Section 2=Math

point, whichin of the decimal to the right digit digitis the second 1 . D Thehundredths' thiscaseis 8. 4x + 5x = doesn't: 9x2.(B) however, oneat a time.(A)equals eachchoice, 2 . 8 Check you and likevariables sumthe coefficients leave adding whenyou're 9X because (C),(D),and(E)all equal 9x2. as it is.Choices thevariable do the samethingto bothsidesof an equation 3 . 8 Youmustalways

PSAT Test Sample a a a a - a o a a a a 5

=l i?x) t(10)
2x' 10
X=5

'

4 . 8

gSI"/" is one of the percents to you. should be familiar equivalent whosefractional

3
1

SSIZ =

t, of thecircle.

1' -'r on the pie chartthatis approximatolt for the region looking ,o you're 3

5. G The area of a squareis equalto the lengthof its side squared.Eaghof the two squareshas an area of 25, so each squarehas a side lengthof \/25 = 5. Fromthe has a widthof 5 and a lengthof sketchbelowyou can see that the originalrectangle = 5 + 5 10.

/= length and w= width. to2(l+ w),where is equal of a rectangle Theperimeter = = is 2(10+ 5) 2(15) 30. rectangle of theoriginal Theperimeter so you'llneedto usethe formula talksaboutratesandtimes, 6. B Thisquestion at 48 milesper hourfor 2 hoursand Johntraveled ratex time= distance. asks Thequestion 48 x 2.25= 108miles. He traveled 15 minutes , or 2.25hours. whichis whatratehe'dhaveto driveat to makethissametrip in 2 hours, per hour. 54 miles 2 hours that(x + 1)(x- 1) is a if you recognize veryquickly can be solved 7. A Thisquestion (a + b)(a- b) = a2- E.Here, (x+ 1)(x- t; = In general, of squares. difference you =7 , g i ve n so x2- 1=7 - 1 = 6. lf youdidl' tseethis, th a tx2 x 2 - 1 . Y o u 're that to comeup withthe valueof Y7, and plugged couldhaveusedyourcalculator for x to solve. in
1 0 8 m i l e s=

8. D Thisquestion is a littletricky, sinceit callson youto dealwithpercents in the To makethe question abstract. moreconcrete, PickNumbers. Sinceit'sa percent problem, the bestnumber to pickis 100.Butbecause thereare2 variables, x andy, youmightbe confused you to which as of them should make100.Sincex is given as 66 { R"r."n, ot y, il you let }z= 100,thenx is simply uu Nowyou needto J 3 = ::?;1Lx 100%. determine whatpercent you're of y x is. Percent looking for Since wnole = a percent of x, x is the wholeandy is the part.Plugging in givesyou percent . rco%ot #& # ood g x 100%. Sincedividing by a fraction is the sameas

= = 15Oo/o, multiplying (D).Evenif you by its reciprocal, 100x t rcO% # s9. youcouldhaveusedcommon couldn't entirely solvethisquestion, senseto y eliminate a fewchoices. Sincex is only thanx. Therefore, ' AAl"n 3 of y, yis greater mustbe morethan100% of X and(A)and (B)couldbothbe eliminated as too'small. 9. A Lookat the primefactorizations of 4, 6, and 10: 4=2x2 6=2x3 10=2x5 A multiple of all threeof thesenumbers will haveto contain eachof theseprime factors raised to the highest exponent withwhichit is used.In otherwords, it must contain twofactors of 2, onefactor of 3, and onefactor of 5. Nowlookat the answer choices, andfindthe primefactorization of each: (A)I = 2 x 2 x 2 or 23.Sinceyoudetermined youwerelooking thatthe number for onlyhadto have2 factors of 2, it doesn't haveto be divisible by 8. youcouldhavetriedcoming Evenif youcouldnot solvethisquestion systematically, up w i tha n u mb e rw h i ch i s a m ultiple oI 4,6, and10andwhich is nota multiplof e the correct youwouldfindthat60 is a answer choice. Witha littleexperimenting multiple ol 4, 6, and 10 butnota multiple of 8. 10. E The leastcommon denominator of all the fractions is 64. Rewriting eachfraction

you with a denominator of64gives * sums to #. #* # #. &* fr, which

factor otherthan 1, so thisfraction cannot be I64 Ogand64 haveno common reduced. Therefore, the numerator of the sum is 63.

PSAT Sample Test

a a a a a a a a a a a

11. E

PSAT Test Sample

a a a a - a a a a a a

Thevertices of the square D, E, F, and G in the figure are labeled above. The perimeter of LABC is equalto the sumAE EB,BF, FG, GC,CD, andDA.Square DEFGhasan areaof 3. The areaof a square is equalto its sidelength squared, so FGz- 3, and FG =li. Since AABCis equilateral, all threeof its angles are 60 degrees. SinceDE is parallel to BC, A^AED is alsoan equilateral triangle. In square = = DEFG, DE FG,so DE V3. In equilateral triangle AED,AE = DA= DE,so AE = DA=Y3. Nowlookat right triangle EFB. ZEFBhasa measure of 90'because this angleis supplementary to zEFG of the square. YouknowthatangleEBFhasa it is an angleof equilateral measure of 60" because triangle ABC.So the thirdangle EBF,IFEB, mustbe 180"- 90' - 60" = 30o.So righttriangle of triangle EFBis a whosesidesare in the ratiox : xXE:2xJn LEFB,the longer 30-60-90triangle leg,Ef is alsoa sideof the square, so it hasa length of V3. The length of the leg,BF,is 1 andthe hypotenuse, shorter EB,is 2. NowAB = AE + EB = Y3 + 2. triangle Since allthreesides of equilateral ABCye equal, theperimeter of triangle ABCis A B + B C + C A= 3 A B=3 ( V3 + 2) = 3V3 + 6. 12. B To simplify a radical, factor out anyperfect squares in it. Va8 = V16 x 3 = V16 " f 3 = + Vg . si mi ta rl y,fi =\/4 xg= \/4 Vd = 2{ 3. So youhave 4V3 +z\/g " + Vg =7f 3.
13. A

just plugthe givenvalues Toworkwiththe symbol, intothe expression ,' * The leftsideof the equation becomes t'*

tand you9 + 2 = 25 * !, or 11 = 25* {. You're becomes 5' * *.This gives to asked 2 2 2 it on one sideof the equation solvefor n, so isolate by subtracting 25 fromboth -1 -28 = n. Thisgivesyou 4 = Multiplying sides. bothsidesby 2, +. given 1 4 . C You're thatthe average of threedifferent numbers is 4, andyou're to find asked possible youknowth'e value for oneof thoseintegers. thegreatest Since actual youcansolve average, andthe number of terms, forthe sumof thethreenumbers by = (sumof plugging (average)(number intothe average thevalues formula: of terms) possible terms). Therefore the sumof thetermsis ( )(3)= 12.Tofindthe greatest value youneedto takethe smallest possible for oneof theterms, values forthe othertwo Thequestion thatallthreetermsarepositive terms. states integers, so the smallest possibility positive foroneof these is terms 1. lt can'tbe 0, since 0 is neither or possible negative. Nowyouneedto findthesmallest value forthe second term.All 3 terms mustbe different, so thistermcan't alsobe 1.Thesmallest it canbe is 2. This would make thethird term12- 1 - 2 = 9.

I. the rightsideof the equation

15. E

given You're the length of the hypotenuse andthe length of one legof a right triangle, and are askedto solvefor the the length of the otherleg,so youshould immediately thinkof the Pythagorean Theorem. Thetheorem states thatin a right triangle, the square of the hypotenuse is equalto the sumof the squares of the legs.Here, the hypotenuse is x + 3 andone of the legsis x + 2. Letthe length of the legyou're looking for be calledn. Plugging givesyou: intothe theorem rf+(x+2)2=(x+3)2 r f = ( x + 3 ) 2 -( x + 2 ) 2 r f = ( x 2+ 6 x + 9 )- ( x 2 + 4 x + 4 ) rf = 2x;t_F_ n=Y2x+5

16. E

problem The bestwayto solvea remainders is to picka number for thevariable. Sincen leaves a remainder of 7 whendivided by 9, n is 7 morethana multiple of 9, so let n equal 9 + 7 or 16.Whenn = 16,5n = 80.80 divided by 9 is 8 witha remainder of B. The bestwayto solvethisquestion is to try out the answer choices to see if one works. Thereis no wayto move1 marble fromBoxA to BoxB so thatthe ratioof black marbles to whitemarbles willbe the samein bothboxes. However, if youmove2 black marbles fromBoxA to BoxB, thenBoxA willcontain 2 blackmarbles and 1 whitemarble and BoxB willcontain 6 black marbles and3 white marbles. Therefore the ratio of blackmarbles to whitemarbles in bothboxes willbe 2 to 1. given You're the equation V = !ovs and are asked whatthe valueof V is multiplied 3 by i't ris multiplied Oy it andseewhathappens. you Multiplying ,by !.ty +gives elugthisintothe given equation: {. 2

17. B

18. A

u= +4;)' =i4#)
= (*)(*-'

=t4E)
tor", youcanseethatmultiplying ,by V +causes
tt

Since theoriginal value of V is to be multiplied by1.

19. E You're asked to findthe length of a chordof a circle, whichalsohappens to be the sideof a triangle drawn within thatcircle. Seewhatyoucanfigure out fromthe giveninformation. You're toldthatthe circlehasarea36a and sincethe areaof a circleis equalto z timesits radius squared, the radius of the circleis 6. Thismeans thatradiiOA= OC = 6, and LOAC is isosceles. At thispointyoucan eliminate a couple of answer choices. Remember, diagrams on the SATare drawn to scale unless otherwise noted, so youcansee tnatAC is greater thaneitherOA or OC, psAT greater and is therefore (A)and (D)for beingtoo small. than6. Eliminate Youalso .93Tgl{"..:. - --6--- - kn o w th a tth le o n g e stchor d passesthr ough is of acir cle a diam eter onethat , i ts

PSAT passthrough centerO it mustbe lessthanthe center. SincechordAC doesn't Test Sample youcaneliminate (C)as being whichis 12 (d = 2l).Therefore too circle's diameter, . 9 yourwaydownto 2 to solve, worked large. You've barely started andyou've already you pressed (B) (E). were for lf timeor stumped as to howto proceed, choices, and you'dhavegreatguessing odds.
a a a a - a a a a a a

outfromthe giveninformation? You're toldthat arcABC Whatelsecanyoufigure haslength 4n. Thecircumference of the circleis 2trr,or 12n, ' so this 1 arc 2is # n = ! 3 Thatmeans thatthe central of the entire circumference. angleof the arc,IAOC,
1 = 120". total measure, ot representsof thecircle's angle SinceLOAC is J ry = Z-OCA. Therefore of these is equal isosceles withOA= OC,ZOAC each angles

180"- 120"_ 60' = 30o.lf youdrawa perpendicular +^----r: = =; linefromO to AC,you ,o triangles. LOAC intotwo right divide

in eachtriangle as shown, thethirdangle mustbe a 30" angle Since eachcontains triangle, withsides in the ratio of x: xV3: 2x.Since 60'. So eachis a 30-60-90 is 6, thesideopposite the60'angleis 3V3. triangle the hypotenuse of eachright AC is 3V3 + 3V3 = 6V3. Thatmeans Numbers, to solveby Picking and sinceit'sa percent 20. D Thisis a goodquestion population problem it'susually besttopick100.Lettheaverage of the 9 other population 4 is 3 times that,or 3 x 100= 300. The of District districts be 100. livesin District A. of the city'spopulation Thequestion askswhatpercent = #!Percent of wholeis the population of the entire city,whichis the sumof the population Plugging thisin givesyou: District A andthe 9 otherdistricts. 300 x 1OO"/o, or 00) # 300+ 9(1 Thisreduc".to ]
whole

x 100%, wherethe partis the population of District A andthe

x 100%.

x 100%or 25"/o.

Section 4= Math
1.

D multiply by its reciprocal. To divide by a fraction,

1 _ 2 x_ x ( 4 \ 4 2

\E)

2 . E long PEMDAS can helpyouget through the orderof operations. Remember problems mistakes. and prevent careless

x = l - 5 l r * l - + - s lr 7 + l - z lx z x=52
X=25+7x7 x=25+49 X=74 E Note that the questionis not askingfor the value of n. 4n - 15 = 17, so 4n = 32 and fl = 8. Then 3n + 9 = 3(8) + I = 24+ 9 = 33. 4.

c
then to find27x = 135, n u" {' 1 5= 9. Cro.. multiply canbe rewritte Thisquestion
x for divideboth sides by 27 to find X = 5. This problemis also a good candidate Backsolving.

5.

c
number intoan equation. Callthe original the question Thefirststepis to translate x frombothsidesof the equation as x 4 = 9x. Subtract x. Thenwritethe question bothsidesby 8 to findx = -+ to find-4 = 8x. Divide z

6.

B TestDay,so that you are not of the PSATmathsectionbefore Learnthe vocabulary problems. Sinceset J is the set of all and havean edgeon complicated confused the unionof negative evenintegers, K is the set of all and set negative odd integers of bothsetsintooneset.So, all of the values thesetwo setsis a setthatcombines even and all negative odd integers the unionof thesesetswouldbe all negative integers. to all negative whichsimplifies integers, E =1 thata-bRemember
m

7.

ab' 1 1 - 2 =

1 B'= 64

a a a a t a a a a o o

PISAT SampleTest 14

8' c

s"l;#il" { (A) and (D) are bothlessthanI yard,so theyare too shortto tie up the bag and ""li'5-'".iil ' z canbe eliminated. Tofindoutwhich of the remaining lengths is shortest, andtherefore
willhave the least givethemall a common amount of remaining rope, denominator.

=3, =ffi, anaS(f) =ffi. rn"shortest option ronger than fiffi +(3) f vard . 2
rs yaro. 5 The explanations intentionally skip from 8 to 16,since questions9-15 do not appearon the test. 16. 2

Note thatthequestion asks forthevalue of x. Substitule 2y forx in thefirst = 2. equation. 2y + 4y= 6, so6y = 6 and y = 1.x = 2y = 2(1)
1 7 . 9 or .75
4

lf Alice completes herhomework in 8 hours, shecompletes hour. After * of it every working for6 hours, shehascompleted Ur = = ot it.u * 3 f;
18. I 296 The productof 8 and 9 is72, so half their productis 36. Since 36 is the squareroot of the numberyou'relooking for,the numbermustbe 362= 36 x 36 = 1,296.

1e. fi ot.zoe
Average - = =$!HL,
1 41 6 numDer ol terms' 6 4 24'24

so in thiscasetheaverage is

(#)

_ - 1 0 _ 1 _ 5 24^Z- 24

Youcould alsogridin the decimal equivalent of ], .eOe. z+ 20. I problem, Looking youseethatA plusA in the unitscolumn at the addition yields an 8 in the unitscolumn of the sum.Therefore A couldequaleither 4 (since 4 + 4 =8) or 9 (since 9 + 9 = 18).lf A were4, thenyouwouldn't have to carrya 1 to thetenscolumn, and4 plusB would equal18.There is no value of B forwhich this could be true, so try A = 9. lt A = 9, thenA plusA in the units column would sumto 18,leaving an 8 in the unitscolumn youto caftya 1 to the of the sum,and requiring = you'd tenscolumn. Therefore have1 + 9 + B 1B in the sum.Thisis truefor any valueo f ( 1 + 9 + 3 = 1 3 ,1 + 9 + 7 - 1 7 , B e t c .S ) othevalu oe f4 m u s t b e g . 21. 3 6 LCAD = ICAE - ZDAE.You're toldthat ZCAE = 73, so if you can findZDAE you cansolveforICAD. AB is perpendicular Io AE,so ZBAE= 90.Also, ZBAE= ZBAD+ ZDAE,andsince IBAD = 53,90 = 53 + IDAE, and37 = ZDAE. Nowthat you havethe measure of IDAE youcansolvefor ICAD: ZCAD= 73 - 37 = 36.

22. 45 = 2(l + w),where/ and Perimeter to findthe perimeter of the rectangle. You're asked length andwidthrespectively. So you needto findthesemeasurements u/represent You're notgivenanyinformation aboutthe rectangle, butyouaretoldthat to solve. theremustbe inscribed withinit havecircumference 9n.Therefore, the two circles to determine the length andwidth aboutthe circles somewayto usethe information you'llnotice below, lf youdrawin someradii, as shownin the figure of the rectangle. is equalto 3 radiiandthatthe widthis equalto 2 of the rectangle thatthe length radii,

of the circle. So 2nr = 9n, is equallo 2nr,wherer is the radius Circumference = 13.5, is 3(a.5) andthewidthis of the rectangle 2r = 9, and r = 4.5.Thelength = 9. Plugging youfindthatthe perimeter of the rectangle intothe formula, 2(4.5) = 45. + 9 ) = 2 (2 2 .5) i s 2 (1 3 .5 23. 5 wereleftuneaten, the number of cookies thatwereeatenis 64 - 9 Since9 cookies = 55. You're at so n timesthe number of guests toldthateachguestate n cookies, mustbe a wholenumber, the the number of guests the partymustequal55. Since mustbe factors and bothnumbers mustalsobe a wholenumber. number of cookies at toldthatthe number of guests of 55 are 1, 5, 11 and55. You're of 55.The factors maken either 11 or 55,which would than9, so it mustbe either the partyis greater toldthatn mustbe greater than 1, so it musttherefore You're 5 or 1 respectively. b e5 . 24. 48 givena lot of information timeto siftthrough here,and if youjusttakea little You're Youknowhowmanyboxes of candyweresold,howmuch it, you'llbe ableto solve. asked was raised, andthatsomeboxes cost$2 andthe restcost$5. You're money equalx. Sincea total of boxes soldat $5, so let thatnumber to solvefor the number thenumber soldat $2. lf youmultiply weresold,150- x is the number of 150boxes prices andthenaddthetwo dollar soldat eachpriceby theirrespective of boxes you'llgetthe totalamount of money raised. Youknowthatthistotalis amounts, you to solve for x can set up an equation $444,so 5 x + 2 ( 1 5 0 -x ) = 4 4 4 5x+ 300- 2x= 444 3x+ 300 = 444 3x = 144 x=48

a a a a a a a a a a a

PSAT Test Sample t6

Sothenumber of boxes soldat $5 is 48.

lf youweren't yourcalculator surehowto proceed on thisquestion, wouldbe a great possibilities ally. Youcoulduseit to try outvarious for the number of boxes soldat eachprice. Youknowthat 150boxes weresold,so youmighttry 75 at eachprice: (75x $5) + (75x $Z; = 937U + $150= $525.Only$444was raised, so theremust (50 havebeenfewerboxes soldat $S.try 50 and 100: x $5) + (100x $2) = $250+ so you knowyou're close. A few $200= $450.Thisis stilltoo big,butjustby a little, moretrieson yourcalculator should helpyoufindthat48 boxes weresoldat $5.

a a a o a o a o o o o

,"li#L"
17

2s t",

12.2 ot 12.3

The perimeter of a rectangle is 2(/ + w),where/ b the lengthandw is the width. theperimeter Since of thisrectangle is 14, 2(l + A = 14.Dividing bothsides by 2, = I + w 7. Thinkaboutdifferent rectangles whichhavea length and a widthwhich a d du pt o 7 . l f /= 6 a n d w =1 , th enthear eaof ther ectangle is 6 x 1, or 6. lf /= 5 a n dw = 2 , th ea re ai s 5 x2 , o r 1 0.lf l=4and w = 3, thear eais 4x3,or 12.Notice, thatthe closer the sidesof the rectangle cometo beingequal, the greater the area becomes. The areawillbe a maximum whenthe rectangle is a square. In thiscase = = = I w 3.5.The areaof sucha square is 3.5 x 3.5 12.25.