Making the decision to attend college is probably one of the most important decisions you’ll ever make, and your performance on college entrance exams is instrumental in determining your college choice. Universities and colleges throughout the U.S. require applicants to take the SAT or ACT as part of their evaluation package. This course will prepare you for both tests.

Both the ACT and the SAT contain verbal and math question types. SAT/ACT Preparation Part 2 will give you all the information you need to do well on the math questions of the ACT and the SAT. The ACT math tests your knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and basic statistics. This course provides you with a complete math review of all these subjects. We‘ll also show you how to use your time wisely so that you finish as many math questions as possible in the 60 minutes the ACT gives you for the math test.

Beginning with the March 2005 exam, the SAT math questions have changed a bit. They eliminated the quantitative comparison questions and added questions on functions and graphing functions. The lessons in this course are designed to prepare you for those changes. In addition to reviewing arithmetic, algebra, geometry, and basic statistics, we'll cover functions and other algebra II subjects now tested on the SAT.

In addition to preparing you for specific question types on both exams, this course will give you pointers on time management, anxiety relief, scoring, and general standardized test-taking. Weekly assignments encourage you to work with your fellow classmates and your instructor to maximize your performance on all aspects of the math questions of the ACT and SAT. Taken with Part 1, this course will prepare you to excel in all sections of the undergraduate college entrance exams and provide you with the means to achieve your best potential score!

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Syllabus:

All courses run for six weeks, with a two-week grace period at the end. Two lessons are released each week for the six-week duration of the course. You do not have to be present when the lesson is released, but you must complete each lesson within two weeks of its release.

A new section of each course starts on the second or third Wednesday of each month. If enrolling in a series of two or more courses, please be sure to space the start date for each course at least two months apart.

Week One

Wednesday - Lesson 01

You may have heard that you can’t study for the ACT or SAT. But that’s just not true! There are a bunch of things you can do to prepare for the ACT and SAT, and the more time you spend preparing, the better your scores will be. In our first lesson, we'll go over all the things you need to know about the general makeup of both the ACT and SAT so you’ll know exactly what you’re getting into come test day. You’ll learn how to relax when you start feeling panicky, how to eliminate the wrong answers that the tests try to entice you into choosing, how to guess when you aren't sure of the right answer, and how much time to spend on each question. And, if you aren't familiar with the kinds of questions that test your math skills, you’ll know exactly what to expect once you’ve completed this lesson.

Friday - Lesson 02

You learned arithmetic in grade school, but you may have forgotten some of the basics that you’ll see on the ACT and SAT math tests. So we'll spend some time here in our second lesson on a review of the essentials. Today we'll go over a few of the things you probably remember—like how to perform multiplication and division—as well as some of the things that might be a little fuzzy, like exponents and fractions.

Week Two

Wednesday - Lesson 03

The ACT has always had a few algebra II questions, and in 2005, the SAT joined its ranks. So, in addition to a review of standard algebra, today we’ll also review some algebra II topics. We'll go over variables, factoring, functions, and a host of other challenging topics so that you'll know exactly what you need to answer the many algebra-related questions on both tests.

Friday - Lesson 04

Geometry is a big component of the ACT and SAT math questions, so we’ll make sure you’re prepared for it with this lesson. Today, we'll go over the properties of angles, triangles, squares, circles, and other shapes so that you can answer questions that ask for pesky measurements. We'll also cover coordinate geometry and throw in some valuable information about graphing functions so you’ll be ready for all sorts of geometry when you sit for the ACT and SAT.

Week Three

Wednesday - Lesson 05

This lesson is for ACT takers only because SAT takers won’t need to know trigonometry. We'll cover many of the key trigonometry topics, including sine, cosine, and tangent and the trigonometric reciprocals. We’ll also review how to use trigonometry to solve right triangles and even oblique ones. After this lesson, you’ll have all the information you need to solve trig questions for the ACT.

Friday - Lesson 06

You don’t have to take a statistics class to master the concepts that the ACT and SAT will test you on. Most of the statistics and probability questions on these tests are pretty basic. In this lesson, we'll make sure you’re prepared for them all. By the time you’re finished, you’ll have reviewed everything you need to know about tendency, frequency, and probability to ace the ACT and SAT.

Week Four

Wednesday - Lesson 07

By now, you're probably ready to try out the math concepts we’ve reviewed so far. So today, you'll get a chance to test yourself. We'll start with an overview of what you can expect to see on the ACT math test. Then we'll focus on the kinds of math questions you’ll encounter on the ACT, especially those that cover math basics and algebra. We'll go through 30 practice questions to show you exactly how to approach and master the ACT arithmetic and algebra questions.

Friday - Lesson 08

They say that practice makes perfect, so in this lesson, you'll get more opportunities to reach perfection! Through our analysis of 30 more practice questions, you’ll see just how to approach and correctly answer the geometry, trigonometry, and algebra II questions on the ACT. Once you’ve gone through the answer explanations in this lesson, you’ll feel confident about tackling any ACT math question that comes your way.

Week Five

Wednesday - Lesson 09

The SAT math test sections look a little different than what you'll see on the ACT. There are three sets of math questions. Some are the standard multiple-choice math questions, and some aren't. In today's lesson, we'll go over exactly what you should expect on the SAT math, and then you'll get some practice by examining 13 practice SAT math questions. Just like when we talked about the ACT, you'll get thorough explanations of exactly how to deal with the types of SAT math questions.

Friday - Lesson 10

In today's lesson, we'll focus on the most common type of SAT math question you'll see—the multiple-choice question. Through a thorough examination of one complete SAT math section, you'll find out how to work through all kinds of multiple-choice math. You’ll be whipping through the answer choices in no time!

Week Six

Wednesday - Lesson 11

The SAT student produced response (SPR) questions don’t appear on any other major standardized test, so you may not be familiar with how to deal with them. That’s what this lesson is all about. Today, you'll get the scoop on how to answer math questions that don’t give you answer choices to choose from, and you'll find out how to avoid making errors when you fill in the answer on the answer sheet. It’s a very simple process to grid in your answers, but we'll show you just how simple by thoroughly explaining the approach to 10 SAT SPR questions.

Friday - Lesson 12

You'll get a lot of information in the six weeks of this course, and you probably won’t remember it all even with all of the additional work you put into each lesson. So in this last lesson, we'll review all the tips and strategies you learned throughout this course. In this lesson, we'll make sure you understand what you need to know for each math subject on the tests, review what you should focus on as you prepare, and show you how to best spend your study time as you prepare to strut your stuff on test day.

This course includes a knowledgeable and caring instructor who will guide you through your lessons, facilitate discussions, and answer your questions. The instructor for this course will be Scott and Lisa Hatch.

Scott Hatch has presented paralegal courses since 1980. He is listed in Who's Who in California, Who's Who Among Students in American Colleges and Universities, and has been named one of the Outstanding Young Men of America by the United States Jaycees. He was a contributing editor to The Judicial Profiler (McGraw-Hill and the Colorado Law Annotated (West/Lawyers Co-op)series, and editor of several award-winning publications. He is author of Paralegal Procedures and Practices, published by West Publishing, as well as books on mediation and legal investigation.

Lisa Zimmer Hatch, M.A., has been teaching legal certificate and standardized test preparation courses since 1987. She graduated with honors in English from the University of Puget Sound, and received her master's degree from California State University. She is co-author of numerous law and standardized test texts.

Requirements:

Completion of SAT/ACT Prep - Part 1 (or equivalent experience), The Official SAT Study Guide: For the New SAT (College Board, 2004), The Real ACT Prep Guide (Peterson's, 2004), Internet access, e-mail, the Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox Web browser, and the Adobe Flash and PDF plug-ins (two free and simple downloads you obtain at http://www.adobe.com/downloads by clicking Get Adobe Flash Player and Get Adobe Reader).

Student Reviews:

Reviews coming soon! Please check back next month.