.
Direct and inverse variation

Sometimes the SAT will ask you a question about the way a change in one variable of an
equation would affect another variable.
An increase or decrease in one variable can potentially cause either an increase or a decrease in
the other variable. When an increase in x causes an increase in y, and a decrease in x causes a
decrease in y, then x and y are said to be "directly proportional."
On the other hand, when an increase in x causes a decrease in y and a decrease in x causes an
increase in y, then x and y are said to be "inversely proportional."
Here's another way to represent this idea. If solving for x or y leaves you with an expression like
this:
y = kx
where k is any number, then y and x are directly proportional. On the other hand, if solving for x or y
leaves you with something like this:
y = k/x
then x and y are inversely proportional.
Don't worry if this concept isn't immediately clear to you. It rarely comes up on the test anyway.
You will sometimes be shown a situation in which some variables are directly proportional or inversely
proportional, but you will almost never need to identify which type of proportionality exists. Instead, you
usually have to figure out something else to answer the problem. For an example of a question like this,
which features proportionality but doesn't require you to know specifically whether a relationship is directly
or inversely proportional, see question 16 on page 737 of the College Board's Official SAT Study Guide.
Functions
Functions may be one of the least understood aspects of the SAT. When functions were added
to the test in 2005, most students tried to prepare for them by relearning everything they had ever studied
about functions in high school. As you can probably imagine, this was a huge waste of time.
Think about the ways functions are tested in math class. Usually, you'll be given an equation and
a piece of graph paper and asked to create the graph of the function. If you're in calculus, you might be
shown a graph and asked to identify certain key points on the function. But neither one of these types of
questions can appear on the SAT: there's no way to graph anything on an SAT answer sheet, and the
SAT can never ask you anything about calculus.
Instead, the College Board uses functions the same way it uses other mathematical concepts on
the SAT. Instead of asking you to do the types of things with functions that you would do in math class,
the College Board prefers to ask you questions that involve functions in unorthodox ways. This allows the
SAT to test your reasoning ability more directly, instead of just testing your ability to memorize the
mechanical process of graphing things.
There are two skills you need more than any others when it comes to solving function questions
on the SAT math section. First, you need to be able to use the x-y coordinate system. If you're given a
set of coordinates, you have to be able to locate the point specified by those coordinates on a graph. You
need to understand what the graph of a function actually represents, which is a set of points whose x and
y coordinates have a certain relationship to one another. Second, you need to be able to look at the
equation for a function and plug in a value for x to get a value for y.
This is a very basic understanding of functions. In fact, it's so basic that a lot of students have
either forgotten it or they never learned it in the first place. And that's exactly why the more difficult
questions on the SAT involve basic concepts.
It's important to remember that every function question on the SAT that includes a graph can be
answered easily as long as you remember that it always boils down to reading x-y coordinates for
particular points on the function. Don't get bogged down in things like translations, points of inflection,
domain, range, or any of that stuff. Above all, don't try to think about what the actual equation is for a
particular graph, and don't worry when you come across graphs of functions that don't look like anything
you've ever seen before. Remember that it always comes down to reading points off a coordinate plane.
In the diagram below, you'll see an imaginary function that would look very intimidating to any
calculus student. This is because a calculus student who saw this graph would probably be asked to do
something complicated with the actual function that generates the graph. But on the SAT, any question
about this graph would involve nothing more than your ability to locate a value on the x-axis and see what
the corresponding y value on the function graph is. So, in this case, if the test asked you to find the value
of the function where x = 25, all you would do is find the value on the x-axis where x is 25, then look up to
see where the function is over that spot, and look to the left to find the value on the y-axis that
corresponds to that spot. In this instance, you can see that the given function has a value of 7 where
x = 25, so f(25) = 7.
For an example of an SAT function question that requires nothing more than the ability to read
points off a coordinate plane, see question 13 on page 614 of the College Board’s Official SAT Study
Guide.
Linear functions (straight lines)

Some of the functions that appear on the SAT will form straight lines. These functions can
always be expressed in this format:
y = mx + b
In this format, the variable m will give you the slope of the line. (The slope of a line is found by
choosing any two points on the line and creating a fraction that places the difference in their y-values over
the difference in their x-values.) The b variable will give you the place where the line intercepts the y-
axis.
You should also know that the slopes of lines that are perpendicular to each other are negative
reciprocals. In other words, if the slope of a particular line is 2/5, then the slope of a perpendicular line
will be -5/2. Also, the slopes of parallel lines will be equal to one another, so if two different lines both
have the same slope, then they are parallel and will never intersect one another.
For an example of a fairly straightforward question that involves these ideas, see question 4 on
page 775 of the College Board’s Official SAT Study Guide. For a question that most students find much
harder, but that still only involves these basic concepts, see question 17 on page 522 of the Official SAT
Study Guide.
Geometric figures
Geometric figures are a very important part of the SAT math section. In my experience, many
SAT-takers have had very negative experiences with geometry, but there's no reason to let that keep you
from doing well on the SAT. Just like with every other type of math that we've seen so far, the geometry
on the SAT math section consists mainly of very basic ideas. So, all you need to do is brush up on the
basics and remember that the College Board always reserves the right to combine those basic ideas in
any way it chooses.
Don't worry about having to memorize formulas for the geometry questions, because the College
Board will give you all of the formulas that you'll need for area and volume. In most geometry classes, the
difficulty comes from having to memorize formulas, but on the SAT the difficulty comes most often from
dealing with the concepts in a question.
You need to know what a geometric point is, and you need to know that any two points can be
used to define a line. You also need to know that a midpoint is, just as its name suggests, a point that
appears exactly in the middle of two other points. Though these are very basic ideas, they can often
feature heavily in questions that most students find challenging. For an example of this, see question
number 11 on page 720 of the College Board's Official SAT Study Guide.
You also need to know a few things about angles. An angle is formed when two lines or line
segments meet at a point. Angles are measured in degrees; the more degrees in an angle, the more
open the angle is. A right angle is 90°, a straight angle (or a straight line) is 180°, and a circle encloses
360° of arc. Whenever two or more lines meet in a single plane, the degree measurements of the angles
that they form will always add up to 360. For an example of a question that uses this simple idea in a
uniquely challenging way, see question 6 on page 653 of the College Board's Official SAT Study Guide.
A lot of people make a big deal out of the situation that's created when a pair of parallel lines is
cut by a transversal. In geometry class, the rules that pertain to transversals can seem quite challenging,
but on the SAT transversals aren't really that big of a deal. Just remember that the angles that appear to
be the same size are the same size. Also remember that the College Board likes to give you questions
that play around with basic concepts, and transversals are no exception. For an example of a question
that seems to be about transversals but isn't, take a look at number 11 on page 462 of the College
Board's Official SAT Study Guide. For a transversal question that can be answered easily if you
remember that SAT diagrams are drawn to scale and that a straight line contains 180°, take a look at
question number 6 on page 612 of the College Board's Official SAT Study Guide.
Triangles will appear over and over again on the test, so you want to make sure you're familiar
with the basics when it comes to triangles. First, you need to know that the measurements of all of the
angles of a triangle will add up to 180° (if you forget this, just take a look at the reference information at
the beginning of each math section on the SAT).
An isosceles triangle is one in which two of the three sides have an equal length; in a triangle like
this, the two angles opposite the two sides of the same length have the same size. An equilateral triangle
is a special kind of isosceles triangle in which all three sides have the same length and all three angles
measure 60°. For a question that involves these concepts, see number 18 on page 586 of the College
A right triangle is a triangle in which one angle measures 90°. The lengths of the sides of a right
triangle have a relationship described by the Pythagorean theorem, which says that the square of the
length of the hypotenuse equals the sum of the squares of the lengths of the other sides. If you can't
remember that, don't worry: it's right there in the reference information at the beginning of each math
section. For an example of a question that relies on the Pythagoreans theorem, see question 15 on page
491 of the College Board's Official SAT Study Guide.
There are two special right triangles that you'll want to be familiar with: the 30-60-90 triangle and
the 45-45-90 triangle. The sides of these triangles have lengths that fall into set ratios that you may recall
from geometry class. If you don't recall them, don't worry, because they, too, appear in the reference
information at the beginning of every SAT math section. For an example of a question that uses these
two types of special triangles, see question number 9 on page 425 of the College Board's Official SAT
Study Guide.
Sometimes the test will ask you about similar triangles, which are triangles that have the same
set of three angle measurements. In these triangles, the lengths of corresponding sides vary according to
a constant ratio. Sometimes you'll be asked to work out the length of one side of one triangle after being
given some information about the other triangle
There's one more triangle-related idea that comes up fairly often, and the College Board refers to
it as the triangle inequality. (Don't worry about remembering that name. As long as you remember the
idea, you'll be fine.) The idea here is that the lengths of any two sides of a triangle must add up to an
amount greater than the length of the third side. If you think about the way a triangle is put together, this
just makes sense: if the sum of the lengths of the two sides were less than or equal to the length of the
third side, it would be impossible to form a triangle in the first place.
Don't worry about trying to remember the formula for the area of a triangle either, because that
also appears in the reference information at the beginning of each math section.
The same is true for the formula for the area of a rectangle or a square: there's no point in
remembering it, because the test will always give it to you in the beginning of every SAT math section.
The parameter of a square or rectangle is found in the same way that you find the perimeter of a
triangle or of any other figure: you add up the lengths of all the sides.
You should also realize that the distance between two opposite corners of a square or rectangle
can be found with the Pythagorean theorem, using two sides of the square or rectangle as the legs of a
triangle, and the diagonal as the hypotenuse.
The SAT will occasionally feature figures called parallelograms, which are four-sided figures in
which each side is parallel to the side opposite it. In a parallelogram, each corner angle has the same
measurement as the corner angle diagonally across from it. The area of a parallelogram is found by
multiplying the length of the base times the height of the figure, not by multiplying the length of one side
by the length of another.
(By the way, as you may know, a square is a special type of rectangle, and a rectangle is a
special type of parallelogram. But this doesn't really come up on the SAT.)
Very rarely, you will come across an SAT math question that requires you to know that the sum of
the measurements of the angles in any figure can be found with this formula, where n is the number of
sides of the figure:
180(n-2) = (the sum of the measurements of the angles in a figure)
So, for instance, all the angles in a triangle add up to 180 degrees because triangles have three
sides and 180(3 - 2) = 180. All the angles in a square add up to 360° because a square has four sides
and 180(4 - 2) = 360. This issue almost never comes up on the SAT, but if you'd like to see an example
of a real SAT question that uses it, take a look at question number 10 on page 806 of the College Board's
Official SAT Study Guide.
When it comes to circles, all of the formulas that you'll need to know will appear in the reference
information at the beginning of each SAT math section. So don't worry about memorizing formulas for
area or circumference, or remembering that a circle encloses 360° of arc. All of that stuff is right there in
the reference information.
But you do need to know what it means when something is tangent to a circle. If a line is tangent
to a circle, then the line intersects the circle at exactly one point. (At that one point of intersection, the
tangent line is perpendicular to the radius of the circle.) Whenever any other figure is tangent to a circle,
the definition is basically the same: the figure intersects the circle at exactly one point. For an example of
a question that involves tangents, see question number 3 on page 839 of the College Board's Official SAT
Study Guide.
You also need to know what it means when an SAT 1 math question involves arc. On the SAT,
when you see a question involving arc, just think of it as a question involving a fraction of a circle. The
desired fraction of the circle in question can be found by comparing its arc to 360°, which is the "arc" of
the entire circle. (In a real math class, questions involving arc can be much more complicated. But this
isn't a real math class, it's the SAT. SAT arc issues are fairly straightforward.) For examples of math
questions that use arc in this way, see question number 19 on page 464 of the College Board's Official
SAT Study Guide, as well as question number 8 on page 869.
The College Board also likes to ask the occasional question about solid figures, but it won't ever
ask you anything that can't be figured out just from looking at the reference information at the beginning of
every SAT math section. For example, see question number 16 on page 399 of the College Board's
Official SAT Study Guide. (One situation that's presented from time to time, and that many students find
frustrating, involves finding the distance between two points on the edges of a cube. But don't be put off
by that, because all you have to do in that situation is apply the Pythagorean theorem a couple times in
succession. For an example of a question like that, see number 15 on page 684 of the College Board's
If you're asked a question about surface area, just remember that you find the surface area by
adding up the individual areas of all the surfaces on the figure. For an example of a question that
involves this issue, see number 5 on page 792 of the College Board's Official SAT Study Guide.
Reflections and symmetry

Sometimes the College Board will ask you a question about what would happen if a line where
reflected off of the y-axis or the x-axis. These questions don't really require any special knowledge;
instead, just visualize the change.
When a line in a coordinate plane is reflected off an axis, the slope of the reflected line will be the
opposite of the slope of the original line, whether the line is reflected off the x-axis or the y-axis. For an
example of a question that involves this idea of reflecting lines, see number 14 on page 399 of the
College Board's Official SAT Study Guide.
When a figure is symmetrical, then there is a line that could be drawn through the figure so that
the two halves of the figure are mirror images of one another. For instance, a circle is symmetrical, while
the letter P is not. For an example of a question that involves this concept, see number 2 on page 669 of
the College Board's Official SAT Study Guide.
If two things are symmetrical to a third thing, then the two things are mirror images of each other
with respect to that third thing. For instance, these two asterisks are symmetrical with respect to the letter
A between them:
*A*
For a question that tests this idea directly, see number 12 on page 490 of the College Board's
Graphs
The College Board likes to show you pictures with all kinds of graphs. You'll probably have no
trouble whatsoever understanding them, because the College Board limits itself to standard circle graphs,
line graphs, and bar graphs. For examples of questions that use these graphs, see the following items in
the College Board's Official SAT Study Guide:
• Question number 5 on page 839

The SAT will also occasionally show you a pictograph, these are also pretty straightforward,
except for one thing: on the SAT, is a pictograph involves half of a symbol, then that half of a simple
counts for half the value of the total symbol. So if your pictograph involves smiley faces, and each smiley
face symbolizes 10,000 people, then a half of a smiley face symbol represents 5,000 people. You won't
see fractions of symbols, other than one half on the SAT 1. For an example of a pictograph question that
uses half a symbol, see question number 6 on page 680 of the College Board's Official SAT Study Guide.
Finally, you'll occasionally see questions with scatterplots. There's a good chance that you never
covered scatter plots in math class, but there's no need to worry, because reading a scatter plot is exactly
the same thing as reading points in a coordinate plane. Don't make it harder than it needs to be. For an
example of a scatter plot question on the SAT, look at question number 4 on page 583 of the College
Averages: mean, median, and mode

Averages come up on the SAT all the time, almost always in the form of the arithmetic mean.
The arithmetic mean is the thing that you probably think of whenever you think of the word "average." To
find the arithmetic mean of a set of numbers, all you do is find the sum of all those numbers, and then
divide that sum by the number of numbers. So, for instance, the arithmetic mean of the numbers 5, 6, 9,
81, and 94 is 39, because:
5 + 6 + 9 + 81 + 94 = 195
and
195/5 = 39
But there are other kinds of "averages" that you'll need to know about for the SAT as well, even
though the SAT does not usually used the word "average" when referring to either one of them.
The first of these concepts is the median. The median of a set of numbers is the number that
falls in the middle when the set of numbers is arranged from least to greatest. So the median of 5, 6, 9,
81, and 94 is 9, because 9 is the number in the middle of all these numbers are when they are arranged
from least to greatest.
By the way, if you happen to see a list with an even number of numbers in it, so that there is no
proper median, because there is no number in the dead center of the list, then the median for that set is
the arithmetic mean of the two numbers in the middle. But I don't recall ever seeing that on the SAT.
This probably seems like a pretty basic concept, and it is, but that doesn't mean that the College
Board can’t use it as the basis of a challenging question. Question number 19 on page 738 of the
College Board's Official SAT Study Guide is one that many students struggle with, even though it relies
completely on the concept of the median.
The second thing you need to be familiar with is the concept of mode. The mode of a set of
numbers is a number that appears most frequently in the set. So, for instance, in the set {1, 3, 6, 4, 5, 4,
6, 4, 7, 9, 10}, the mode is the number 4.
Many times an SAT question will require you to work backwards from one of these concepts.
This intimidates most students, but it really shouldn't. Whenever you have to work backwards from an
average, just think about how the individual concepts work. Especially remember that the arithmetic
mean of a set of numbers can be multiplied by the total number of numbers in the set to give you the sum
of all the numbers in the set. For instance, if we are told that the average of seven numbers is 20, then
we know that all seven numbers added together give the sum 140, because 7*20 = 140. That's really all
there is to it.
Also remember that the arithmetic mean can only be found correctly if you are dividing the sum of
all the numbers by the total number of numbers. For instance, if bowling team A has four members with
an average score of 200, and bowling team B has eight members of an average score of 194, then the
average score for all 12 people is *not* 197, even though
(200 + 194)/2 = 197.
To find the average score per bowler in this situation, we have to find the sum of all the scores
and divide that by the number of bowlers. We can figure out that the sum of all the scores is 2352,
because we know that the sum of the scores on team A was 800 (since 4 * 200 = 800), and that the sum
of the scores on team B was 1520 (since 8 * 194 = 1552), and
800 + 1552 = 2352.
If the total of the scores for all the bowlers was 2352, and there are 12 total bowlers, then the
average score per bowler was 196.
For a couple of interesting takes on these ideas, see question number 7 on page 793 of the
College Board's Official SAT Study Guide, and question number 18 on page 721 of the College Board's
Probabilty
Probability questions on the SAT I are not nearly as bad as some of the probability questions you
might have encountered in math class. All you need to know about probability is that it comes down to
this: in every probability question, your ultimate goal is to create a fraction to describe the likelihood that
something will happen. The denominator of that fraction will be the total number of ways that it might
happen, and the numerator of the fraction will be the number of outcomes that you are interested in.
For instance, for SAT purposes, if we were trying to figure out how likely you are to roll a 3 on a
die, the probability would be1/6: the 6 in the denominator comes from the fact that a die has 6 sides, and
the 1 in the numerator comes from the fact that we are only interested in one of those six sides (the one
with three dots on it).
On the other hand, if we were trying to figure out how likely you are to roll an odd number on a
die, the probability of that would be 3/6: the 6 in the denominator is the same because the die still has 6
sides, and the 3 in the numerator indicates that three of those possible six sides would make us happy
(the one with one dot, the one with three dots, or the one with five dots).
That's really all there is to it. Once you've figured out which numbers should go in the numerator
and the denominator of your probability fraction, that fraction can be treated like any other fraction. It can
be simplified, multiplied, converted into a decimal or a percentage, whatever.
Sometimes the College Board likes to make a question seem a little more challenging by throwing
in some counting principles like the ones we already talked about above in the counting section. But that
still doesn't change anything: you're still going to figure out the probability by finding a fraction whose
denominator is the total number of possible outcomes and whose numerator is the total number of
outcomes you're interested in.
For an example of an authentic SAT question that involves these ideas, see question number 10
on page 613 of the College Board's Official SAT Study Guide. Notice that this question, in typical College
Board fashion, asks you to do something with probability that you've probably never done in a math class.
For an example of a question that involves something that the College Board refers to as
"geometric probability," see question number 7 on page 461 of the College Board's Official SAT Study
Guide. Geometric probability works the same way as regular probability; it's just that in this case, the
denominator of the fraction will be the area covered by all the possible outcomes, and the numerator will
be the area covered by the outcomes that we are interested in.
Conclusion
You may notice that I've omitted a few ideas in this document that appear in the College Board's
math review. That's on purpose, because, as I stated above, the College Board wants you to think that
you need to know more math for the SAT than you really need. For instance, page 286 of the math
review involves the midpoint formula and the distance formula, but I left them both out; the former is self-
explanatory, and the latter is just the Pythagorean theorem applied to a coordinate plane. Students who
already understand things like the midpoint formula don't need to review it, and students who didn't feel
comfortable with it the first time around in geometry class shouldn't worry about learning it for the SAT
when the SAT never asks anything challenging about it.
The same situation applies to several other concepts that appear in the College Board's math
review, or, for that matter, in the test reviews done by most SAT preparation companies.
A lot of top math students have gotten mad at me in the past for saying that the ideas in this
document and the reference information at the beginning of every SAT math section are enough to get
you through the math portion of the test. They insist that they need to know things like midpoint formulas,
distance formulas, surface area formulas, and who knows what else, and they spend their time drilling on
them. Then they turn around and score a 540 on the SAT math section, and incorrectly assume that the
test must be even harder than they thought.
Don't make the same mistake that they make! The SAT math section can be challenging, that's
for sure, but it won't be challenging because it involves difficult formulas. It's challenging because, as I've
said a million times, it involves basic concepts being combined in bizarre ways. If you're comfortable with
the ideas in this document, and if you flip through the College Board's math review and don't see anything
that looks completely impossible to you, then you know the math that you need for this test.
But, of course, that doesn't cover the strategy, which is equally important (actually, to be honest,
it’s even more important in a lot of ways). Strategy really doesn't come into play in regular math tests, but
the SAT math section is not a regular math test. You need to be as solid on the strategy as you are on
the ideas in this document.
To get to that point, make sure you check out my free SAT math lessons on
www.mysterytutor.com. And if you’d like to see my approach to every single real SAT Math question in
print, take a look at www.mysterytutorvault.com.

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Zero itself is neither positive nor negative.

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Number lines on the SAT

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Squares and square roots

100 (10 times 10)

121 (11 times 11)

144 (12 times 12)

169 (13 times 13)

196 (14 times 14)

225 (15 times 15)

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Place value and scientific notation

Factors, multiples, and remainders

• question 6 on page 595

of the College Board's Official SAT Study Guide.

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The number 1 is not prime, nor is the number zero.

Ratios, proportions, and percents

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A set is just a group of things. That's all.

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General Algebra Ideas

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Raising a number to the exponent 1 does not change the number. So a¹ = a.

Raising a number to the exponent zero results in the number one. So a0 = 1.

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Systems of equations and inequalities

Direct and inverse variation

then x and y are inversely proportional.

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Linear functions (straight lines)

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Reflections and symmetry

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• Question number 5 on page 839