SAT Practice: Wednesday

Taking the SAT for the first time can be very intimidating.   As much as I love math, I realize it is a major stressor for many of you.   Don’t walk into your SAT with knots in your stomach.  Be confident!  Well, if you’ve never done well in math you might be wondering how you can fake ‘confidence’.  I don’t want you to fake it.  I want you to really be confident.  

 “How?”,  you ask. 

Confidence is a state of knowing.  The more you know, the more confident you are.  So get help.  There are a lot of places you can get help.  This is one of them.  I will post lots of practice problems here.   

 Today’s problems  come from www.majortests.com.   Work each one out.   Then check your answers at the bottom of  the post. Come back for more.  If you really don’t get it, email me at realmathinaminute@hotmail.com.  I’ll explain it to you in a video…step by step. 

1. If f(x) = │(x² – 50)│, what is the value of f(-5) ?

A. 75
B. 25
C. 0
D. -25
E. -75

2. ( √2 – √3 )² =

A. 5 – 2√6
B. 5 – √6
C. 1 – 2√6
D. 1 – √2
E. 1

1. B      To find f(-5), you substitute -5 in place of x. That gives you the absolute value of -25 which is 25. There are no tricks in this problem.

2. A     To square any binomial, FOIL it. You get 2 -2root6 +3. Final answer 5 -2root6. There is really no trick here either. Just don’t subtract 2 from 5! If your nerves plant doubts about that during the test, tell them to just shut up. You know this.

If you need help with these email me at realmathinaminute@hotmail.com