Joshua Yoon, a middle school student from Buffalo Grove’s Twin Grove Middle School, has the honor of achieving a perfect score on the Math Section or Quantitative Section of the SAT. Joshua, who is in sixth grade, took the test with mostly high school students at Stevenson High School on February 4, 2012. Most students take the SAT in their junior year, but some students take the test earlier to allow time to retake the test. Joshua Yoon took the test because he qualified based on his previous performance on the Illinois Standards Achievement Test.
Taking the SAT or its competitor, the ACT, is required for freshman entry to most colleges and universities in the United States. Possible scores range from 600 to 2400, combining test results from three 800-point sections (Mathematics, Critical Reading, and Writing). Score results occur in multiples of 10.
The Math section has three score sections — one 25-minute section with 20 entirely multiple choice questions, one 25-minute section with 8 multiple choice questions and 10 grid-in questions, and one 20-minute section with 16 all multiple choice questions. The questions are weighted equally. For each correct answer, one point is added. For each incorrect answer one-fourth of a point is deducted. No points are deducted for incorrect answers in the math grid-in questions.
Here’s a sample SAT Math practice question (Difficulty: Hard) from College Board, the designers of the SAT …
“A special lottery is to be held to select the student who will live in the only deluxe room in a dormitory. There are 100 seniors, 150 juniors, and 200 sophomores who applied. Each senior’s name is placed in the lottery 3 times; each junior’s name, 2 times; and each sophomore’s name, 1 time. What is the probability that a senior’s name will be chosen?”
(A) 1/8
(B) 2/9
(C) 2/7
(D) 2/8
(E) 1/2
Answer:
3*100/(100*3 +150*2 +200*1) = 0.375 or 3/8
or
3*100 = 300
over
3*100 + 2*150 + 1*200 = 800, and 300/800 = 3/8
See also …
SAT College Board Practice Questions