Section 2=Math

digitis the seconddigitto the rightof the decimalpoint,whichin

1 . D Thehundredths'
thiscaseis 8.
doesn't:4x + 5x =
2 . 8 Checkeachchoice,oneat a time.(A)equals9x2.(B) however,
you
and leave
9X becausewhenyou'readdinglikevariables sumthe coefficients
as it is.Choices(C),(D),and(E)all equal9x2.
thevariable
3 . 8 Youmustalwaysdo the samethingto bothsidesof an equation
1

'

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

4 . 8

gSI"/" is one of the percentswhosefractional

shouldbe familiarto you.
equivalent
3
1

SSIZ =

1'
-'r
,o you'relookingfor the regionon the pie chartthatis approximatolt
3

t,
of thecircle.

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
sketchbelowyou can see that the originalrectanglehas a widthof 5 and a lengthof
5 + 5 = 10.

is equalto2(l+ w),where/= lengthand w= width.

of a rectangle
Theperimeter
is 2(10+ 5) = 2(15)= 30.
of theoriginalrectangle
Theperimeter
6. B Thisquestiontalksaboutratesandtimes,so you'llneedto usethe formula
Johntraveledat 48 milesper hourfor 2 hoursand
ratex time= distance.
asks
48 x 2.25= 108miles.Thequestion
15 minutes
, or 2.25hours.He traveled
whatratehe'dhaveto driveat to makethissametrip in 2 hours,whichis
1 0 8 m i l e s=

54 milesper hour.
2 hours
that(x + 1)(x- 1) is a
7. A Thisquestioncan be solvedveryquicklyif you recognize
(a + b)(a- b) = a2- E.Here, (x+ 1)(x- t; =
In general,
of squares.
difference
=7
,
g i ve nth a tx2
so x2- 1=7 - 1 = 6. lf youdidl' tseethis,you
x 2 - 1 . Y o u 're
to comeup withthe valueof Y7, and pluggedthat
couldhaveusedyourcalculator
for
x
to
solve.
in

PSAT
SampleTest
a a a a - a o a a a a
5

8. D Thisquestionis a littletricky,sinceit callson youto dealwithpercentsin the

abstract.To makethe questionmoreconcrete,PickNumbers.Sinceit'sa percent
problem,
the bestnumberto pickis 100.Butbecausethereare2 variables,
x andy,
youmightbe confusedas to whichof themyoushouldmake100.Sincex is given
as 66 { R"r."n, ot y, il you let }z= 100,thenx is simplyuu Nowyou needto
J
3
determine
whatpercentof y x is. Percent= ::?;1Lx 100%.Sinceyou'relookingfor
wnole
a percentof x, x is the wholeandy is the part.Pluggingin givesyou percent=
#ood . rco%ot #&
g

x 100%.Sincedividingby a fractionis the sameas

= 15Oo/o,
multiplying
(D).Evenif you
by its reciprocal,
100x
t rcO%=
#
s9.
youcouldhaveusedcommonsenseto
couldn'tentirelysolvethisquestion,
y
eliminate
a fewchoices.Sincex is only
' AAl"n
3 of y, yis greaterthanx. Therefore,
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 multipleof all threeof thesenumberswill haveto containeachof theseprime
factorsraisedto the highestexponent
withwhichit is used.In otherwords,it must
containtwofactorsof 2, onefactorof 3, and onefactorof 5. Nowlookat the answer
choices,andfindthe primefactorization
of each:
(A)I = 2 x 2 x 2 or 23.Sinceyoudetermined
thatthe numberyouwerelookingfor
onlyhadto have2 factorsof 2, it doesn'thaveto be divisibleby 8.
youcouldhavetriedcoming
Evenif youcouldnot solvethisquestionsystematically,
up w i tha n u mb e rw h i ch
i s a m ultiple
oI 4,6, and10andwhichis nota multiplof
e
the correctanswerchoice.Witha littleexperimenting
youwouldfindthat60 is a
multiple
ol 4, 6, and 10 butnota multiple
of 8.
10. E The leastcommondenominator
of all the fractionsis 64. Rewriting
eachfraction

you
witha denominator
of64gives
*
sums
to
#. #* # #. &* fr, which
I64 Ogand64 haveno commonfactorotherthan 1, so thisfractioncannotbe
reduced.
Therefore,
the numerator
of the sum is 63.

PSAT
SampleTest
a a a a a a a a a a a

PSAT
SampleTest

11. E

a a a a - a a a a a a

Theverticesof the squareare labeledD, E, F, and G in the figureabove.The

perimeter
of LABC is equalto the sumAE EB,BF, FG, GC,CD, andDA.Square
DEFGhasan areaof 3. The areaof a squareis equalto its sidelengthsquared,so
FGz- 3, and FG =li. Since AABCis equilateral,
all threeof its anglesare 60
degrees.SinceDE is parallelto BC, A^AED
is alsoan equilateral
triangle.In square
DEFG,DE = FG,so DE = V3. In equilateral
triangleAED,AE = DA= DE,so AE =
DA=Y3. Nowlookat righttriangleEFB.ZEFBhasa measure
of 90'becausethis
angleis supplementary
to zEFG of the square.YouknowthatangleEBFhasa
measureof 60" becauseit is an angleof equilateral
triangleABC.So the thirdangle
of triangleEBF,IFEB, mustbe 180"- 90' - 60" = 30o.So righttriangleEFBis a
30-60-90trianglewhosesidesare in the ratiox : xXE:2xJn LEFB,the longer
leg,Ef is alsoa sideof the square,so it hasa lengthof V3. The lengthof the
shorterleg,BF,is 1 andthe hypotenuse,
EB,is 2. NowAB = AE + EB = Y3 + 2.
triangleABCye equal,theperimeter
Sinceallthreesidesof equilateral
of triangle
A B C i sA B + B C + C A= 3 A B=3 ( V3 + 2) = 3V3 + 6.
12. B To simplifya radical,factorout anyperfectsquaresin it. Va8 = V16 x 3 = V16
"
f 3 = + Vg . si mi ta rl y,fi =\/4 xg= \/4
Vd = 2{ 3. So youhave4V3 +z\/g
"
+ Vg =7f 3.
13. A

Toworkwiththe symbol,just plugthe givenvaluesintothe expression

,' *
The leftsideof the equationbecomest'*

I.
the rightsideof the equation

tand
becomes
5' * *.This givesyou9 + 2 = 25 * !, or 11 = 25* {. You'reaskedto
2
2
2
solvefor n, so isolateit on one sideof the equationby subtracting
25 fromboth
-1
-28
= n.
Multiplying
sides.Thisgivesyou 4 =
bothsidesby 2,
+.
1 4 . C You'regiventhatthe averageof threedifferent
numbersis 4, andyou'reaskedto find
valuefor oneof thoseintegers.
thegreatestpossible
Sinceyouknowth'eactual
average,
andthe numberof terms,youcansolveforthe sumof thethreenumbersby
plugging
thevaluesintothe averageformula:(average)(number
of terms)= (sumof
=
(
terms).Therefore
the sumof thetermsis )(3) 12.Tofindthe greatestpossible
value
for oneof theterms,youneedto takethe smallestpossible
valuesforthe othertwo
terms.Thequestionstatesthatallthreetermsarepositiveintegers,
so the smallest
possibility
foroneof thesetermsis 1. lt can'tbe 0, since0 is neitherpositive
or
negative.
Nowyouneedto findthesmallestpossible
valueforthe secondterm.All 3
termsmustbe different,
so thistermcan'talsobe 1.Thesmallest
it canbe is 2. This
wouldmakethethirdterm12- 1 - 2 = 9.

15. E

You'regiventhe lengthof the hypotenuse

andthe lengthof one legof a right
triangle,and are askedto solvefor the the lengthof the otherleg,so youshould
immediately
thinkof the Pythagorean
Theorem.Thetheoremstatesthatin a right
triangle,the squareof the hypotenuse
is equalto the sumof the squaresof the
legs.Here,the hypotenuse
is x + 3 andone of the legsis x + 2. Letthe lengthof
the legyou'relookingfor be calledn. Pluggingintothe theoremgivesyou:
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

problemis to picka numberfor thevariable.

The bestwayto solvea remainders
Sincen leavesa remainder
of 7 whendividedby 9, n is 7 morethana multipleof
9, so let n equal9 + 7 or 16.Whenn = 16,5n = 80.80 dividedby 9 is 8 witha
remainder
of B.

17. B

The bestwayto solvethisquestionis to try out the answerchoicesto see if one

works.Thereis no wayto move1 marblefromBoxA to BoxB so thatthe ratioof black
marblesto whitemarbleswillbe the samein bothboxes.However,
if youmove2 black
marblesfromBoxA to BoxB, thenBoxA willcontain2 blackmarblesand
1 whitemarbleand BoxB willcontain6 blackmarbles
and3 whitemarbles.
Therefore
the ratioof blackmarblesto whitemarblesin bothboxeswillbe 2 to 1.

18. A

You'regiventhe equationV = !ovs and are askedwhatthe valueof V is multiplied

3
by i't ris multiplied
Oy
it andseewhathappens.
you
Multiplying
,by
!.ty
+gives
elugthisintothe givenequation:
{.
2

u=+4;)'
=i4#)

=t4E)
= (*)(*-'

Sincetheoriginal
valueof V is

tor",

youcanseethatmultiplying
,by

V
+causes

to be multiplied
by1.
tt

19. E You'reaskedto findthe lengthof a chordof a circle,whichalsohappensto be the

sideof a triangledrawnwithinthatcircle.Seewhatyoucanfigureout fromthe
giveninformation.
You'retoldthatthe circlehasarea36a and sincethe areaof a
circleis equalto z timesits radiussquared,the radiusof the circleis 6. Thismeans
thatradiiOA= OC = 6, and LOAC is isosceles.
At thispointyoucan eliminate
a
coupleof answerchoices.Remember,
diagramson the SATare drawnto scale
unlessotherwise
noted,so youcansee tnatAC is greaterthaneitherOA or OC,
psAT
greaterthan6. Eliminate
and is therefore
(A)and (D)for beingtoo small.Youalso
.93Tgl{"..:.
- --6--- - kn o w th a tth leo n g e stchorofd acir cleis a diam eter
passesthr ough
onethat
,
i ts

PSAT
center.SincechordAC doesn'tpassthroughcenterO it mustbe lessthanthe
Test
Sample
youcaneliminate
(C)as beingtoo
whichis 12 (d = 2l).Therefore
circle's
diameter,
. 9
large.You'vebarelystartedto solve,andyou'vealreadyworkedyourwaydownto 2
choices,(B)and (E).lf youwerepressedfor timeor stumpedas to howto proceed,
you'dhavegreatguessingodds.
a a a a - a a a a a a

You'retoldthat arcABC
Whatelsecanyoufigureoutfromthe giveninformation?
haslength4n. Thecircumference
of the circleis 2trr,or 12n,
' so this
1 arc2is # n = ! 3
Thatmeansthatthe centralangleof the arc,IAOC,
of the entirecircumference.
1
= 120".SinceLOACis
totalanglemeasure,
ot
representsof thecircle's
J
ry
Therefore
isosceles
withOA= OC,ZOAC= Z-OCA.
eachof theseanglesis equal

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

a 30" angleas shown,thethirdanglein eachtrianglemustbe

Sinceeachcontains
withsidesin the ratioof x: xV3: 2x.Since
60'. So eachis a 30-60-90triangle,
the60'angleis 3V3.
the hypotenuse
of eachrighttriangleis 6, thesideopposite
ThatmeansAC is 3V3 + 3V3 = 6V3.
and sinceit'sa percent
20. D Thisis a goodquestionto solveby PickingNumbers,
population
problem
it'susuallybesttopick100.Lettheaverage
of the 9 other
population
4 is 3 timesthat,or 3 x 100= 300.
of District
districts
be 100.The
livesin DistrictA.
Thequestionaskswhatpercentof the city'spopulation
Percent= #!-

whole

x 100%,wherethe partis the population

of DistrictA andthe

of
wholeis the population
of the entirecity,whichis the sumof the population
Plugging
thisin givesyou:
DistrictA andthe 9 otherdistricts.
300
x 1OO"/o,
or
#
300+ 9(100)
Thisreduc".to

x 100%.

x 100%or 25"/o.

Section 4= Math
1.

D
To divideby a fraction,multiplyby its reciprocal.
1
_ 2 x_ x
( 4 \
4
2

\E)

2 . E
PEMDAScan helpyouget throughlong
the orderof operations.
Remember
problems
and preventcarelessmistakes.

x = l - 5 l r * l - + - s lr 7
x = 5 2+ l - z lx z
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
to find27x = 135,then
n u" {' 1 5= 9. Cro.. multiply
canbe rewritte
Thisquestion
x
divideboth sides by 27 to find X = 5. This problemis also a good candidatefor
Backsolving.

5.

c
Callthe originalnumber
the questionintoan equation.
Thefirststepis to translate
x. Thenwritethe questionas x 4 = 9x. Subtractx frombothsidesof the equation
to find-4 = 8x. Dividebothsidesby 8 to findx = -+
z

6.

B
Learnthe vocabularyof the PSATmathsectionbeforeTestDay,so that you are not
problems.
Sinceset J is the set of all
confusedand havean edgeon complicated
the unionof
negative
evenintegers,
K
is
the
set
of
all
negativeodd integersand set
thesetwo setsis a setthatcombinesall of the valuesof bothsetsintooneset.So,
the unionof thesesetswouldbe all negativeodd integersand all negativeeven
to all negativeintegers.
whichsimplifies
integers,

7.

E
thata-b-= 1
Remember
m

PISAT
SampleTest

a a a a t a a a a o o

14

ab'
1 1
- 2 =

1
B'= 64

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.
Tofindoutwhichof the remaining
lengthsis shortest,
andtherefore
willhavethe leastamountof remaining
rope,givethemall a commondenominator.

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

Notethatthequestion
asksforthevalueof x. Substitule
2y forx in thefirst
equation.
2y + 4y= 6, so6y = 6 andy = 1.x = 2y = 2(1)= 2.
1 7 . 9 or .75
4

lf Alicecompletes
herhomework
in 8 hours,shecompletes
* of it everyhour.After
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'relookingfor,the numbermustbe 362= 36 x 36 = 1,296.

1e. fi ot.zoe
Average
- = =$!HL,

numDerol terms'

1
4-

1
6

6
4
24'24

so in thiscasetheaverage
is

(#)

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

Youcouldalsogridin the decimalequivalent

of ], .eOe.
z+
20. I
Lookingat the additionproblem,youseethatA plusA in the unitscolumnyieldsan
8 in the unitscolumnof the sum.Therefore
A couldequaleither4 (since
4 + 4 =8) or 9 (since9 + 9 = 18).lf A were4, thenyouwouldn't
haveto carrya 1 to
thetenscolumn,and4 plusB wouldequal18.Thereis no valueof B forwhichthis
couldbe true,so try A = 9. lt A = 9, thenA plusA in the unitscolumnwouldsumto
18,leavingan 8 in the unitscolumnof the sum,and requiring
youto caftya 1 to the
you'dhave1 + 9 + B = 1B in the sum.Thisis truefor any
tenscolumn.Therefore
v a l u e oBf ( 1 + 9 + 3 = 1 3 ,1 + 9 + 7 - 1 7 ,e t c .S) o t h e v a l uoef4 m u s t b e g .
21. 3 6
LCAD = ICAE - ZDAE.You'retoldthat ZCAE = 73, so if you can findZDAE you
cansolveforICAD. AB is perpendicular
Io AE,so ZBAE= 90.Also,ZBAE=
ZBAD+ ZDAE,andsinceIBAD = 53,90 = 53 + IDAE, and37 = ZDAE. Nowthat
you havethe measureof IDAE youcansolvefor ICAD: ZCAD= 73 - 37 = 36.

22. 45
= 2(l + w),where/ and
Perimeter
of the rectangle.
You'reaskedto findthe perimeter
lengthandwidthrespectively.
So you needto findthesemeasurements
u/represent
aboutthe rectangle,
butyouaretoldthat
to solve.You'renotgivenanyinformation
theremustbe
withinit havecircumference
9n.Therefore,
the two circlesinscribed
the lengthandwidth
aboutthe circlesto determine
somewayto usethe information
lf youdrawin someradii,as shownin the figurebelow,you'llnotice
of the rectangle.
is equalto 3 radiiandthatthe widthis equalto 2
thatthe lengthof the rectangle
radii,

is equallo 2nr,wherer is the radiusof the circle.So 2nr = 9n,

Circumference
is 3(a.5)= 13.5,andthewidthis
2r = 9, and r = 4.5.Thelengthof the rectangle
=
you
of the rectangle
2(4.5) 9. Pluggingintothe formula, findthatthe perimeter
= 45.
i s 2 (1 3 .5+ 9 ) = 2 (2 2 .5)
23. 5
the numberof cookiesthatwereeatenis 64 - 9
Since9 cookieswereleftuneaten,
= 55. You'retoldthateachguestate n cookies,so n timesthe numberof guestsat
the partymustequal55. Sincethe numberof guestsmustbe a wholenumber,the
numberof cookiesmustalsobe a wholenumber.and bothnumbersmustbe factors
of 55.The factorsof 55 are 1, 5, 11 and55. You'retoldthatthe numberof guestsat
the partyis greaterthan9, so it mustbe either11 or 55,whichwouldmaken either
You'retoldthatn mustbe greaterthan 1, so it musttherefore
5 or 1 respectively.
b e5 .
24. 48
here,and if youjusttakea littletimeto siftthrough
You'regivena lot of information
it, you'llbe ableto solve.Youknowhowmanyboxesof candyweresold,howmuch
moneywas raised,andthatsomeboxescost$2 andthe restcost$5. You'reasked
to solvefor the numberof boxessoldat $5, so let thatnumberequalx. Sincea total
thenumber
of 150boxesweresold,150- x is the numbersoldat $2. lf youmultiply
pricesandthenaddthetwo dollar
of boxessoldat eachpriceby theirrespective
you'llgetthe totalamountof moneyraised.Youknowthatthistotalis
amounts,
$444,so youcan set up an equationto solvefor x

PSAT
SampleTest
t6

a a a a a a a a a a a

5 x + 2 ( 1 5 0 -x ) = 4 4 4
5x+ 300- 2x= 444
3x+ 300 = 444
3x = 144
x=48

Sothenumberof boxessoldat $5 is 48.

,"li#L"

a a a o a o a o o o o

lf youweren'tsurehowto proceedon thisquestion,

yourcalculator
wouldbe a great
ally.Youcoulduseit to try outvariouspossibilities
for the numberof boxessoldat
eachprice.Youknowthat 150boxesweresold,so youmighttry 75 at eachprice:
(75x $5) + (75x $Z; = 937U+ $150= $525.Only$444was raised,so theremust
havebeenfewerboxessoldat $S.try 50 and 100:(50x $5) + (100x $2) = $250+
$200= $450.Thisis stilltoo big,butjustby a little,so you knowyou'reclose.A few
moretrieson yourcalculator
shouldhelpyoufindthat48 boxesweresoldat $5.

2s t",

12.2 ot 12.3

The perimeter
of a rectangle
is 2(/ + w),where/ b the lengthandw is the width.
Sincetheperimeter
of thisrectangle
is 14, 2(l + A = 14.Dividing
bothsidesby 2,
=
I + w 7. Thinkaboutdifferentrectangles
whichhavea lengthand 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 closerthe sidesof the rectangle
cometo beingequal,the greaterthe area
becomes.
The areawillbe a maximumwhenthe rectangle
is a square.In thiscase
=
=
=
I w 3.5.The areaof sucha squareis 3.5 x 3.5 12.25.

17