SAT Playbook

You take the SAT on a laptop or tablet in Bluebook, the College Board's testing app. Reading and Writing comes first, then a 10-minute break, then Math. The math section is two modules of 22 questions, and each module has its own 35-minute clock.

Nothing about the math itself changes for 2026–27: same content, format, timing and scoring. The only changes are small Bluebook updates. You can resize the calculator, the reference sheet has a new layout, and you can zoom and pan on graphs, charts and figures.

Module 1 decides your Module 2

This is the part most worth understanding. Module 1 is a broad mix of easy, medium and hard questions from every topic. How you do on it decides which Module 2 you get: one that's harder on average, or one that's easier on average. Both still have easy, medium and hard questions, just in different proportions.

Your score counts every scored question from both modules. But the College Board's own illustration of the two routes shows the easier Module 2 reaching only a little above 530, while the harder one runs from a little below 530 all the way to 800. If you want an 800, you need the harder Module 2, and that starts with a strong Module 1.

Two kinds of questions

• Multiple choice: four choices, A to D, with exactly one right answer. The wrong choices aren't random. Each one is built to match a common mistake, so finding your answer among the choices doesn't prove it's right.
• Your own answer: no choices, you type the answer into a box. About a quarter of the scored questions (8 to 12 of the 40) work this way, and they follow strict entry rules (see Entering your own answers below). Some have more than one right answer, and any one of them counts.

Within each module the questions go from easiest to hardest, and every module has all four content areas. In the College Board's practice tests in Bluebook, the answer-box questions are mixed in among the multiple-choice ones rather than saved for the end.

What's on it

Algebra and Advanced Math are each about a third of the test, so they get the most study time. About 30% of the questions are set in a context (science, social studies or an everyday situation), and most of those are 50 words or fewer. The rest are straight math.

Directions worth knowing before you start

• Figures are drawn to scale unless the question says they aren't. That's different from the old paper SAT, and it makes estimating from a figure fair: if a choice looks impossible in the picture, it probably is.
• Every variable and expression stands for a real number, unless the question says otherwise.
• A function's domain is every real x for which f(x) is a real number, unless the question says otherwise.
• Two questions in each module are unscored trial questions. They look exactly like the rest and can sit anywhere, so treat every question as if it counts.

The reference sheet

Bluebook has a reference sheet you can open at any time during the math section. Here's everything on it:

Know all of these without looking: every trip to the sheet costs time you'll want for the hardest questions. And most of what you need isn't on it at all. Learn these by heart:

• Lines: slope, slope-intercept and point-slope forms, distance and midpoint.
• Circles: the equation (x − h)² + (y − k)² = r², and arc length and sector area as a fraction of the circle (or s = rθ).
• Quadratics: the quadratic formula, the discriminant, the vertex at x = −b/(2a), and the sum and product of the roots.
• Exponents: the exponent rules, and the forms of exponential growth and decay.
• Geometry: surface area, and the areas of trapezoids and parallelograms.
• Trigonometry: SOH-CAH-TOA, sin x = cos(90° − x), and converting between degrees and radians.
• Data: mean, median, range, the rules of probability, and percent change.

Tools in Bluebook

• A Desmos calculator, graphing or scientific, for the whole math section (more on it below). You may bring your own approved calculator as well.
• Mark for review: flag a question, then use the question menu to see which ones are answered, unanswered or flagged.
• Option eliminator: cross out choices you've ruled out. You can undo it.
• Timer: counts down each module. You can hide it until 5 minutes are left; after that it stays on screen.
• Zoom: zoom in on the page, and zoom and pan on graphs, charts and figures.
• Answer preview: for answer-box questions, shows how Bluebook reads what you typed.
• Scratch paper comes from the test center. Bring your own pencils or pens.

Your math score runs from 200 to 800 in steps of 10. Add your Reading and Writing score for the total, from 400 to 1600. The College Board's college-readiness benchmark for math is 530.

Not every right answer is worth the same

The digital SAT is scored with item response theory, not a simple count. Your score depends on which questions you got right, how hard they were (harder ones count for more), and whether your pattern of answers looks like guessing. So two students with the same number right can get different scores, and the same number right can mean different scores on different tests or routes.

• Each multiple-choice question is simply right or wrong. Each answer-box entry is compared with the accepted answers.
• There's no penalty for a wrong answer, and a blank counts as wrong. So answer every question.
• The unscored trial questions never count, for you or against you.

What an 800 takes

The College Board doesn't publish how right answers turn into scores on the adaptive test. It does publish score tables for the paper versions of its practice tests, which aren't adaptive. On the paper Practice Test 11 (54 math questions), all 54 right gave 790–800, one wrong gave 770–800, two wrong gave 750–800, and four wrong gave 710–770.

The adaptive test is scored differently, but the lesson carries over: at the top, every question matters. An 800 means the harder Module 2 and almost no mistakes in either module. A careless slip on an easy question (misreading what's asked, dropping a sign, typing an answer in the wrong form) hurts twice: it costs the question, and in Module 1 it can cost you the harder route. Those are the easiest points to win back, because they come from habits, and habits can be trained.

Our practice tests' score estimate

Each full-length practice test in this course ends with a score range, labeled as an unofficial estimate. Here's what's behind it, so you know how much weight to give it.

• Like the real SAT, our practice tests are adaptive: Module 1, then a harder or an easier Module 2. Getting 15 or more of Module 1's 22 questions right opens the harder one.
• Unlike the real SAT, all 44 questions count, because there are no trial questions. So your total on our test is out of 44, where the real test scores 40.
• The unofficial range comes from your total right (out of 44) and which Module 2 you got. We built it from prep companies' score calculators (Prepgenix's full table for both routes, plus satcalculator.org and EdisonOS), the easier route's ceiling as reported by LearnQ, Getsharp, Tigerway and Prepgenix, and the College Board's illustration of the two routes. We averaged them, widened the results into ranges, and checked them against the order of the official paper table above.

Notice two things. The same number right scores higher on the harder route, because its questions are harder. And the easier route has a ceiling: prep companies put it somewhere around 590 to 670 (unofficial), and the College Board's illustration suggests it could be lower still, a little above 530.

After the test

• Scores come out about two weeks after a weekend test (13 to 16 days in 2026–27; the dates are in the study plan below), in your College Board account. The report shows your total and both section scores.
• You can take the SAT as many times as you like. The College Board suggests taking it at least twice, in the spring of junior year and the fall of senior year, and says scores often go up on a retake.
• Score Choice lets you pick which test dates to send, unless a college asks for all your scores. Superscoring (combining your best math score and your best Reading and Writing score from different dates) is each college's own policy, so check the ones you're applying to.

Bluebook has a Desmos calculator built in for the whole math section, and you can switch it between graphing and scientific. Since fall 2026 you can resize it, too. For a student aiming at 800, Desmos isn't a crutch. It's the fastest way to solve some questions and the best way to check others.

You may also bring your own calculator: a graphing calculator without a computer algebra system (CAS), or a scientific one. A four-function calculator is allowed but won't do much for you. Not allowed: calculators with CAS or symbolic algebra apps, a QWERTY keyboard, wireless or Bluetooth, a camera, pen input or a printer, and phones, tablets or laptops used as calculators. Clear any saved programs and formulas before the test.

The moves that save the most time

Two quick examples

Solve √(2x + 3) = x. By hand, you'd square both sides to get x² − 2x − 3 = 0, factor it as (x − 3)(x + 1) = 0, and then check both x = 3 and x = −1 in the original. Only x = 3 works: x = −1 gives √1 = 1 on the left and −1 on the right. In Desmos, graph y = √(2x + 3) and y = x. They cross once, at (3, 3), so the answer is 3, and the false solution never appears.

For what value of k does x² + 6x + k = 0 have exactly one real solution? Graph y = x² + 6x + k and drag the k slider until the vertex of the parabola just touches the x-axis. That happens at k = 9. Confirm with the discriminant: 36 − 4k = 0 gives k = 9.

When to skip it

• Easy questions: if you can do it in your head, that's faster than typing.
• Long expressions: one typo costs more time than solving by hand. Type carefully, and glance back at what you typed.
• Answer-box questions: Desmos shows decimals. Turn the decimal into the exact fraction (0.666… is 2/3), or enter it by the decimal rules in the next section.
• Trigonometry: check whether Desmos is set to degrees or radians.
• No intersection on screen: zoom out. It may just be out of view.

About a quarter of the scored questions have no answer choices: you type the answer into a box. A right answer typed in a form the SAT doesn't accept is scored as wrong, so learn these rules once, cold, and they'll never cost you a point.

The rules

1. 1A positive answer gets up to 5 characters, and a negative answer up to 6, counting the minus sign. The decimal point and the fraction bar each count as a character.
2. 2Type a whole number, a decimal or a fraction. If a fraction doesn't fit, use its decimal.
3. 3If a decimal doesn't fit, fill every character, rounding or cutting off the last digit: for 11/3, that's 3.666 or 3.667. A shorter decimal, like 3.67, is marked wrong.
4. 4No mixed numbers. Enter 3⅔ as 11/3, 3.666 or 3.667. Typed as 32/3, it would mean thirty-two thirds.
5. 5No symbols or units: no %, $, commas, spaces, π or √. If the question asks for a percent or an amount of money, type just the number.
6. 6If more than one answer is correct, enter just one. Any correct one counts.
7. 7Check the preview under the box. It shows how Bluebook reads what you typed.

The rules in action

Before test day

• Install Bluebook, the College Board's free testing app, on the laptop or tablet you'll use, and finish its exam setup. From fall 2026, a Windows device needs Windows 11, and a Chromebook needs verified mode.
• Take at least one of the College Board's full-length practice tests in Bluebook. They're free, and they're the best way to get used to the real tools, timer and Desmos before the day that counts.
• Your admission ticket appears in Bluebook 5 days before the test. Print it if you can.
• Charge your device fully, and pack your bag the night before.

What to bring

• Your device, fully charged, with Bluebook installed and exam setup done.
• Your admission ticket (printed is best).
• An acceptable photo ID, a physical one, with the same name as your ticket.
• Pencils or pens. Scratch paper is provided.
• Your College Board username and password.
• An approved calculator, if you want one. You don't need it: Desmos is built in.

You may also bring a watch without an audible alarm, a charger or power bank, a backup device, a bag, and a drink and snacks for the break. Phones, smartwatches, smart glasses and similar devices must be turned off and put away. Earbuds and headphones aren't allowed unless they're an approved accommodation, which now means wired, non-Bluetooth headphones.

How the day runs

1. 1Check in, sign in to Bluebook, and type the start code the proctor gives you. The clock starts then.
2. 2Reading and Writing: two modules of 27 questions, 32 minutes each.
3. 3A 10-minute break, which Bluebook starts for you. Eat something: math is next. Any extra, unscheduled break comes out of your testing time.
4. 4Math: Module 1 (22 questions, 35 minutes), then Module 2 (22 questions, 35 minutes).
5. 5Bluebook submits your answers. Stay until the proctor confirms it and dismisses you.

That's 2 hours 14 minutes of testing plus the break. Plan on about 3 hours at the test center, counting check-in.

Pacing for an 800

The College Board doesn't publish a pacing plan; this one is ours. It rests on one fact: within each module, the questions get harder as you go. You have 35 minutes for 22 questions, about 95 seconds each on average, but you shouldn't spend them evenly.

• Stuck for about 90 seconds with no progress? Mark it for review, choose your best guess, and move on. Come back once you've reached the end of the module.
• Never leave a question blank: a wrong answer costs nothing more than a blank. If you have to guess, cross out the choices you can rule out and pick from the rest. A pattern like always choosing A won't help.
• In Module 1, accuracy beats speed. It decides your Module 2.
• On answer-box questions, read the preview, check the sign, and check the form (a percent or a decimal?) before you move on.
• When 5 minutes are left, the timer can't be hidden anymore. Take it as your cue to make sure every question has an answer.
• Within a module you can move around freely and change answers, but once its time is up, you can't go back to it.

Pick your test date below, and the plan counts down to it. It shares out the weeks you have among the units you still need, in course order, and gives more time to the units that carry more of the test: Algebra and Advanced Math are about 35% each, and Problem-Solving and Data Analysis and Geometry and Trigonometry about 15% each. Unit 1, on how the test works, Desmos and the shortcuts, is short, and it comes first because everything after it uses it. The last weeks are kept for full-length practice tests and review.

When you're signed in, the plan skips the units you've already finished and gives their time to the rest. Treat it as a guide: if you're ahead, start the next unit; if you fall behind, keep going in order and protect the practice-test weeks at the end.

How to use it

• Start with the diagnostic quiz in Unit 1. It's built like a Module 1 (22 questions, 35 minutes), and it shows where your study time will pay off most.
• For each unit: the lessons, then the practice set and the hardest-questions set, then the timed unit test (20 questions in 32 minutes).
• Keep a list of every question you miss and why: you didn't know the math, you misread the question, you ran out of time, or you made a slip. Each kind has a different fix.
• Take a full-length practice test partway through to see where you stand, and more in the final weeks, each in one sitting with real timing. Afterward, redo every question you missed before you read its explanation.
• Mix in the College Board's free practice tests in Bluebook, so the app feels routine by test day.
• Rest the day before the test.

Choosing a test date

There's no limit on how many times you can take the SAT, and the College Board suggests at least twice: in the spring of junior year and the fall of senior year. Pick a first date that leaves time for the whole plan, and keep a later date in mind as a backup.

There's no January or April SAT Weekend this school year. The College Board lists August 28, 2027 as an anticipated date; it isn't in the date picker until it's confirmed. Your school may also offer the SAT on a school day, on a date set by the school or state. Check the College Board's dates page before you register, since dates and deadlines can change.