SAT tips
Tactics for the digital SAT, one question type or tool at a time.
Desmos or by hand? A question-by-question table for digital SAT math
Graph systems, quadratics, inequalities, tables and anything with a constant in it. Do one-step equations, percents, equivalent expressions and exact answers with roots or pi by hand. The full table, with the move, the time it saves, and the trap on each side.
The digital SAT vs the paper SAT you remember: what changed, and what it means for prep
The SAT went fully digital in the US in March 2024. It is an hour shorter, adaptive, has a calculator on every math question, one short passage per reading question, and scores in days. The same 400 to 1600 scale. A side-by-side table and what each change means for a student preparing now.
Command of evidence questions: find the claim first, then make every choice earn it
'Which finding, if true, would most directly support the hypothesis?' and 'Which choice most effectively uses data from the table?' are the longest questions in the Reading and Writing module and the ones students run out of time on. The two tests every choice has to pass, and the trap built into each version.
The Bluebook tools worth practicing, and the ones to ignore
The digital SAT's testing app has nine tools. Three of them change how you take the test, two are worth a few minutes each, and the rest you can leave alone. Which is which, what the reference sheet does and does not contain, and the two-pass method the question menu makes possible.
The type-it-in math questions: every rule for student-produced responses on the digital SAT
Several questions per math module have no choices, just a box. Negatives are allowed now, mixed numbers are not, and 0.67 is wrong when .667 is right. The official rules, the examples College Board publishes, and the two Desmos habits that make the box safe.
Words in context: why the hardest-sounding word is usually wrong
The vocabulary questions on the digital SAT are the first few in every Reading and Writing module. They are not testing whether you know big words. They are testing whether you can tell which ordinary word the sentence needs, and there is a way to do that before you look at the choices.
How to take an SAT practice test at home so the score means something
A full-length Bluebook practice test is the best free thing College Board gives you, and most students waste it by taking it in pieces. The conditions that matter, the ones that do not, and the one number the report will not give you.
The bullet-point questions on the digital SAT, and the method that makes them quick
Rhetorical synthesis questions hand you a list of notes and ask which sentence uses them to meet a goal. Most students read the notes first. That is backward, and it is why these take ninety seconds instead of thirty.
When to put Desmos down: the fifteen-second rule and the questions it slows you on
The first thing I teach about the built-in calculator is when not to reach for it. A rule for deciding in five seconds, the eight situations where graphing costs time, and the six traps that turn a right method into a wrong answer.
Transitions questions: decide the relationship before you read the choices
'Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?' appears several times per module. The five relationships it tests, the words that belong to each, and why reading the choices first is how students get these wrong.
The four punctuation rules the digital SAT actually tests
Boundaries questions look like grammar and are really about one thing: where a complete sentence ends. Semicolons, colons, dashes and commas, with the single check that settles nearly all of them.
Desmos is built into the digital SAT, and most students barely use it
The graphing calculator sits in the test app on every math question. Here are the six situations where it turns a two-minute algebra problem into a ten-second one, and the two where reaching for it costs you time.
How to review a practice test properly (most students do it backward)
Going through the questions you missed is the least useful review you can do. Here is the order that finds the points, and the four categories every question should be sorted into.
Why a third-party practice test score is close to meaningless
Unofficial SAT practice tests are scored on curves nobody has validated, which is why a student's score can swing 150 points between two companies in the same week. What they are good for, and what they are not.
How the adaptive digital SAT actually works, and what it means for how you study
The digital SAT gives every student a second module chosen by how they did on the first. Here is what that routing does to your score ceiling, and the three study habits it makes obsolete.
Right but slow is a wrong answer you haven't gotten yet
Why per-question timing catches the plateau that practice-test scores hide, and how to tell a pacing problem from a content problem on the digital SAT.