The Inside Track on How SAT Questions Are Developed and How They Vary from Test to Test

When an SAT question is developed, it is based on a set of criteria and guidelines. Knowing how these guidelines work should demystify the test-making process and convince you why the strategies in this book are so critical to getting a high score.

Inherent in the SAT questions are Critical Thinking Skills, which present strategies that enable you to solve a question by the quickest method with the least amount of panic and brain-racking, and describe an elegance and excitement in problem solving. Adhering to and using the strategies (which the test makers us to develop the questions) will let you “sail” through the SAT. This is summed up in the following statement:

''Show me the solution to a problem, and I'll solve that problem. Show me a Gruber strategy for solving that problem, and I'll solve hundreds of problems.''

-- Gary Gruber Here's a sample of a set of guidelines present for making up an SAT-type question in the Math area:

The test maker is to make up a hard math problem in the regular math multiple-choice area, which involves

A. algebra

B. two or more equations

C. two or more ways to solve: one way being standard substitution, the other faster way using the strategy of merely adding or subtracting equations. Math Strategy 14

Previous examples given to test maker reference:
 * 1) If x + y = 3, y + z = 4 and z + x = 5, find the value of x + y = z.

A. 4

B. 5

C. 6

D. 7

E. 8

Solution: Add equations and get 2x + 2y + 2z = 12; divide both sides of the equation by 2 and we get x + y + z = 6. (Answer C)

2. If 2x + y = 8 and x + 2y = 4, find the value of x -y.

A. 3

B. 4

C. 5

D. 6

E. 7

Solution: Subtract equations and get x - y = 4. (Answer B) Here's an example from a recent SAT.

If y – x = 5 and 2y + z = 11, find the value of x + y + z.

A. 3

B. 6

C. 8

D. 16

E. 55

Solution: Subtract equation y – x = 5 from 2y + z = 11.

We get 2y – y + z - (-x) = 11 – 5,

So, y + z + x = 6. (Choice B)