I Have An Admission to Make - PSAT Table of Contents

I HAVE AN ADMISSION TO MAKE

BY RICHARD J. ROME

HIGHER SCORES FOR HIGHER EDUCATION
FOR THE PSAT

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Richard J. Rome,
rjr@prepdoctor.com

Library of Congress Registration Number: TXu 917-094

Effective Date of Registration: 09/03/99

PSAT/NMSQT (Preliminary Scholastic Assessment Test/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test), the SAT-I: Reasoning Test and the SAT-II: Subject Tests are registered trademarks of the College Examination Board. ETS is a registered trademark of the Educational Testing Service.

FOR EMILY,

The pain of discipline < (is less than) the pain of regret.

Higher scores in testing
come by work,
Not by chance,
As they score highest who
have worked
To advance.


TABLE OF CONTENTS

Forewords:
Dr. Joseph Cooper, Professor of Political Science and
former Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs,
Johns Hopkins University...............................................10
Dr. William E. Fitzgibbon III, Chairman and Professor
of the Department of Mathematics,
University of Houston..................................................11

Acknowledgments........................................................12

INTRODUCTION TO HIGHER SCORES FOR HIGHER EDUCATION.....................17
        - guessing:  defensive / offensive / horseshoes and hand grenades...21
        - A topology of cups and doughnuts during the PSAT and the SAT.22
        - the possibilities worth considering..........................26
        - the f's, high-test fuel for your mind........................28
        - Manage, to have a good time on your test.....................30

MATH PREP:  PSAT/NMSQT, SAT-I:  REASONING TEST, SAT-II
MATH 1: - fractions, ratios, percentages, averages and "gridins".......31 - 70
        - a high-score illusion........................................71
        - reinforcement test Math-I  (answers, scoring, solutions).....71 - 88
MATH II: the real number system........................................89 - 119
        - integers (are integral), odds, evens.........................89
        - algebraic operations.........................................92
        - identities...................................................94
        - factors, multiples...........................................95
        - prime numbers, composite numbers.............................95
        - The powers of exponents......................................96
        - perfect squares that are not dweebs..........................98
        - Radicals are a good riddance. ...............................104
        - The order of algebraic operations............................107
        - variables in terms of other variables   .....................108
        - equalities, functions and inequalities.......................112
        - Does symbolism give you an embolism? ........................116
        - reinforcement test Math II (answers and solutions)...........120 - 137

GEOMETRY
MATH III: Geometry (the first dimension)...............................138 - 155
        - angles, lines................................................138
        - triangles....................................................139
        - the right triangle...........................................141
        - quadrilaterals...............................................143
        - polygons.....................................................145
        - face diagonals...............................................146
        - circles......................................................149
        - Re-recount twenty-three f's..................................155 
        - reinforcement test Math III (answers and solutions)..........156 - 180

MATH IV:  Geometry of Areas (the second dimension).....................181 - 190
MATH  V:  Cartesian coordinates........................................191 - 195
        - reinforcement test Math IV, V (answers and solutions)........196 - 214

MATH VI:  Geometry of Volumes (the third dimension)....................215 - 226
        - space diagonal...............................................216
        - reinforcement test Math VI  (answers and solutions)..........227 - 245 
	
MATH VII: WORD PROBLEMS:  variation, motion, work, assigned-values.....246 - 260
        - variation....................................................246
        - Does motion make you throw up?...............................251
        - work.........................................................255
        - assigned-value problems......................................258

GORDIAN COUNTING, COMBINATIONS
MATH VIII:combinations, probability, exhaustion, Venn diagrams.........261 - 268
        - the fundamental principle of counting........................261
        - finite probability, odds, independent trials, more guessing..267
        - reinforcement test Math VII, VIII (answers and solutions)....269 - 287
        - Venn diagrams................................................288 - 297
MATH IX:  Data Interpretation..........................................298 - 317
MATH  X:  Mode.........................................................318 - 319

CRITICAL-READING PREP

CRITICAL READING I
        - sentence completions.........................................320 - 334
        - annotate structural clues (telltales)/ analogy topology......323 - 324
        - syntax, subordination, stress, main idea.....................325
        - reinforcement test / sentences completions ..................335
  
CRITICAL READING II
          reading explicitly, implicitly with your #2 pencil a.........342 - 399
        - choosing the correct answer..................................356
        - double passages..............................................381 - 389
        - narrative (fiction / nonfiction).............................390
        - rhetorical devices...........................................391

WRITING SKILLS PREP:  STANDARD WRITTEN ENGLISH
             
        - question types / directions / how to approach the questions..400 - 444
        - diction, a haven for homophones / clichés are worn to a frazzle....402
        - mixed metaphors, "Apology does not mend the offense."........403
        - substandard usage (sic) ain't no way to communicate..........404
        - Idiom is habit-forming / verbosity by Calvin Coolidge........405 - 407
        - grammar, the rules most commonly violated ...................408
            - subject-verb agreement...................................408
            - pronouns and their antecedents...........................414
            - tense and verb forms.....................................420
            - God  bless the subjunctive! .............................422
            - fragments................................................427
            - parallelism..............................................427
            - modifiers................................................437
            - She looks as a horse, and other comparisons..............440
        - logical connections..........................................443
        - ten-interrogative checklist..................................444
 
PSAT/SAT REINFORCEMENT TEST............................................445 - 458
PERORATION IN THE LOCKER ROOM BEFORE THE TEST..........................475
GLOSSARY...............................................................479 - 500