Format
Digital, adaptive
Sections
Reading & Writing, Math
Score range
400–1600
The SAT is now taken on a laptop or tablet in the College Board's Bluebook app, and it adapts: how a student does on the first module of each section decides how hard the second one is. Preparation has to practise in that format and under that timing, or it trains for a test that no longer exists.
What the test looks like now
- Two sections, Reading and Writing then Math, each split into two modules
- About two hours and fifteen minutes of testing
- Short reading passages, each with a single question
- A built-in Desmos graphing calculator for the whole Math section
- Scores from 400 to 1600, usually back within days
How we prepare students
- A full-length practice test first, so the plan starts from a real score
- Practice in the adaptive format rather than on paper copies of the old test
- Pacing work, since running out of time costs more points than gaps in knowledge
- Desmos technique for the questions it makes faster
- A second practice test before the real one to confirm the gains
When to start
Most students sit the SAT in the spring of junior year and again in late summer or the fall of senior year. Starting two to three months before the first test date leaves time for a practice test, focused work, and a second practice test.
Talk to us about sat prep
Tell us the subject, the year group, and what you have tried already. We will tell you what we would actually recommend.