Percentages: Tips

Translating Percentage Word Problems:

  • "what" means “x”

  • "is" means “=”

  • "of" means “multiplied by”

  • "percent" means “divided by 100”

In what form should I enter my answer?

Questions on the SAT may ask for "what percent" and require you to enter that value into the answer field.

In these instances, you should not enter decimal or fractional equivalents, but instead, enter the percent value as an integer (without a % sign). So, if the answer is 50%, you should simply enter 50.

Calculating percent change

We're often asked to calculate by what percent a quantity changes relative to an initial value: the percent discount on jeans, the percent increase in population, etc. When calculating a percent change from an initial value to a final value:

  1. Find the difference between the initial and final values.

  2. Divide the difference by the initial value.

  3. Convert the decimal to a percentage by multiplying the quotient by 100

  4. % change = (difference ÷ initial) • 100%