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Andrew Peterson is the Director of Education at Method Test
Prep. Mr. Peterson has been working with Method Test Prep to deliver top-tier SAT and ACT tutoring instruction to students in the US and countries around the world. Method Test Prep has worked with school districts across the country on ways to improve college admissions test scores. Method Test Prep’s online products are currently used by thousands of students to build their math, reading, and writing skills and to prepare for a variety of exams.
After analyzing the May 2012 SAT for a few hours––as I do for many SATs every year––I excitedly and expectedly arrived at the same conclusion I always come to: these tests are the same every time they are administered.
This is not to say that the problems are exactly the same as those from other tests, but that the problems are about as similar as they can be without being carbon copies of each other. This is great news for every student who must tackle the SAT in the upcoming academic year. Many students feel as if the SAT is a mysterious and unpredictable marathon of a test, and thus assume that preparation for the test is impossible or at least exceedingly difficult and time consuming. Not only is it possible to prepare for the
SAT, but the tests are so similar to one another that parents and students alike are consistently astonished to discover how significantly and rapidly effective preparation can improve a student’s score. I am

realistic about how much time a student will spend preparing for the
SAT, and know that from studying just a few basic concepts and techniques for a few hours, a student could have been prepared for
80% of the questions on the May 2012 SAT.
Students frequently tell me that preparation becomes disheartening after attempting to approach the test all at once. In response, I liken this to attempting to climb Everest all at once rather than by going base camp to base camp. Once students see the SAT as it is––a test which consistently repeats subject matter and does so in such a streamlined manner––they are not only able to focus their preparation efforts in key places, but are also much more enthusiastic and confident about getting started and working diligently to increase their scores. Most students don’t realize that each question answered correctly on the SAT often results in a 10 point increase on their scores. I inform students that if they can answer 10 more questions correctly, they will increase their score by 100 points! This effectively increases their enthusiasm, making a real difference in their test scores and in the strength of their college application portfolios.
Here are a few examples of the similarities that appeared on the
January 2012 and May 2012 SATs.
The first type of question we’ll approach is one that many students know as a “System of Equations”. One of the biggest difficulties students have with the mathematics portion of the SAT is

simply getting started on problems. By recognizing the following questions as “System of Equations” problems, students are immediately able to get on track to the correct solution. Question 15 of Section 7 is taken from the January 2012 SAT and reproduced below with a few numerical changes: a + b + c = 600 a – b – c = 300
Solve for b + c.
A student can easily recognize this problem as a “System of Equations” problem by noticing the two similar equations stacked on top of each other. In this question, as in all similar questions on the SAT, a student must solve the system by either adding or subtracting the equations from one another. In this case, subtraction yields the best result as it eliminates many unnecessary pieces from the equations.
a + b + c = 600
- (a – b – c) = 300  0 + 2b + 2c = 300  2b + 2c = 300  b + c = 150
2 2
We will now examine a similar problem from the May 2012 SAT. For the same reasons as stated in the problem above, a student can not only recognize this problem as a “System of Equations”, but also solve this problem in a similar fashion. Question 18 from section 7 of the
May 2012 SAT is reproduced below with a few numerical changes:

tx + x + zy = 15
(t + 2)x + zy = 20
Solve for x.
In order to solve, a student must follow the same steps outlined for the previous problem. First a student should recognize the parenthesis in the second equation and realize that distribution is necessary. Once the ‘x’ has been distributed, a student should subtract the equations, which would yield the following:
tx + x + zy = 15
– (tx + 2x + zy = 20)  0 – x + 0 = -5  -x = -5  x = 5
As we can plainly see, by practicing and mastering this math concept, a student can successfully complete these problems accurately and efficiently. By itself, this practice could have led to a significant increase in a student’s math score on the May exam.
Another similarity that I would like to discuss is the “Subject after Comma” or “Dangling Modifier” that is seen repeatedly on the
SAT. This type of question appears on the Writing section of the test and deals with sentences beginning with dependent clauses followed by a comma. A reproduced example from section 10 of the May 2012
SAT can be seen below with some minor changes:
While visiting our grandparents in the French city of Paris, the Eiffel
Tower, in all its glory, could be seen from our hotel balcony.

There are two important things that a student should notice in order to identify this question as a “Dangling Modifier” question. First the student should notice that the first clause (the part before the first comma) is a dependent clause, meaning that it cannot function as a sentence by itself. This can easily be determined by students that have appropriate preparation for the SAT. Secondly, the student should notice how the underlined portion of the question begins immediately after the dependent clause (after the first comma). The student then needs to ask his or herself “Who or what was visiting our grandparents in Paris?” The answer to that question should be the first thing written after the first comma. In this case the correct answer should have the word “we” placed immediately after the first comma.
Here is a look at a similar question from section 10 of the January
2012 SAT:
Similar in size to the traditional yellow onion, citizens of Spain covet the sharper tasting white onion.
Similar to the question from the May exam, this question must be approached by asking “Who or what is similar in size to the traditional yellow onion?” In this case it is the “white onion” which means that the student should chose the answer choice that has “white onion” placed immediately after the comma.

In summary, the SAT, or any test for that matter, is not a “make or break” piece of a student’s high school career. Nonetheless, the importance of the test is substantial and, as such, students need to approach the test with intelligent preparation in order to perform up to their true potential. The problems presented on each SAT bear a striking resemblance to their predecessors on earlier tests. The May
2012 exam is no exception to this. The more a student studies specific concepts that show up test after test, the more the student’s comfort level and thus performance on this test will increase. As a leader of the Method Test Prep team, I am inspired by the fact that with appropriately directed preparation, any student that puts in the time will see an increase in his or her score.