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THE MATHWRIGHT LIBRARY NEWSLETTER, November 2002,
VOL 4, #8
A publication of Bluejay Lispware
James E. White, Editor
The official publication of the New Mathwright Library and Café:
In this issue:
Free SAT Math Practice
Free
SAT Math Practice and Tutorial 1
by James White, Mathwright
Library, and
Visiting Professor
of Mathematics, Naval
Postgraduate School
The
Scholastic Aptitude Test is one of the many portals to the college of your
choice. Do well on this test, and you will definitely get the attention of
the Admissions Committee!
Now
imagine that you could practice the Mathematics section of that test as often
as you liked online, and in complete privacy. Well, now you can.
This
free Microworld will
give you unlimited opportunity to prepare for the Mathematics section of the
Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). In its present form, it generates a new 25-question
Diagnostic Test each time you ask for
one. Each test is unique, because the program creates the tests from scratch.
Unless you have DSL or Cable, you will experience optimal performance if you
play it off-line with Mathwright32 Reader.
However, it is freely available on-line to Library non-members with MathwrightWeb.
The
first step in any session is to Calibrate the Clock.
Since a variety of factors affect the actual time kept by our "countdown
clock," and since your use of time is very important on the actual SAT,
we ask you to press the Calibration button at the top of the page to synchronize
our countdown clock with your real clock each time you open the Microworld
either on-line or off-line.
Next,
take a Diagnostic Test. Click "Diagnostic
Test" in the Control Panel below, and
press the "Go" button. You take the
30-minute Diagnostic Test to see where you need practice. The Microworld clock
keeps track of time, and lets you know how much time you have left as you
go along. At the end of 30 minutes (or when you finish the test) you are taken
to the Score Review to see how you did.
Each
time you press the "Go" button on the start page with "Diagnostic Test" selected,
you will be given a new and different 25-question Diagnostic Test. You will
have 30 minutes to answer the 25 questions. The countdown clock will help
you keep track of time.
If
you select Exit from a test page, the
test ends, and you will be taken to the Score Review
to see how you did. At the end of 30 minutes, you will be taken to the Score
Review in any case.
You
may then enter Solution Mode to see what
the correct answers were (and in later versions, how they were obtained),
or you may enter Practice Mode to practice
any problems. You do this by typing the problem number in the appropriate
field, and by pressing
the Enter key while the caret is in the field. You may also press Start
Over to select those options from the Control Panel, or to take
a new Diagnostic Test (no need to recalibrate the clock) or to exit the program.
You should always exit the program from the Start Page.
Remember
that if you select Diagnostic
Test
you will start a new test and the old results will be erased. But if you select
"Practice" or "Solutions" and press the "Go" button, you will be taken to
"Practice Mode" or "Solution Mode" and you may then practice or view the current
Diagnostic Test solutions.
Successors
to this Microworld will emphasize the Tutoring
capabilities of our "Problem Objects." Currently under development
by several Mathwright Authors, they have a variety of new problem templates
and input formats, and will offer more than simply the "correct"
answer. They will also offer both general explanations about how the problem
is to be solved, and specific step-by-step worked solutions for each problem
generated (both in Practice Mode and in Solution Mode). Watch for them at
the Library and elsewhere on the Web.
When
you are satisfied that you understand the problems in the test, then go back
and take a new Diagnostic Test, and see how your understanding has improved!