SAT® Skills Insight™

Using SAT® Skills Insight™

SAT Skills Insight is only a general guide. Its goal is to help you determine and improve your current skill levels in the areas tested on the SAT.

Review Your Options: Begin by determining the level your skills are at right now. Look at each score band to see what types of skills it requires. Decide how comfortable you feel with the skills described. Don’t worry if you’re not an exact match for any one score band; it’s normal to have some of the skills in the next higher or lower band.

Make Your Selection: Start by looking at the scores you earned on the PSAT/NMSQT®, SAT, and any practice tests you have taken. Then choose a separate score band for each section of the SAT—for example, 300–390 for math, 400–490 for critical reading, and 500–590 for writing.

Once you’ve chosen your bands, you can look at the areas that need improvement to help you achieve more.

Mathematics Skill Groups: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

1. Number and Operations

Academic Skills

A typical student in this score band can do the following:

SKILL 1: Solve problems using ideas from basic set theory and basic number theory
SKILL 2: Recognize and apply ratio, proportion, or percent in solving problems
SKILL 3: Use properties of real number operations, ordering, and the zero-product property
SKILL 4: Solve problems involving counting techniques

Suggestions for Improvement

To prepare for the next score band, try the following:

Determine values or properties of numbers in a sequence when given a description of the sequence
Create and use ratios, fractions, or percents in solving problems
Solve more-complex counting problems (e.g., permutations, combinations, and inclusion/exclusion)

Skill Examples

The example questions below demonstrate the Academic Skills found in this score band. Without looking at the answers, try out the questions to see how comfortable you feel with the skills they test.

Skill 1—Example

Solve problems using ideas from basic set theory and basic number theory

X = set of positive integer factors of 6.
Y = set of positive integer factors of 9.
Z = set of positive integer factors of 15.

X, Y, and Z represent three sets of numbers, as defined above. What is the set of numbers that belong to set Z but to neither set X nor set Y ?

{1, 3}
{1, 5}
{5, 15}
{2, 3, 5}
{1, 3, 5, 15}

Answer: C

Skill 2—Example

Recognize and apply ratio, proportion, or percent in solving problems

There are 150 teachers at a meeting, 40 percent of whom are male. Of the male teachers at the meeting, 35 percent teach elementary school. How many of the male teachers at the meeting teach elementary school ?

Answer: A

Skill 3—Example

Use properties of real number operations, ordering, and the zero-product property

If (p + 1)(t - 3) = 0 and p is positive, what is the value of t ?

-3
-1
0
1
3

Answer: E

Skill 4—Example

Solve problems involving counting techniques

If n is a positive 2-digit integer and both digits of n are the same, how many different values are possible for n ?