Welcome to the mother of all free SAT prep resources. This page contains video tutorials, tips and more to raise your score in a meaningful way, making you a more competitive college applicant. We're going to give you free tips, videos and even links to free SAT practice tests. Dig in!
Tests grammar, reasoning and reading ability. Requires you to draw inferences and decide which option is best based on context and clues found elsewhere in the sentence or paragraph.
Two Sections 54 Total Questions64 Total Minutes800 Points
The digital SAT is adaptive. Notice how both the Reading & Writing and Math portions have two sections? Your performance on the first section determines the questions you see in the second section. This doesn't change your strategy at all, but it is something to be aware of.
How to Raise Your SAT Score
Raising your SAT score isn't like finding a four-sided triangle or picking a lottery number. It's more like a puzzle. If you approach it in a methodical way and give a consistent effort, you'll be successful.
You hear a lot of people talk about little tricks that can massively raise your score. Don't buy into it. The big gains come from getting better on the actual grammar, algebra, etc. that is tested.
There is no substitute for putting in the time, and you should spend this time on official practice tests. The good news is that there are a lot of free official practice tests on BlueBook.
Based on your practice test results, you should know where you are weak and where you are strong. Make a list of your biggest weaknesses and move through the relevant content in a methodical way. Rinse and repeat.
A good plan is one that leads you up to a specific test date and also features weekly goals for the amount of time you should spend on prep. Use your practice tests to track your progress toward your goal and determine where this time should be spent.
The SAT reading and writing section is the first section you will see on the test. It features two 32 minute modules with a ten minute break in between. Your performance on the first section will determine the difficulty of the questions you see on the second section.
There are 54 total questions, and you'll be tested on a broad range of English language skills, including reading, inferences, grammar and logical reasoning.
Four Tips for a Better Reading & Writing Score
There are technically about twelve grammar rules the SAT pulls from, but the vast majority of grammar questions rely on subject-verb agreement, verb conjugation, punctuation and sentence structure.
The number one question type on the SAT reading & writing section is a blank in the middle of a bunch of text. This is often testing your ability to transition from what was just said to what is about to be said.
Doing official practice tests out of Bluebook and then dissecting your answers is a great way to improve, provided you don't just burn through tests without a plan. Test, analyze, review, and then test again.
Most students don't run out of time on the digital SAT because timing is much more relaxed than it used to be. But you never know until you've actually done practice tests under standard timing conditions.
Tip #1: Dealing with Transitions
Transitions are one of the most important topics on the SAT reading & writing section. Transitions can be single words (transition words) or phrases, and the SAT likes to test a variety of concepts in these questions. First, you should read everything. Transitions are about the comparison of ideas presented, not a product of individual words or grammar in either sentence. Second, you need to deal with verbosity. The SAT likes to cram a lot of stuff into each sentence in an effort to reduce clarity. The best way to do this is to paraphrase ideas. It's okay if you don't capture every little bit of nuance; what matters is that you simplify things so you can "hold the ideas up" next to each other. Finally, give it a final readthrough to make sure the correct idea is being conveyed.
Tip #2: Subject-Verb Agreement is the Top Grammar Skill
Every sentence has a subject and a main verb. Well, every correct sentence has a subject and main verb. So you're naturally very good at this because you do it with every sentence you write or speak, but the SAT is very good at throwing some tricks in.
Tip #3: Understanding Sentences is a Core Concept
A ton of questions deal with the notion of a complete thought. What constitutes a complete thought? How do you separate multiple complete thoughts? What sorts of changes turn complete thoughts into incomplete thoughts, and therefore, imply different punctuation requirements?
The core idea here starts with subject-verb agreement (see above), and once you can pick out subject and main verb pairings, you can pick out complete thoughts. If you have multiple complete thoughts, you only have three primary ways of separating them on the SAT: a period (or question mark or exclamation point), a semicolon, or a comma and conjunction.
SAT Reading & Writing FAQ
Below are some common questions about the SAT Reading & Writing section and the best methods of prepping for it.
The SAT Math section is a broad, vast section that can test you on anything from basic math you learned in sixth grade to graphing quadratics. To make matters worse, it likes to add an extra bit of math reasoning into questions, so these problems often don't look or feel like high school math problems. We can break the questions down into three main categories:
This section covers a lot of algebra without exponents, so you'll see linear equations, systems of equations and graphing.
The next step up from Algebra: non-linear equations, equivalencies, systems of equations and non-linear functions.
How to Raise your SAT Math Score
To score better, you need to get better at two things: math content and math reasoning. Unlike high school math, SAT math doesn't lend itself well to memorizing steps. The problems simply vary too much. In addition, you are going to be presented with novel scenarios that force you to be creative with the information you are given in an effort to get where you need to go. The difference between easy SAT math problems and hard SAT math problems is often a matter of reasoning, not actual math content. That doesn't mean that actual math skills aren't important -- they are. In fact, for most students, the best way to get a higher SAT math score is to get better at math content. Just make sure that you're also doing plenty of practice out of official SAT practice tests.
SAT Math Topic #1: Linear Equations
Linear equations are equations that don't feature any exponents (at least no exponents other than "1"). This means they make straight lines on graphs. This is the single most important skill for SAT Heart of Algebra questions, and it might just be the most important skill on the entire SAT Math section. Let's take a look:
SAT Math Topic #2: Trinomials
Trinomials are a special form of polynomial that is frequently tested and will form parabolas on a graph. We typically factor them in order to solve them, and you should be very comfortable with them in both equation and graph form. Let's take a look:
SAT Math Topic #3: Equivalencies
Equivalencies are frequently tested, and they can range from very easy problems to very hard problems. Fortunately, there is a shortcut method that works every single time for these problems, and we recommend that you use it. Let's take a look:
SAT Math FAQ
Below are some common questions about the SAT Math section and the best methods of prepping for it.
For most students, yes. This goal is more realistic if you aren't starting with a 1300+, of course. However, raising your SAT score significantly requires time, hard work and a good plan. If you are willing to do those things, you can raise your score.
Unless your strengths are so strong that there isn't much room left for improvement (i.e., you are scoring a 750+ on math), you should spend some time on both. However, for a lot of students, the biggest gains in the shortest time often come from getting better at their weaknesses.
This of course various, but a lot of students could get real improvement by spending four hours per week for eight weeks on SAT prep. That time should be split between reviewing content and doing practice tests. No matter how much time you spend on SAT prep, remember that quality time is more important than anything else. Treat every practice question like it's a test question, and have a plan that guides how you will spend your time.
If you get the score you need, once is enough. Okay, that's a cop-out. There isn't an inherent advantage in taking the test a lot of times unless you underperformed on it, and you should know whether you underperformed because you should have already taken some official practice tests. If you've been scoring an 1150 on practice tests and you score about an 1150 on test day, you shouldn't expect to do better just by taking it again. Instead, you'll need to do some prep and actually get better at the SAT in order for your score to go up. If, however, you have been getting an 1150 on practice tests but scored just a 1040 on the real thing, take it again whether you do additional prep or not.
Very! Different colleges weight test scores differently, but it's hard to overstate the importance of the SAT for college admissions. Your GPA/class rank and test scores are, by far, the two most important factors that will determine the colleges you get into.
For the most part, no. There are some little tricks, but they aren't going to give you 50+ points on the test. There is no substitute for doing actual work to get better at the algebra, grammar, etc. that is tested. Good prep revolves around resolving content weaknesses first.
For most students, it doesn't really matter. The vast majority of students do about the same on both exams, and there is no difference in how the exams are viewed by colleges. Your goal is to get the highest percentile score possible, regardless of which test it happens on. In general, the ACT is more a of a time crunch and gives less weight to math, but it is also a bit more straightforward. It also includes a science section, but this section has little correlation with ability in high school science class.
Probably linear equations. Math makes up half of your score, so the most important math content area is probably the most important area overall. Knowing how to solve and graph linear equations as well as work with the slope formula are fundamental skills on this test. Outside of math, subjects and verbs are extremely important.
