Maths SolverThe SAT Math section is two adaptive modules, $22$ questions each, delivered on the College Board’s digital test platform. The test is calculator-allowed throughout, gives you a reference sheet with the standard geometry formulas, and is scored on the $200$–$800$ scale familiar to anyone who has ever opened a Princeton Review book.
This page is not a complete revision course — the algebra and geometry sections of the site cover the topics in depth. What this page does is tell you, as a maths teacher who has worked with SAT students, what is on each module, what the test reliably tests every sitting, and where to focus revision time when you do not have unlimited.
How the test is structured
Two modules, each $35$ minutes, $22$ questions, totalling $70$ minutes and $44$ questions of maths. Module 1 is a fixed mix of medium-difficulty questions across all topic areas. Your performance on Module 1 determines whether Module 2 is the easier or the harder of two possible second modules — that is the “adaptive” part. Most questions are multiple-choice with four options; about a quarter are student-produced response, where you type a number into a box.
Roughly $75\%$ of the questions are pure algebra and problem-solving; the remaining $25\%$ are geometry, trigonometry, and basic statistics. The exact mix in any one sitting is published by the College Board in the test specification.
Topic mix and what to prioritise
The four content areas, in roughly the proportions they appear:
Heart of Algebra (~35%)
Linear equations, linear inequalities, systems of two linear equations, and word problems that translate to one of the above. This is the largest single chunk of the test and the one that gives the biggest score return per hour of revision. The relevant pages on this site: quadratic equations, systems of linear equations, and the word problems section.
Problem Solving and Data Analysis (~25%)
Ratios, percentages, proportional reasoning, units, simple statistics (mean, median, range), reading tables and scatter plots, and basic probability. The percentage and distance/speed/time guides cover most of this; for the table-and-graph reading, practice matters more than theory.
Advanced Math (~30%)
Quadratics, polynomials, exponential growth and decay, function notation, and rational and radical expressions. The quadratic-equation, polynomial-factoring, and compound-interest articles all map directly onto Advanced Math problems.
Geometry and Trigonometry (~10%)
Right triangles, similarity, circles (area, circumference, sectors), volumes of standard solids, basic right-triangle trig, and the unit circle. The Pythagorean theorem, area and perimeter, and sine and cosine laws guides cover the relevant material. The reference sheet gives you most of the formulas, but knowing them by heart still saves time.
The formulas you have to know by heart
The College Board provides a reference sheet at the start of the section with all the area and volume formulas, the special right triangles, and a few constants. What is not on the sheet, but comes up regularly:
- The quadratic formula. (You will need it on Advanced Math problems.)
- The slope formula $m = (y_2 - y_1)/(x_2 - x_1)$ and the slope-intercept form $y = mx + b$.
- The slope of perpendicular lines (negative reciprocals).
- The standard form of a circle: $(x - h)^2 + (y - k)^2 = r^2$.
- $\sin^2 \theta + \cos^2 \theta = 1$ and the SOH-CAH-TOA definitions.
- The exponential growth/decay form $y = a \cdot b^t$ and how to read $a$, $b$, and the doubling time from it.
- Percent change: $(\text{new} - \text{old}) / \text{old} \times 100\%$.
Time pressure: the actual constraint
$22$ questions in $35$ minutes is roughly $95$ seconds per question. Most students do not run out of knowledge; they run out of time. Three habits that recover serious time:
First, write the algebra down. SAT problems are short, but they are multi-step, and trying to keep more than two steps in your head is where careless errors live. The blank space on the screen is for working; use it.
Second, use the calculator only when it is faster than mental arithmetic. Picking up the calculator to compute $20\%$ of $80$ costs you ten seconds you do not have. Picking it up to evaluate $1.04^{12}$ saves you several minutes.
Third, learn the multiple-choice exploits: plugging the answers back into the question, eliminating obviously wrong options, and on “which expression is equivalent” questions, picking a specific value of $x$ and testing the choices numerically. None of these are dignified, but all of them are fast.
A four-week revision plan
This is the plan I gave to most of my Year 12 students who were sitting the test as part of US university applications. Adjust to your own weak spots.
Week 1. Take a full official practice test, untimed, to find out where you actually are. Do not look up answers as you go. Then mark it and identify which of the four content areas have the worst hit rate.
Week 2. Spend most of the week on Heart of Algebra and the topics from Advanced Math you are weakest on. Read the relevant articles on this site (or in any decent textbook), then do $20$–$30$ practice problems in each weak topic.
Week 3. Same approach for the remaining two areas. By the end of week 3 you should have done at least $300$–$400$ practice problems and read every topic at least once.
Week 4. Two timed full practice tests under exam conditions, two days apart. Mark each one carefully and write down — in actual sentences — what kind of question you got wrong and why. The goal of this week is not to learn new content; it is to internalise the pacing.
The mistakes I see most often
1. Calculator over-reliance
The calculator is a tool, not the strategy. Students who try to calculator their way through every algebra question waste time and sometimes type the wrong thing. Algebra it first, then calculate the final number.
2. Not reading the question to the end
SAT questions sometimes give you a quantity and then ask for some function of it. “If $x = 5$, what is $2x + 3$?” The careless answer is $5$; the right answer is $13$. Always read what the question is actually asking before celebrating.
3. Skipping the “easy” questions too fast
The first few questions in each module are deliberately easier — that is where the marks come from for most students. Going too fast through them and dropping a sign is how high-effort students lose marks they were never going to lose if they had read carefully.
References and source documents
- College Board — SAT Math test specification (the authoritative source for what is on each module).
- Official Bluebook practice tests (free, identical interface to the real test).
- Khan Academy — Official Digital SAT prep (free, made in partnership with the College Board).