SAT Quick Facts

Introduction

The SAT can be learned

I've been teaching the SAT since 2007. Like the ACT, or rather like most standardized tests, the SAT CAN BE LEARNED. The key is to recognize that the exam is made up of only so many types of questions. The best way to increase your score is to learn the types of questions, how to recognize them, and the steps to get to the right answer. You can literally learn to become an SAT robot.

Since March of 2024, the SAT has adopted a new, digital format. The test is now conducted on an electronic device and is adaptive. The new format has two scores: Reading/Writing and Math. Each score is tested over two modules, for a total of four modules.

Verbal Modules 1 and 2

Both modules have the same format. Each consists of 27 questions and 32 minutes. The first set of approximately six questions cover vocabulary, the next cover logical reasoning, then grammar, punctuation, and standards of English, and finally synthesizing information — which asks which answer fulfills a writer's goal, given a set of notes.

Math Modules 1 and 2

Both modules have the same format. Each consists of 22 questions and 35 minutes. The two Math modules cover a rather small range of math topics, requiring nothing more than knowledge covered in Algebra II — unlike the ACT, which covers a much broader array of information. However, this can be deceptive. Though they require very little math knowledge, the SAT math modules can require very high levels of analytical ability. Some would call the questions 'tricky.'

Section 2

Reading & Writing

Many people consider the SAT Reading and Writing section to be very 'tricky,' and I would agree with them for the most part. However, tricky doesn't necessarily mean hard — at least not if you know the methods the College Board is using to make it hard. Like anything on the SAT, the best and easiest way to conquer this section is to learn the question types, how to recognize them, and the steps to take to get to the right answer. Turn it into a process. The less thinking, the better.

Vocabulary

The first set of questions — about 5 or 6 — are standard vocabulary questions. Students are given a prompt and must select an appropriate word given the context of the text.

Logical Reasoning

The next set of questions, up to about 17 or 18, essentially test logical reasoning: support a claim, weaken a claim, provide a logical conclusion, identify the conclusion.

Conventions of English

The final 8 or 9 questions cover standard conventions of English: grammar, punctuation, verb tenses, modifiers, run-ons, and so on.

Synthesizing Information

You are provided a bullet list of notes a 'student' has taken on a subject, and then asked which answer would satisfy the student's goal. For example: a student wants to identify two activists in the civil rights movement and their role in it. Which answer would fulfill this goal?

Section 3

Math

If there's one thing I can convince you of about the SAT Math section, it's that learning math the way you would in school is not the most effective way to increase your score. Learning some math is necessary, but better than that is to learn the question types and the test-taking strategies.

1. Math Knowledge

What math do you need to know? Arithmetic, algebra and functions, geometry, numbers and operations, statistics and probability. Nothing beyond what you've learned in Algebra II. Within each of these topics, the actual questions are very narrow. You can learn what you need in a short amount of time — and I only teach what's on the exam.

As for geometry formulas and equations, the SAT provides them at the beginning of each math section. That said, I strongly recommend knowing them by heart beforehand — you don't want to waste time looking them up during the exam.

2. Question Types

I can never stress this enough: learning that the test is composed of only so many different types of questions is invaluable. These types are tested over and over again. Learn the types of questions, how to recognize them, and the steps to answer them — and you'll find the SAT reduced to a simple mechanical process. Like learning to hit a golf ball, throw a pitch, or execute a tennis serve, it's just a few easy steps that become second nature.

3. Test-Taking Strategies

There are two major strategies that are extremely effective, and both are driven by this overall maxim: always seek to turn the abstract into concrete. If the answer choices all contain variables, substitute your own number for that variable. If a question asks you to perform operations on a value without telling you what it is, make one up. If the answers are all numbers, use those numbers instead of doing the math — plug in answer choices until one works.

Learn how to be a good test taker instead of a good math student. There's a difference.