The best way to learn our techniques for cracking the SAT is to practice them. The following practice tests will give you a chance to do that. The additional practice tests on our website will provide even more practice.
These practice tests were designed to be as much like a real SAT as possible. The tests in this book contain three Critical Reading sections, three Math sections, three Writing sections (one 25-minute Grammar/Writing Skills section, one 10-minute Grammar/Writing Skills section, and one Essay section), and one Experimental section. Our questions test the same concepts that are tested on real SATs.
Because one of the sections in each practice test is experimental, none of the questions in it will count toward your final score. The actual SAT will have an Experimental section—critical reading, math, or writing—that ETS now euphemistically terms an “equating section.”
When you take a practice test, you should try to take it under conditions that are as much like real testing conditions as possible. Take it in a room where you won’t be disturbed, and have someone else time you. (It’s too easy if you time yourself.) You can give yourself a brief break halfway through, but don’t stop for longer than five minutes or so. To put yourself in a proper frame of mind, you might take it on a weekend morning. One more thing: Don’t use scrap paper; you will not have any when you take the real SAT.
After taking our tests, you’ll have a very good idea of what taking the real SAT will be like. In fact, we’ve found that students’ scores on The Princeton Review’s practice tests correspond very closely to the scores they earn on real SATs.
The answers to the questions on the tests in this book and a scoring guide can be found beginning on here, here, here, and here. The answer sheets are in the back of the book.
If you have any questions about the practice tests, the SAT, ETS, or The Princeton Review, give us a call, toll-free, at 1-800-2Review.
The following practice tests were written by the authors of this book and are not actual SATs. The directions and format were used by permission of the Educational Testing Service. This permission does not constitute review or endorsement by the Educational Testing Service or the College Board of this publication as a whole or of any sample questions or testing information it may contain.
This book includes three practice tests. You can figure out your score on each of these tests with the same formula used by the College Board:
# of questions you get correct – (# of questions you get incorrect ÷ 4) = raw score
The College Board then takes your raw score, along with the raw score of every other test taker in the country, and figures out a curve. Finally, it assigns each raw score to a number on a scale from 200 to 800. This is your scaled score.
NOTE: Each practice test contains an unidentified, unscored section that simulates the Experimental section on the real SAT. Questions from these sections are NOT included when calculating your raw or scaled scores.
To figure out your scaled score for each subject, use the scoring worksheet that follows each SAT practice test. Let’s look at the subjects one at a time:
Writing
Step One
Count up the number of your correct answers for the two multiple-choice Writing sections. This is the number that goes in the first box.
Step Two
Count up the number of your incorrect answers for the multiple-choice Writing sections. Divide this number by 4, and place this number in the second box.
Step Three
Subtract the second number from the first. This is your Grammar raw score. This is the number that goes in the third box.
Step Four
Look up the number from the third box in the Writing Multiple-Choice Subscore Conversion Table. This is your Grammar scaled subscore.
Step Five
The essay is scored on a scale from 2–12. It is based upon the score that two graders give you, each on a scale from 1–6. Be sure to register at PrincetonReview.com/cracking to gain access to our LiveGrader™ Service. Your essay can be scored by our graders there. Take your 2–12 grade and double it so that it is from 4–24. This is the number that goes in the fourth box.
Add the fourth box to the third. This is your raw score. This number goes in the fifth box.
Step Seven
Look up the number from the fifth box in the SAT Score Conversion Table. This is your scaled score.
Critical Reading
Step One
Count up the number of your correct answers for the three Critical Reading sections of the test. This is the number that goes in the first box.
Step Two
Count up the number of your incorrect answers for the three Critical Reading sections of the test. Divide this number by 4. This is the number that goes in the second box.
Step Three
Subtract the second number from the first. This is your raw score. This is the number that goes in the third box.
Step Four
Look up the number from the third box in the SAT Score Conversion Table. This is your scaled score.
Math
Step One
Count up the number of correct grid-in answers. This is the number that goes in the first box.
Step Two
Count up the number of your correct answers for the multiple-choice questions in the three Math sections of the test. This is the number that goes in the second box.
Step Three
Count up the number of your incorrect answers for the multiple-choice questions in the three Math sections of the test. Do NOT include any grid-in questions you may have answered incorrectly. Divide this number by 4 and place this number in the third box.
Step Four
Subtract the third number from the second, then add the first number. This is your raw score. This is the number that goes in the fourth box.
Step Five
Look up the number from the fourth box in the SAT Score Conversion Table. This is your scaled score.