So, How Do You Feel About Functions on the SAT?

 

Me: Love/Hate

Do they destroy you? They nearly killed me -- until the bitter end.

I did eventually learn how to do them (thank you Philip Keller and PWNtheSAT) -- just not as fast as I would have liked -- under "timed conditions."  (Thankfully, this lack of mastery over functions hasn't impaired my real life.)

Apparently, I'm not alone (see Apple Doesn't Fall Far From the Tree video above), and there is help, for those of you in the "function challenged" boat.

The New Math SAT Game Plan: The Strategic Way to Score Higher by Philip Keller explains functions so well ... you'll be teaching them to your teacher's teacher by the time you're done.

I could recommend his book for a whole lot of reasons, but I'll cut to the chase: Keller very clearly lays out the SAT math strategy that all the SAT cognoscenti agree on (they just package it up a little differently).

Keller's SAT Math Strategy In A Nutshell:

The SAT gives one point for each right answer, and deducts ¼ point for each wrong answer. There’s no deduction for questions you skip. Keller explains why the quarter-point deduction means that most test takers should deliberately work too slowly to finish the test. Your score will be higher if you leave the hard problems blank and get 100% of the problems you can do right—you can score well above a 700 (about 740, on average) intentionally skipping one question per section if you get everything else right.

*Choose a target score 100 points higher than you achieved on your most recent test.

*Decide which questions to skip based on your target score. Math questions appear in order of difficulty, and Keller tells you exactly which questions to answer (Answer Zone) and which to skip (Skip Zone) according to their sequence on the test.

*Only answer questions in your Answer Zone. Any questions not in your Answer Zone are in your Skip Zone, and that’s what you do. Skip them.

*Only guess if you’re in your “Answer Zone.” No guessing on Skip-Zone problems.

 

The rest of the book is filled with shortcuts for solving SAT math problems faster than you can solve them using traditional methods.