Thanks for visiting CAFE 2400!! If you’re interested in hiring a great, affordable tutor in the Atlanta area, call me, Mike Davis, at 404-863-7433, or email me at mikedavistutoring@gmail.com.

Why 2400? Because that is the highest score you can make on the SAT!

At CAFE 2400, we are dedicated to helping students maximize their performance on the SAT. On this site you will find a lot of great advice, links to all kinds of helpful articles, SAT practice questions, and information on how you can take advantage of our in-home private tutoring sessions (available in the Metropolitan Atlanta Area).

We also have a bookstore where you can order a variety of helpful test prep books. Click the here for more information.

If you’re not quite old enough to take the SAT, but want to get a head start, or if you’re a conscientious parent who wants to prod your child in that direction, check out CAFE 2400, Jr.

If you want to challenge yourself, do some practice questions, or even get a sense of where you stand in terms of preparedness, go here. I post new questions three or four times a week.

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What is the average (arithmetic mean) of all the multiples of ten from 10 to 190 inclusive?

A. 90
B. 95
C. 100
D. 105
E. 110

How many of you took out your calculators, added up all of these numbers, and divided by 19?? If you did that, you would have gotten the correct answer, but you also would have wasted a lot of time! If you are asked the average of 5, 6, 7, and 8, you could add them all up and divide by four. In this case you would get 26 divided by 4, which is 6.5. However, you would also get the same result if you simply added the first and the last number of the set and divided by 2:  8 + 5 is 13, and 13 divided by 2 is 6.5! All you really have to do here is add 10 and 190 and divide by 2, which gives you 100. (Of course, this rule applies only if all of the numbers in the set are multiples of a particular number.) The answer is C.

source:  majortests.com

 If it is a long questionnaire, then it must be asking for a significant amount of personal information. The first blank needs to have something to do with a large quantity. The only word that fits that requirement is “plethora.” “Divulged” also works for the second blank. The purpose of any questionnaire is to get one to divulge information. By the way, notice the first word in (C):  “phenomena.” The indefinite article “a” precedes the first blank, so the word following “a” must be singular. “Phenomena” is the plural form of “phenomenon.” The answer is (A).

source:  syvum.com

A line segment containing the points (0, 0) and (12, 6) also contains: 
A: (6,4)                 B: (2,4)                          C: (8, 4)                    D: (1,0)                  E: (-2,-2)

If the line segment contains (0,0) and (12,6), then we know that it has a sl0pe of 1/2 (to see how to determine the slope of a line, go here), and a y-intercept of 0 (since it passes through the origin). The equation for this line is y=1/2x. Which of the above ordered pairs will satisfy this equation? The one in which the y value is half of the x value. (C) is the only choice that will work here. The answer is (C).

source:  studyguidezone.com

Identify the error in the following sentence. If there is no error, choose (E).

The series of letters that Margaret wrote to her father contains_A a valuable commentary on_B the prevailing social conditions and attitudes that led to her_C leaving home at such_D a young age. No error_E.

Don’t be afraid to choose (E) on these. Generally, about 20% of the sentences on this section will be correctly written.  The one above is an example! The answer is (E). 

source:  majortests.com

The questions are based on the following passage:

    The ground is full of seeds that cannot rise into seedlings;
    the seedlings rob one another of air, light and water, the
    strongest robber winning the day, and extinguishing his
    competitors. Year after year, the wild animals with which
5   man never interferes are, on the average, neither more nor
    less numerous than they were; and yet we know that the
    annual produce of every pair is from one to perhaps a
    million young; so that it is mathematically certain that,
    on the average, as many are killed by natural causes as
10  are born every year, and those only escape which happen
    to be a little better fitted to resist destruction than
    those which die. The individuals of a species are like
    the crew of a foundered ship, and none but good swimmers
    have a chance of reaching the land.

1. The “robber” in the first sentence is most like which of the following mentioned in the paragraph

A. wild animals
B. produce of every pair
C. individuals of a species
D. crew of a foundered ship
E. good swimmers

2. The main point the author conveys is that

A. natural populations of animals in the wild increase in numbers exponentially
B. all members of a species are in violent competition with one another
C. in the struggle to survive, the fittest survive
D. members of one generation of a population are all more or less alike
E. man’s interference destroys the natural balance

________________________

1. The “strongest robber” is the winner who extinguishes his competitors. The reference to wild animals is about that stability of their population. That rules out (A). Some of the “produce of every pair” survive, some don’t. So (B) doesn’t work. “Individuals of a species” (C) are likened to the “crew of a foundered ship” (D) because both are referring to the fact that only the strongest will survive. “Good swimmers” are the ones with the best chance to reach land and, therefore, to survive. The have the best chance of being the winner, or the “strongest robber.” The answer is (E).
2. It is pretty clear throughout this article that the author is talking about the idea that only the strongest members of a species tend to survive. In fact, the opening line of the paragraph suggests, in a poetic way, this very idea: “The ground is full of seeds that cannot rise into seedlings; the seedlings rob one another of air, light and water, the strongest robber winning the day, and extinguishing his competitors.” The answer is (C).

source:  majortests.com

Choose the word pairing that works best in this sentence:

A newborn infant’s _______ skills are not fully _______, for it cannot discern images more than 10 inches away.

A. perceptual..stimulated
B. visual..developed
C. descriptive..ripened
D. olfactory..shared
E. average..familiar

This should not have been terribly difficult, especially if you’ve been doing a lot of practice questions in this area. The key here is the reference to the infant’s inability to “discern images” from more than 10 inches away. “Perceptual” would not work, since perception has to do with the way we process what we see, not the actual seeing. “Descriptive” wouldn’t make sense since even an infant with unusually good vision would not have the ability to describe what he was seeing. “Olfactory” has to do with smell; smell has little to do with the discernment of images. The last choice just doesn’t make any sense. The answer is (B).

source:  kaptest.com

The vertices of rectangle ABCD are A(-1,0), B(2,0), C(s, t), and D(-1,4). How long is diagonal AC?

A. 2                  B. 3                     C. 4                 D. 5              E. 6

In your algebra classes, you probably got used to the idea that if you see variables (in this case s and t), you need to solve for them somehow. A first reading of this question will probably get you to thinking that you first have to figure out the values of these two variables before you can calculate the length of the diagonal, AC.

The question here is whether it is necessary to figure out these values in this question. The answer is NO. Remember that in any rectangle, the lengths of the two diagonals are always going to be the same. In this case, AC and BD will have the same lengths. As a result, all you really have to do here is figure out the length of BD, which is much easier since there are no variables!

If you put the coordinates of B and D into the distance formula (see below; X2 = -1, X1 = 2, Y2 = 4, Y1 = 0), you’ll see that d = 5.  The answer is (D).

source:  math.rice.edu

Identify the error, if any, in this sentence.

Neither of the artists we have commissioned_A to execute the mural are_B able to start_C work before_D September. No error_E.

As I’ve mentioned in a number of previous PQOTD’s, there are certain pronouns in English that are often thought to be plural, but are actually singular. “Neither” is one of those pronouns. That being the case, “are” must be changed to “is.” The answer is (B).

source:  majortests.com

The phrase “After all her effort. . .” could be followed by a reference to the writer’s elation over having been published, or her sadness over not having been published. She would not be “elated” if her poem were “disallowed.” She would not be “dismayed” if her poem were “approved.” She would not be “troubled” if it were “recommended.” She would not be “enthralled” if it were “refused.” The only pair that works is “distraught” and “rejected.” The answer is (E).

source:  collegeapps.about.com