Quizzes, exams, and flashcards about Algebra and Advanced Math: PSAT Advanced Math — polynomial arithmetic, factoring and zeros, PSAT Algebra —…← PSAT/NMSQTTwo of the four Math domains, and the two that dominate the section. If revision time has to be rationed, it belongs here.

What the two domains containAlgebra is linear: equations and inequalities in one and two variables, linear functions, and systems of two equations in two variables. The questions are rarely hard as algebra; the work is usually in turning a described situation into an equation, and a large share of Math questions are set in a real-world, science or social-studies context that has to be read first.Advanced Math is everything nonlinear, plus the manipulation that makes it tractable: equivalent expressions, quadratics, exponential growth and decay, polynomials, rational and radical equations, and nonlinear functions. Factoring, completing the square, and knowing which form of a quadratic shows which feature — roots, vertex, intercept — are the recurring moves.A calculator is allowed on the whole Math section, which tells you where the marks are not: almost never in the arithmetic.What these materials coverTwelve materials of ten to twelve questions each across both domains, pitched at the PSAT rather than the SAT: setting up and solving linear equations from a described situation, systems and when they have no solution, inequalities and their shaded regions, linear functions and what their slope and intercept mean in the context given, equivalent expressions, polynomials and their zeros, quadratics in more than one form, radical and rational equations, function notation, shifted graphs, and exponential change.Every distractor is a named mistake — a sign lost in distribution, a rate read as a total, the vertex read off the wrong form, an exponential treated as linear — and each explanation says which mistake produces which wrong answer.Two things in the real section deserve practice of their own. About a quarter of real Math questions are student-produced response: you type the answer, with no options to work backwards from; one set here drills that format and its entry rules. And some questions ask you to read a graph or a table; several sets here draw lines, shaded regions and curves on a grid. College Board's own materials have both in their real form.How to work

Write the equation before you touch the numbers. Almost every lost mark in Algebra is a translation error, not an algebra error.

For every context question, say what each variable stands for, with units. The most common wrong answer is the right arithmetic on the wrong quantity.

Know which form of a quadratic shows what. Standard form gives the y-intercept, factored form gives the roots, vertex form gives the vertex. Choosing the form is usually the whole question.

Practice sometimes with the options covered. A quarter of the real section gives you none, and eliminating choices is the habit that fails there.

Check the answer against the story. A negative number of people, or a price that fell when it should have risen, is a sign check you can do in two seconds.

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