COMPASS Cheat Sheet 2026

The 30 highest-yield COMPASS facts, distilled from real exam questions. Print it, save it as a PDF, or study it here — free, no sign-up.

1. Which conic section is described by the equation x² + y² = 25? → Circle
2. If f(x) = 2x+4, then what is the value of f(4) + f(6) ? → f(18)
3. Identify the adverb in: 'She spoke softly to the children.' → softly
4. What is the measure of each interior angle of a regular hexagon? → 120°
5. If f(x) = x + 9, which of the following is a solution of f(5a) + 3 = f(3a) + 11? In other words, what might be the value of ‘a’? → 4
6. Which of the following is a solution to x² − 5x + 6 = 0? → x = 2
7. A tangent line to a circle: → Touches the circle at exactly one point
8. What is the distance between the points (0, 0) and (3, 4)? → 5
9. If 5(x − 2) = 3x + 4, what is x? → 7
10. What is the value of tan(45°)? → 1
11. Which equation represents a line parallel to y = 2x + 1? → y = 2x − 5
12. If q and r are positive odd integers, which of the following is greatest? → (-2q)2r
13. (x+3)(x+5) = A. x2+16x +8 B. x2+16x+15 C. x2+8x+15 D. x2+8x+8 → C
14. Evaluate: 3⁻² as a fraction → 1/9
15. Find the zeros of f(x) = x³ − x → x = 0, 1, −1
16. Which word is a conjunction? → because
17. Choose the sentence with correct subject-verb agreement: → The team is playing well.
18. Eddie is 7 years older than Brian. If Brian is x years old, then how old was Eddie 11 years ago? → x-4
19. If x = y, what does 4(x-y) + 7 =? → 7
20. Two lines that lie in the same plane and never intersect are called: → Parallel lines
21. Point A is at (1, 2) and point B is at (7, 10). What is the length of segment AB? → 10
22. The exterior angle of a triangle equals: → The sum of the two non-adjacent interior angles
23. What is the domain of f(x) = 1/(x − 4)? → All real numbers except x = 4
24. A farmer can pick 12 cabbages in 1 hour. Working at the same rate, how long in hours would it take two farmers to pick 48 cabbages? → 2
25. A toll is $2 for a car and the driver and 75 cent for each additional passenger. If the toll comes to $4.25, how many total people are in the car? → 4
26. A rectangular box has a length of 4, a width of 3, and a height of 5. What is its volume? → 60
27. Which sentence uses the correct article? → She is an honest woman.
28. The line in the xy-coordinate system is the graph of the equation y=mx+b. Which of the following must be true? → mb
29. What is the slope of the line passing through (2, 3) and (6, 11)? → 2
30. If log(x) = 3, what is x? → 1000