Sat math Essentials

ODDS YOU CAN
NUMBER OF
GUESS THE 
DISTRACTERS
CORRECT
YOU ELIMINATE
ANSWER
0
1 in 5, or 20%
1
1 in 4, or 25%
2
1 in 3, or 33%
3
1 in 2, or 50%
4
1 in 1, or 100%
Of course, on most SAT questions, you won’t be
guessing blindly—you’ll ideally be able to use your
math skills to choose the correct answer—so your
chances of picking the correct answer choice are even
greater than those listed above after eliminating
distracters.
–
T E C H N I Q U E S A N D S T R AT E G I E S
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2 9

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H o w t o G e t R i d o f I n c o r r e c t
A n s w e r C h o i c e s
Hopefully you are now convinced that getting rid of
incorrect answer choices is an important technique to
use when answering multiple-choice questions. So how
do you do it? Let’s look at an example of a question you
could see on the SAT.
The statement below is true.
All integers in set 
A
are odd.
Which of the following statements must also
be true?
a.
All even integers are in set 
A
.
b.
All odd integers are in set 
A
.
c.
Some integers in set 
A
are even.
d.
If an integer is even, it is not in set 
A
.
e.
If an integer is odd, it is not in set 
A
.
First, decide what you are looking for: You need
to choose which answer choice is true based on the fact
that 
All integers in set
A
are odd.
This means that the
incorrect answer choices are 
not
true.
Now follow these steps when answering the
question:
1.
Evaluate each answer choice one by one follow-
ing these instructions:
■
If an answer choice is incorrect, cross it out.
■
If you aren’t sure if an answer choice is correct
or incorrect, leave it alone and go onto the
next answer choice.
■
If you find an answer choice that seems cor-
rect, circle it and then check the remaining
choices to make sure there isn’t a better
answer.