COLLEGE WIZARD MATH RULES

1. Every question is a little puzzle that meant to be solved in 2-5 steps. Correct
answers are short by tricky, never long and complex.

2. The reading of the problem is as important if not more important than the
math itself.

3. Whenever you encounter a fraction on one or both sides of an equation,

whether at the beginning of the problem or in the steps to solve it, the next
step is to cross multiply.

4. With linear equation word problems, the constant is what you start with (and
will match to words like “origin”, “beginning” or y-intercept.) The slope is a
rate of change and will match to words like “increase or “decrease”.

5. When the question contains the phrase “no solution”, remember this occurs
only when the slopes of the two linear equations are equal, meaning they are
parallel and will never cross. There are 3 steps to solving any “no solution”
problem: 1) Put the equations into simple y=mx+b format and find the
slopes; 2) Set the slopes equal and 3) Cross multiply to find the value of the
variable.

6. When the question talks about “line going through the origin” this means that
the slope for every point on that line is y/x. So you can set y/x for any point
equal to y/x for any other point to arrive at the solution.

7. Tricky exponent questions are meant to be solved using substitutions. For

instance, 32 is equal to 2 to the 5th power; 81 is equal to 3 to the 4th power.

8. The rule of sectors: whatever fraction of the circle one attribute of a sector
represents will be the same fraction for all of its attributes. The three
attributes of a sector are its area, its arc and its central angle.

9. There are only two trigonometry rules required on the SAT:

1) sin (x) = cos (90-x) and cos (x) = sin (90-x)

2) when sin(a) = cos(b), then a+b = 90 degrees

10. To solve a system of equations, remember you are going to add the two
equations together, and your goal is that when they are added together, one
of the variables should cancel out to zero. So before adding, you will need to
multiply one or both equations by some number so that after the addition
one of the variables cancels out to zero.
11. The only way to get to zero through addition is to add a positive number to a
negative number. Adding to positive numbers or two negative numbers will
never arrive at zero.

12. The two things that create problematic situations on the SAT: zero in a
denominator (which makes the fraction undefined) or a negative number
under a radical (which results in an imaginary, not a real number)

13. To find the maximum value/minimum value/vertex of a parabola when you

have been given a factored quadratic, use these three steps: 1) Find the two
values of x that would make y=0; 2) Find the point that is exactly in the
middle of the two values you found in step 1; 3) Plug the value you found in
step 2 for x and calculate the value of y which will be the maximum
value/minimum value/vertex.

14. The formula for percent change is (difference between original and
final)/original.

15. To apply a percent change in a single step do this: for percent increase, add
the percentage as a decimal to the number “1” and multiply with it; for
percent decrease, subtract the percentage as a decimal from the number “1”
and multiply with it.

16. When your answers are all variables (as opposed to numbers), this is a
signal to plug in real numbers for the variables given. Don’t use 1 or 2 when
plugging in. Always use 3 or greater.

17. For solving probability questions, the denominator is the group you are
choosing from and the numerator is exactly who out of the denominator you
are choosing.

18. Factors only occur when the function value is zero.

19. When you see the word “intersect” it means to set things equal.

20. When you have a fraction in front of a variable, the variable always goes in
the numerator.

21. For survey/poll/study questions always pick the answer that is the most
conservative and least extreme.

22. Linear equations always advance by the same increment, but exponential
equations advance by differing increments.

23. When the problem GIVES YOU and equation but then asks a hypothetical, you
will almost always want to just plug in real number.
24. When they give you graphs in the problem, think about plugging in real x
values to create (x,y) points and see which graph contains those points.

25. Average questions on the SAT are almost always given in reverse of the way
you see them in school. In school, you are given a series of values, which you
add together and divide by the number of items to yield the average. But on
the SAT, they will typically give you the average and the number of items
averaged, which you multiply together to get the original sum of the values.
And then the actual answer is usually found by subtraction.

26. With geometry puzzles, you will almost always have to draw a line in
somewhere to solve it. And when triangles are put into circles, it is almost
always because the triangle sides are radii, telling you they are equal.

27. Whenever the SAT gives you the difference of squares (x squared minus y
squared, a squared minus b squared) you will always factor into the sum of
the square roots times the difference of the square roots.

28. Be very careful whenever you see a negative sign in front of a parenthetical
phrase: remember that you must distribute the negative sign across every
item within the parenthesis.

29. When all of your answers are linear equations with different slopes, just plug
points into (y2-y1)/(x2-x1) and find the slope.

30. When dealing with functions, the number within the parenthesis is the x
value and the f(x) or function value is the y value.

31. There are two signals that tell you it’s a long division of a polynomial
problem: 1) You are given a fraction (division) of two polynomials and 2) At
least a couple of the answers contain a fraction added to the end of the
answer, which would represent the remainder of a long division of a
polynomial problem. Remember that long division of a polynomial is exactly
the same process as long dividing numbers.

FORMULAS YOU NEED TO KNOW FOR SAT:

QUADRATIC FORMULA:

CIRCLE FORMULA:

x,y are the endpoints

h,k are the center points

r is the radius

VERTEX FORM:
EXPONENTIAL FORMULA:
 COLLEGE WIZARD READING RULES

1. Every word of a correct answer must match something in the text you can
point to that means the same thing.

2. Answer matching is only valid if the matched answer addresses the exact
wording of the question.

3. Never read the entire passage. Read only as little as you need to but as much
as you have to.

4. First answer the specific line referenced questions following the passage.
Then answer the ones that don’t have line or paragraph references, paying
careful attention to the exact wording of the question so that you know what
words in the text you are skimming for.

5. On the SAT, look ahead for questions that are immediately followed by
evidence questions. This type of question should be answered as a pair. But
always start with the evidence question. First, pay attention to the previous
question and locate the evidence that directly answers it. Then, find the
answer to the previous question that matches the correct evidence answer’s
text.

6. 80-90% of the time, you can answer a primary purpose question just by
matching the answers back to the title passage. When this doesn’t work
(because the title is not straightforward), you can read the first sentence of
each of the paragraphs one after another without stopping. Then create a
summary of what you have read. Your summary should match to the correct
answer. In the rare case where this doesn’t work either, you will need to
skim for multiple matches to the correct primary purpose answer.

7. When faced with questions that ask about both passages or what both
authors agree with, focus solely on Passage 1 and see which answer matches
to it. 95% of the time, only one answer will match to Passage 1, and once you
find it, you have successfully found the correct answer. In the 5% of the
cases where more than one of the answers matches to Passage 1, you will
then have to see which of those two answers that matched to Passage 1 also
matches to Passage 2. But when only one answer matches to Passage 1 (as
happens most of the time) you can confidently choose that answer without
having to spend any time on Passage 2.

8. Correct graph or table question answers must match completely back to the
graph. If any words in a graph answer do not match to the graph, you can
eliminate that answer.
9. Sometimes matches may be reverse matches, when the meaning of the text
is restated in an answer that conveys the meaning by using an opposite way
of saying it. For instance, if the text says, “Jack works only during the day,”
the correct answer might state that same idea as “Jack doesn’t work at night.”
If the text says, “Jack hates to be late,” the correct answer might be a reverse
match that says, “Jack prefers to be on time.” Look out for the words “imply,”
“infer” or “suggest” in questions, which frequently mean there will be a
reverse match involved.

VOCABULARY IN CONTEXT

For word in context questions, never look at the answers first. Instead, go to the line
and create your own definition. Proceed to match your synonym or definition to the
answer choices. In this way you will apply Rule One: we are matching to the word
used in context (and not the actual word).
 COLLEGE WIZARD WRITING RULES

1. The correct answer is almost always the one that is as short as possible while
being grammatically correct.

2. When given 4 choices (2 Yes, 2 No), read all choices and look for the one which is
100% correct and pointable; all wrong answers have at least one completely false
element. Anything ADDED to a paragraph must be VERY TIGHTLY MATCHED to the
theme of the existing paragraph.

3. When the question contains specifics, make sure you are answering to those
specifics.

4. Semicolons are soft periods and require a complete sentence both before and
after.

5. Match verb tense to other verbs in the sentence or if none other in the sentence,
to verbs in nearby sentences.

6. Match pronouns back to the words they are referring to.

7. Match verbs directly to the noun subject of the sentence, NEVER to the
prepositional phrase modifying the subject. For instance, “The number of students
are increasing every year” is an error; the subject is “number”, not “of students”

8. Use as few commas as possible, but place them where you have to pause.

9. When placing a sentence, there will almost always be words in what you are
placing that match to words in where it should go.

10. For transition questions, read words preceding and following the transition
very, very carefully. The correct transition will match the precise logic that exists
between the preceding and following words. There are three basic types of
transitions: 1) Additional facts. Example: It was raining outside. Also, it was
foggy. (Words like also, in addition, furthermore.); 2) Contrast. Example: It was
raining outside. However, Jack chose not to bring an umbrella. (Words like
however, nevertheless, but, yet); 3) Logical result. Example: It was raining
outside. Therefore, Jack brought his umbrella. (Words like therefore, thus,
consequently.)

11. Colons are used to either give a list, or as a way of saying, “here it is:"

12. Dashes are used to set off a bit of information that is an aside or footnote,
information that is not fundamental to the structure of the sentence. Dashes almost
always occur in pairs, like quotes, unless the information after the dash runs all the
way to the end of the sentence, in which case you can have only one dash.

13. When combining sentences, the correct answer must precisely match the
meaning of the original ones. If more than one matches exactly, pick the more
concise choice.

14. When employing a comparison, the beginning and ending of the comparison
must be parallel. For instance, it is INCORRECT to say, “The use of plastic is greater
than wood.” If we begin our comparison speaking about a “use”, we must compare it
to a “use.” We could either say “the use of plastic is greater than the use of wood” or
we could substitute a pronoun to prevent from having to use the same word twice:
“the use of plastic is greater than that of wood.”