#math guide

[theambitiouswoman]

Basic Financial Rules To Live By 💰✨

Create a plan that shows how much money you get and how much you spend. This helps you see where your money goes.

Set aside a part of your money as savings. Try to save at least 10-20% of what you earn.

Be careful with borrowing money, especially if you have to pay back a lot of extra money (interest).

Save some money for unexpected things like medical bills or losing your job. Aim to have enough to cover your living costs for a few months.

Put your saved money into different things that can make it grow, like stocks or real estate. Be patient, as it takes time.

Don't spend more money than you make. Stick to buying what you really need, not just what you want.

Decide what you want to do with your money, both in the short term (like a vacation) and long term (like retirement).

Set up automatic transfers to your savings and bills so you don't forget to save or pay your bills on time.

Make saving money a top priority before spending on other things.

Regularly look at your money situation, adjust your plan as needed, and see how your investments are doing.

Pay your bills on time and use credit wisely (like credit cards) to keep a good credit score, which can help you get better deals on loans.

Save money for when you're older and don't work anymore. Use retirement accounts to help with this.

Think before you buy things. Don't buy something just because you want it; think if it's necessary.

Keep learning about how money works and how to make smart money choices.

Only use your emergency fund for real unexpected problems, not for things you just want to buy.

[artsymephy]

Stuck on Earth

[deedoo-r]

[tiredandoptimistic]

Really funny to me whenever artists give Wash grey hair, because if you think about it he's gotta be like...thirty, max. I'm not complaining though, because his ass would definitely be going grey at thirty.

[penisexplosionwizard]

some trillians i drew during class today

[tremendouskoalachild]

how old can the Stranger conceivably be?

we don't know - and aren't supposed to know - at this point, possibly ever.

but with the recent-ish releases of The Visual Guide (reference book by Pablo Hidalgo) and Wayseeker (novel by Justina Ireland) we can narrow it down!

I: show-only extrapolation

the Stranger was Vernestra's student. at some point he left the Order in a way that made Vernestra assume him dead. he also has old scars matching Vernestra's signature weapon, suggesting a confrontation between the two.

Vernestra is pretty old. not only does she have a position of authority within the Order and with Republic leadership, we know she remembers middle-aged Sol as a shy youngling.

Osha came into the Jedi Order 16 years ago, and left 6 years ago, by the time of the show's present-day events. the Stranger very strongly suggests his departure was old news by the time she joined.

assuming he was at least a teenager when he left the jedi, and stretching Osha's unawareness of him to her not remembering the confusing drama around the time she joined as a little kid, he's at least in his 30s (with no real upper limit from the show itself).

II: taking into account the High Republic books

(i think the books can't be used to answer the show's mysteries, because the show is meant to stand on its own, both from a creative and economic standpoint; however, everything suggests the creative team is taking their lore into account and won't conflict with them.)

Vernestra is 16 years old at the start of the book series, which takes place 200 years before The Phantom Menace, and around 20-ish when they end (the exact chronology of the latest books and upcoming finale of the series is not firmly established yet).

the show doesn't clear up the exact year it's set in within its text ("one hundred years ago" referring to first THR book events in the flashbacks, "a hundred years before the rise of the Empire" in the opening text) but was described as set 100 years after the beginning of THR and 100 years before TPM prior to release. assuming very roughly a century since the books would make Vernestra around 116, let's say 100 to 125, during the show.

Vernestra's first Padawan, Imri Cantaros, reaches Knighthood around the time she is 19, towards the end of the book series (yes, the circumstances are special).

it isn't unheard of to take a student older than yourself (Grogu and all that), but we don't tend to see this scenario with human Padawans.

i'm gonna make this weird and say that with the THR books and show in mind it's conceivable the Stranger is around a hundred or even older. likely? fuck no. but the dark side is a pathway to many abilities some would consider unnatural.

III: incorporating Wayseeker

(the book was written after the season was done but before and while it aired, and on a pretty hectic schedule, by Justina Ireland - Vernestra's creator. it was also written before the show got cancelled. there are allusions to Vernestra's last apprentice but nothing specific, and the timeline is pretty wishy-washy.)

we learn that the Stranger was the final one in a series of Vernestra's Padawans as of the book's timeline (presumably going on into the show - Mog is notably not her Padawan). however, this doesn't really narrow the timeline down at all; we only know she had at least three (though probably more) students over the decades. how long one stays a Padawan is highly individual, especially in newer media, not to mention frequent examples of a master dying or otherwise leaving and another Jedi concluding the Padawan's training.

Vernestra had a falling out with a colleague around or slightly over a decade before the book, and had recently marked "another" anniversary of her last student's death at that point. that suggests he has been presumed dead for at least 12 years during the book's events.

we don't get any significant hints at how long ago this might have been beyond that - the characters who discuss the possibility of Vernestra taking on another Padawan referencing her tragic experience are fairly old themselves, and don't give us any more context.

Indara is 26 at the start of the novel, and the plot of the book takes place over several weeks. while the show itself doesn't give us Indara's age, i think it's reasonable to say she might be in her 50s during the present-day events (Carrie-Anne Moss' age during filming), and several years older than Sol. let's go with very roughly 20-35 years between Wayseeker and Indara's death in the show.

Vernestra's age in Wayseeker is not specified beyond "nearly a century" in her own internal narration. the events of the book series, during which she was a teen, are also described as (nearly) a century ago several times. since i trust Vernestra's knowledge of her age over the historical precision of several characters, i'll say the oldest she can be in the book is 99 years old.

it has been at least 3 decades since the Stranger's presumed death as of the show's timeline, likely closer to 4 or more. continuing the reasoning that he was at the very least a teen at that point, the youngest he could be in the show would be in his late 40s (this approximation already contains several edge-case assumptions, so i'd say it's highly unlikely, but we're keeping our options open). keeping Vernestra's age as the upper boundary, the oldest the Stranger can be during Wayseeker is in his 90s - adding the 2-3 decades to get to the show, he could be well over a hundred years old.

IV: considering The Visual Guide

(material for the book was collected during the show's production and airing, and many minor pieces of information were clearly decided after the fact. the book incorporates information from the Kelnacca comic and Wayseeker for character biographies. it specifically omits information that Lucasfilm doesn't wish to reveal yet - or ever - including the Stranger's age, which is listed as "unknown".)

Indara's character page includes a timeline of her life, giving us a concrete way to anchor Wayseeker to the show: she was 26 during the book and 54 in the show's premiere. the book therefore takes place 28 years before the show's present-day events.

Kelnacca's page has a similar timeline of the last century of his life, giving us a way to relate show events to THR's chronology. we know he was 149 years old when assisting in the Starlight Beacon recovery mission (which occurred at the end of THR Phase I, around 2 years after the books start; Vernestra would be around 18 at that time, and it would be over a year later that she reconnected with her missing Padawan Imri and knighted him). Kelnacca was 248 at the time of his death in the show, and 231 during the Brendok mission (seemingly dating the show flashbacks 17 years earlier, though this is perfectly fine - the mission took months, and we don't know when his birthday is). the show is therefore set around 99 years after the Starlight Beacon's fall (which would also put it 99 years before TPM).

since some 28 years passed between Vernestra's Padawan being at minimum 12 years gone and the show, the Stranger could be at the very least in his late fifties, likely older. Vernestra is around 117 years old in the show, and there doesn't seem to be anything directly conflicting with the Stranger also being over 100, though it would be very unusual.

[xx-owl-xx]

He looks so good in blue🥹

[mister-nibbs]

have on the off chance I do ever finish it

[l3xdrigo]

The concept of Zero

Inspired by someone commenting that like the number zero, Vertin or the role of the timekeeper itself is a concept.

The concept of zero being that it is the placeholder for writing numbers, it is the origin but it is also the one that is merely a concept to get more of an understanding or guide to natural numbers to integers. It is the invisible line from the positive to negative, it is the middle ground.

The concept of zero in a more mathematical sense is that it is a additive to other numbers to make them bigger (ex:100) but the number zero itself is a non existent and empty number, like an equator, it is an imaginary line that helps us grasp the locations and placements of continents. Both are imaginary, both are just man made concepts to guide us to a better understanding.

Vertin's soul number is zero, she is unchanging and is considered one of the middle ground between humans and Arcanist. In a sense, she is a guide to most, but once the storm reaches its end, she will become nothing more than a concept, the role of the timekeeper was created for the very purpose of recording the beginning and ends of eras and braving the storm to one day create the immunity for it. The moment that there is no need for the timekeeper anymore, either the storm ending or finding a full reliable immunity towards it, the more people that gain the ability, the more Vertin's role becomes more of the ordinary.

The role of the timekeeper will soon fade and become only an invisible line, the origin of how it first began, on how civilization reached the immunity of the storm, and how the threat of the storm ended. In the far future where the rain doesn't rise, the term timekeeper and the name "Vertin" will be nothing more of a concept to what once was a catastrophic phenomena that hinder the progression of time, a subtle reminder of how she guided the freedom of humans and Arcanist out of the grueling storm, and into a world where the rain falls and the sun rises; Vertin is the concept of zero.

[thebisexualswiftie]

Pip: wears the "talk nerdy to me" t shirt

Ravi: you're (1/cos c)

Pip: STOP

Ravi: you're {(1/cos c)/0}ly pretty

Pip: *blushes intensely*

[cecils-ghost]

seeing all the lovely people on my feed, all these hardworking, motivated individuals who are trying to do better, to do their best, really make my heart happy.

just know that I'm really grateful and hope you get wherever you want <3

[songs-of-venus]

My math professor asked/recommended me to tutor a rather large group of freshmen in his place, while he's away on a week long trip. The joy of being acknowledged by him in such a manner far surpasses my stage fright.

[call-me-copycat]

Hello everyone! This week and the first few days of next week are going to be particularly hellish for me ( ⌯᷄ ·̫ ⌯᷅ก )

I promise you that after next week, things will slow down once again and I'll be able to message everyone I've been putting off (⁠｡⁠ŏ⁠﹏⁠ŏ⁠)

[fountainpenguin]

🌆 Heroes' Journey 🌆

WordGirl

Pulling back the curtain on a world where mere mortals possess wild superpowers, with a focus on WordGirl and Kid Math's mentor-apprentice-equals relationship. Heavy consideration on how superpowers affect society, with emphasis on found families, secrets, and the mortifying ordeal of being known.

#ridwork guides

What Is This AU?

A slice-of-life WordGirl period piece that expands on the worldbuilding and character relationships seen in the show. Worldbuilding is thoughtful, lightly angsty, but mostly lighthearted with a goal to avoid infodumping and serious angst.

Give it up for Rex trying to hide his powers while more and more people grow convinced he's only hiding them due to abusive upbringing. Shout-out to Becky juggling his superhero training with her fractured social life.

AO3 Series - Heroes' Journey

WG Character Study Series - 28 Million Degrees

All WordGirl 'fics - Any series

WordGirl blog tag - #Satirical vocab alien child show

Posts about Rex and Becky as a comedic duo - #LexiHexa duo

Tone

Serious, but sprinkled with fluff and general tomfoolery. Cute and goofy moments interspersed with light relationship drama. Blends cartoony vibes and a thoughtful take on the worldbuilding.

Ex: Chuck has a broken foot that takes him out of the villain game while he recovers. Becky has to do homework. Yet we still have the Narrator and featured words :)

Characters

Heroes' Journey is a relationship study focusing mostly on Becky, Rex, and Huggy. Parents, friend groups, and neighbors play supporting roles.

Factor It In spotlights Rose Franklin, Victor Best, Eileen, and Granny May, as I figured they could use some extra love. Most villains show up at some point in the Heroes' Journey timeline.

Ships

Canon-compliant within the show's timeline. For me, this means Tobey has a crush on WordGirl, who doesn't reciprocate. Becky has a crush on Scoops, and Scoops/Violet is mutual. Also, Brent/Miss Question, who I definitely don't call [‽] in my head.

Romantic ships are not a big focus in the series as I prefer emphasis on friendships and rivalries, but you'll see romance in the background. Exposition Guy/Exposition Guy's Wife OTP SWEEP! ... Tim and Sally are there too, I guess.

- I write Becky as asexual with no interest in sex, pregnancy, or kids. She loves romance books and would like a fairytale romance, but... her true love is unlearning guilt, taking breaks, and finding peace with herself, I think :)

- Rex sort of has a crush on her, by which I mean he's convinced it's "obvious" the two alien superheroes will end up together. I see them growing up to have a pretty queerplatonic relationship. As he grows, he also develops a crush on Violet (She's kind to him) and Tobey (He uses calculations to build robots; idk what you expected).

- It's important to me that you know Rex is bisexual and when he's an adult, he will tell you this and giggle because "bisect" is a math term and he thinks it's funny every time he says it.

Setting

Fair City, which I've set in the state of Washington (Spotted owls and sasquatches represent!)

"AlgoRhythm" takes place December 1997 and the main 'fic - Factor It In - opens January 1998. This series may range from as early as Huggy's pilot years and Becky's infancy to as late as their adulthood.

Is It For Me?

If you like Becky, Huggy, Rex, the Narrator, thoughtful character relationships, and deeper worldbuilding about life in a world of superpowers, this series may be up your alley! I strive for canon-compliancy for pieces set during show canon.

I try to spotlight less popular characters in the show. Popular villains like Dr. Two-Brains are definitely there, but I try to give folks like Hal Hardbargain, Timmy Timbo, and the Coach their chance to shine as well (both as villains and civilians).

I have no "Becky's family finds out she's WordGirl reveal planned for this story," at least not in Becky's youth.

Major Themes

Expectations, pressure, stability, control, culture, conforming vs. self-expression, envy, trust, pride, guilt, secret-keeping, growth, self-reflection, moving on, and found family

Plot Highlights

- "AlgoRhythm" follows Kid Math as WordGirl introduces him to the Evil Villains Association at an overstimulating party.

- Factor It In bridges the gap between Rex's arrival in "Kid Math" and his cameos in both his Rex and Kid Math clothes in later episodes.

Other works in this series further develop the relationship between straightforward Rex and wishy-washy Becky, with plots ranging from teaching Rex about life on Earth to teaching Becky about the culture of Lexicon and Hexagon.

- Generally, the vibe is that Kid Math is inexperienced and therefore falls for tricks that don't feel WordGirl, so people try to take advantage of him. He gets frustrated when he doesn't understand why he has to follow certain rules and she gets frustrated by his stubborn pride. Shenanigans occur and require problem solving.

- "Flypaper" depicts The Gang in their late teens and young adulthood. Becky is now in college and left Huggy with Rex, who's Fair City's main hero until she returns. She feels detached and uncertain about where she is in life. Also, WordGirl and Super Why speak on a panel together and I badly need you to know.

Ongoing?

I wrote a one-shot in 2018. In 2023, I posted more content. This series is ongoing with infrequent updates at the time of posting.

- On hiatus & in need of buffer building. Intent to finish.

Warnings, notes, and explanations below so readers can learn more about this AU.

👀 Take a Peek

New here? You might like to start with these:

These character studies take place within this universe, though they're not listed as Heroes' Journey content since they focus on side characters:

- "Your family is doing okay" (G - 4400 words) - First meeting of Exposition Guy (Milo) and his to-be wife (Miah)

- "A penny for your thoughts (Oh no)" (G - 7000 words) - A zero-dialogue challenge with Captain Tangent

- "28 Cities" (G - 25k words) - A one-shot series focused on queerplatonic Rhyme and Reason. A taste of childhood with powers vs. without powers. Ongoing, but on hiatus.

Start Reading

Recommended ways to get into the full AU

"AlgoRhythm"

- Get started with a fluffy piece about Kid Math training under WordGirl, then attending a party so she can introduce him to different villains.

- Intro to basics like character dynamics, superpowers, and how Rex thinks

- Fluff, humor, & found family vibes

- Large cast of characters

🗺️ Worldbuilding

- It's rare to be born with powers, but not unheard of. The determining factor is genetics, as is the case with Kid Potato and the Butcher, or the Bests.

-> In-story, there's a character called the Nightmare King: father of Exposition Guy, the Narrator [and his twin], and Invisi-Bill. Their abilities range from semi-omniscience to invisibility, with the Narrator having both.

- Those who have powers are charmed. Doctor Two-Brains is not charmed as he relies on tech, and neither is Captain Tangent, who replies on a curse and his hook.

- Miss Question is not technically classified as charmed due to receiving her powers from lightning. However, she's found acceptance in the charmed community and she can use the label if she wants to. Chuck IS technically charmed, but doesn't identify with the label because he doesn't consider himself to have powers; it's just part of his family history.

-> Chuck would register as charmed on a blood test while Miss Question would not.

- It can take years for powers to show themselves. Most people show theirs as a toddler or during puberty. It's very rare for someone to spontaneously discover powers as an adult. There is seemingly no limit to the types of powers people can have. 1 power is the standard, but some people have as many as 3. It's very, very rare to have more than 3.

-> Rhyme has about 4 powers depending on how you classify things like super strength and durability alongside her super speed and freeze breath. Her dad has wind powers and her mom had water powers. Her family has a long history of charmed genes while Reason's has a long history of none.

- Charmed individuals may study in public school or in specialized charm schools that tailor teaching and accommodations to better suit them. Becky fears that if her parents learn about her flight and super strength, they'll send her to charm school (away from her friends).

-> Becky and Rex are not charmed because they're aliens; their powers follow special rules. However, Becky is "out" as a charmed individual who can speak with monkeys.

- All Lexiconians and Hexagonians have the potential for superhuman abilities. However, these abilities are nullified when they're on their planets, which contain trace amounts of Lexonite / Hexanite in the soil and ground them like average people.

-> Rex was raised with the intention of leaving Hexagon to pursue life as a hero somewhere else. He has the book knowledge for his powers, but no practical experience until coming to Earth.

- During Factor It In, Rex tries to conceal his powers while moving between foster homes, unaware that his caseworker found out about his quick healing and flight. Miah hints to him several times that she and Milo [Exposition Guy] are "a very charm-friendly household."

-> Flight is a rare ability. Miah suspects Rex may be lying low to avoid being traced by an abusive supervillain relative. Beyond that, she's surprised he would hide his powers, as it's not like they're unheard of in this world.

- There's a lot of depth to my takes on Lexiconian and Hexagonian culture, such as Lexicon being more into exploring nature and hunting or gathering food while Hexagon is more into mechanical things and agriculture. Rex is scared of storms because he grew up on a planet that had weather under control, and it's overstimulating for him.

- Both Rex and Becky have synesthesia. Rex can't read because "that's a Lexiconian's job." Also, Hexagon apparently had unicorns and Becky is jealous. My 'fics trickle details like this in over time.

- Last thing worth mentioning is that Huggy grew up with a lot of simians. Some he's on good terms with, others he has rocky history with, but it's generally accepted that Lexiconian monkeys are very intelligent and make great pilots.

- You can also send an Ask if you want to hear me talk about this world. I tag WordGirl content as #Satirical vocab alien child show

📋 Notes & Warnings

- Canon-typical violence (It's taken seriously and people do get injured, but the vibe is what you'd expect for goofy superhero content).

-> Cuts, scrapes, and wooziness are fair game, but no blood or gore. The most serious injury is probably Chuck's broken foot.

-> You should assume all robots are fair game to be destroyed.

-> No serious injuries or character death. Death mentions are backstory only

- Abuse mentions (Adults suspect Rex ran from an abusive home). However, no on-screen abuse besides the basics like family pressure from the Bests and Doctor Two-Brains having a rough go of it.

-> In "28 Cities," it's implied that Rhyme's dad pushed her superhero training pretty far and that she was emotionally and/or physically abused in the process. Reason only hears about this later.

- Rex has canon-typical morbid commentary (which is funny if you take it as "ha ha logic boy" but you could also read it as "Oh that's super dark Rex wtf?")

-> Ex: wanting to tear down the city

- Rare mentions of death (Ex: Rhyme's backstory ("28 Cities") where it's said her dad is a hero turned villain since his hero work didn't pay well enough to provide for Rhyme after his wife died.

More details about Rex's crush on Becky:

Rex sees himself as "Becky's obvious choice in partner someday" and is repeatedly flummoxed when she rejects his elaborate plans to court her 15 years from now.

Becky's asexual with no desire for pregnancy, but as they get older, people definitely try shipping her with Kid Math. She does go out with him in their teens/young adulthood in "A Little Ambiguity," which is a lovely date where no one has childhood baggage weighing them down.

As years pass, a young adult Becky starts seriously debating if she should "settle" with him because there are just so many parts of marrying Rex that are easier than trying to date other people, like the fact that he knows her superhero identity, doesn't think she's fragile, and he can take care of himself in the event that he's targeted.

-> It's the inherent angst of "I don't want kids anyway and I would really like a companion and he knows me so well, but WOW is he going to be so smug about it and I hate that."

It's this weird QPR where Becky's not sure if she feels "love" in the ways it's commonly defined and she's upset and burned out and lonely. Meanwhile Rex has gone on lots of dates, but always felt like she was the clearly logical option. Ah yes, Lexiconian definition crisis meets Hexagonian practicality.

-> I can't even say that I ship them because I Don't Romantically, but I need to study her chronic wishy-washiness & his refusal to look beyond surface-level understanding of things. Do u see my vision?

- All my WordGirl 'fics

- Want more info? Send an Ask!

You can create works based on this AU. Please cite me and/or the AU as appropriate (i.e. for things very specific to this AU). You are free to expand on ideas you've thought of thanks to my AU as a jumping off point. I'd love to reblog or link things to my AO3 works if I see them!

I write content with morally gray characters. Please don't portray my story events or worldbuilding out of context with intentional malice. As in, I request you do not post things created for the specific intention of bashing me or the AU

[king-k-ripple]

Arin's favorite properties are the worst in the game. No wonder why he can't win a game of Monopoly to save his life.

[recsspecs]

27 Exam strategies from 'Cracking the GRE Premium Edition with 6 Practice Tests, 2020' which can also become life tips

As you become more familiar with the test, you will also develop a sense of “the ETS mentality.” This is a predictable kind of thinking that influences nearly every part of nearly every ETS exam. By learning to recognize the ETS mentality, you’ll earn points even when you aren’t sure why an answer is correct. You’ll inevitably do better on the test by learning to think like the people who wrote it.

You’ll do better on the GRE by putting aside your feelings about real education and surrendering yourself to the strange logic of the standardized test.

You might be surprised to learn that the GRE isn’t written by distinguished professors, renowned scholars, or graduate school admissions officers. For the most part, it’s written by ordinary ETS employees, sometimes with freelance help from local graduate students. You have no reason to be intimidated.

Our focus is on the basic concepts that will enable you to attack any problem, strip it down to its essential components, and solve it in as little time as possible.

In many ways, taking a standardized test is a skill and, as with any skill, you can become more proficient at it by both practicing and following the advice of a good teacher.

Think of your GRE preparation as if you were practicing for a piano recital or a track meet; you wouldn’t show up at the concert hall or track field without having put in hours of practice beforehand (at least we hope you wouldn’t!). If you want to get a good score on the GRE, you’ll have to put in the necessary preparation time.

After all, the GRE leaves you no room to make explanations or justifications for your responses.

However, the difficulty of an individual question plays no role in determining your score; that is, your score is calculated by your performance on the entirety of the scored sections, not just a handful of the hardest questions on a given section.

This strategy is called Take the Easy Test First. Skip early and skip often.

On your first pass through the questions, if you see a question you don’t like, a question that looks hard, or a question that looks time consuming, you’re going to walk on by and leave it for the end.

Sometimes, however, a question that looks easy turns out to be more troublesome than you thought. The question may be trickier than it first appeared, or you may have simply misread it, and it seems hard only because you’re working with the wrong information.

Over four hours, your brain is going to get tired.

Once you read a question wrong, however, it is almost impossible to un-read that and see it right. As long as you are still immersed in the question, you could read it 10 times in a row and you will read it the same wrong way each time.

Whether a question is harder than it first appeared, or made harder by the fact that you missed a key phrase or piece of information, the approach you’ve taken is not working.

Reset your brain by walking away from the problem, but mark the question before you do. Do two or three other questions, and then return to the marked problem. When you walk away, your brain doesn’t just forget the problem, it keeps on processing in the background. The distraction of the other questions helps your brain to consider the question from other angles. When you return to the problem, you may find that the part that gave you so much trouble the first time is now magically clear. If the problem continues to give you trouble, walk away again.

Staying with a problem when you’re stuck burns time but yields no points. You might spend two, three, five, or even six minutes on a problem but still be no closer to the answer.

In the five minutes you spend on a problem that you’ve misread, you could nail three or four easier questions. When you return to the question that gave you trouble, there is a good chance that you will spot your error, and the path to the correct answer will become clear. If it doesn’t become clear, walk away again. Any time you encounter resistance on the test, do not keep pushing; bend like a reed and walk away

You should take the easy test first and you should spend most of your time on questions that you know how to answer, or are reasonably certain you can answer.

As a result, it’s better to guess than it is to leave a question blank. At least by guessing, you stand a chance at getting lucky and guessing correctly.

In fact, sometimes it is easier to identify the wrong answers and eliminate them than it is to find the right ones,

Trap answers are specifically designed to appeal to test takers. Oftentimes, they’re the answers that seem to scream out “pick me!” as you work through a question. However, these attractive answers are often incorrect.

Get into the habit of double-checking all of your answers before you click on your answer choice

The only way to reliably avoid careless errors is to adopt habits that make them less likely to occur.

Every time you begin a new section, focus on that section and put the last section you completed behind you. Don’t think about that pesky synonym from an earlier section while a geometry question is on your screen. You can’t go back, and besides, your impression of how you did on a section is probably much worse than reality.

The week before the test is not the time for any major life changes. This is NOT the week to quit smoking, start smoking, quit drinking coffee, start drinking coffee, start a relationship, end a relationship, or quit a job. Business as usual, okay?

Before you dive in, you might wish to take one of the practice tests in this book or online to get a sense of where you are starting from.

Accuracy is better than speed. Slow down and focus on accumulating as many points as possible. Forcing yourself to work faster results in careless errors and lower scores.