SAT Math: Data Analysis
What is it?
Per the College Board’s Official Guide, Problem Solving and Data Analysis includes using ratios, percentages, and proportional reasoning to solve problems in real world situations, including science, social science, and other contexts. It also includes describing relationships shown graphically and analyzing statistical data. This group of skills is really about being quantitatively literate and demonstrating a command of the math that resonates throughout college courses, career training programs, and everyday life.
The College Board further categorizes Problem Solving / Data Analysis into three different segments:
Creating and analyzing relationships using ratios, proportional relationships, percentages, and units
Representing and analyzing quantitative data
Finding and applying probabilities in context
Out of 58 total questions on the exam, there will be 17 Problem Solving / Data Analysis questions. This means approximately 29% of the SAT math question will come from this category. This is the second largest category on the SAT Math exam after Heart of Algebra.
On the SAT, Problem Solving / Data Analysis questions show up in both the calculator and non-calculator sections. For this category, you can also expect both multiple-choice and grid-in questions.
Worthington Prep’s Heart of Algebra Breakdown
Heart of Algebra is a massive portion of the exam. I went through over 700 Old SAT exam questions and categorized every single one of them. From there, I created categories for every single question. Heart of Algebra breaks down into the following teachable categories:
Interpreting Charts
Interpreting Tables
Statistics: Mean, Median, Mode, Standard Deviation
Percents
Probability
Ratios
Scatterplots
Survey
Unit Conversion
Worthington Prep Approach
There are a lot of categories and a lot of questions to cover. Getting a high score on the exam requires mastering Data Analysis. It requires reviewing each of these topics in detail and, of course, a lot of repetition. We will cover each one of these concepts in our meet ups. Homework will be assigned for each of these topics before / after the concept is covered in our meet up. And then we’ll reinforce it through our daily WhatsApp questions. And each answer attempt will be recorded. This way I can track your weaknesses and strengths. We won’t focus as much on your strengths. We’ll hit the weaknesses hard to turn them into strengths.
Data Analysis isn’t complex. It is typically covered in your 7th / 8th / 9th / 10th grade math class. But the way it’s tested on the exam can be very different than how it comes up in class.
The Worthington Prep Mantra: Whatever it Takes. Yes, whatever it takes to master this topic. It’s critical for the really high exam score you’re looking for on the exam.