I know, I know the SAT is an ugly old troll blocking you from the bridge of life and must be conquered if you are to cross triumphantly into the world of adulthood or at least to the hallowed halls of your higher learning institute of choice. It is also a given that you can definitely max out your score with a huge mental data bank, but contrary to this public opinion, the insiders know a secret. Yes, oh worried one, the secret is strategy. The tool to success on the SAT is a series of strategies and with these strategies in hand (metaphorically of course) you will, without a doubt have a higher SAT score than you thought possible. What, you ask, will it take for me to deliver the "goods" on that secret more precious than gold? Well, how about the eyeball of a dragon, or a straw from a witch's broom or better yet, just promise me that you will take this message seriously and practice what I am about to preach.

Before you take on the quest know these rules:

You have a little over three hours to get your task done to win the prize. (four hours with allowed breaks)

The Critical Reading and Math are the most important scores for college admission boards.

You should only answer questions you feel sure about.

You will receive 1 point for each correct answer but you will lose 1 point for every four wrong answers. ouch!

So guess only, when you are able through elimination, to narrow the five answer choices down to only two choices.

Never guess when you have all five answer choices. your odds are only 20%; get rid of three so you have two choices left and the odds shoot up to 50%.

There are two types of reading passages on the test: one long and one short; neither one should be read.

Instead you will want to read one question at a time and then look at the passage for a possible answer, which you will decide on and then match to the previously unseen answer choices. Doing this will save you three seconds per question. Precious time to be used at the end, when time is short.

The test is figured to take around one minute per question, so you must conserve time by kissing goodbye to the type of question you never get right. Forget about it and move on. Come back to it only if there is time left at the end and then be very careful of your choice.

When the question asks for the main idea of the passage read the first line of each paragraph; summed up they will give you the main idea of the passage as a whole.

When the question

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