SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips

For SAT Math prep, no matter your strategy—whether you're doing self-study, taking a prep class, or working with a tutor—you need to be working with real SAT Math practice materials. The SAT Math test will be different from any other math test you've taken. You need to work with the real material to get used to the pacing and style of this unique test.

In this guide, I'll show you where to find official SAT Math practice tests and questions, and go over what materials to avoid.

Best SAT Math Practice Tests, Free and Official

All of the following SAT Math tests are completely free. We've gathered together all of them in one place for your convenience. There are currently 8 official practice tests. You can download them here or take them online at Khan Academy (see next section for more details).

• Math Practice Test 1 Pages 34-56
• Math Practice Test 3 Pages 32-55
• Math Practice Test 5 Pages 38-65
• Math Practice Test 6 Pages 42-67
• Math Practice Test 7 Pages 34-59
• Math Practice Test 8 Pages 36-61
• Math Practice Test 9 Pages 458-482
• Math Practice Test 10 Pages 332-353

You can find the scoring guides and answer explanations on the official College Board website.

The official SAT prep book is not worth purchasing because it's all available for free online. The only reason you might want to buy it is that it includes eight of the practice tests listed above in print form so you don't have to print them out yourself (it's missing tests 2 and 4).

Where Are Practice Tests 2 and 4?

You probably noticed that Practice Test 2 and Practice Test 4 are missing from the section above. That's because the College Board has removed them from their list of officially available practice tests.

If you've already worked through the first eight official practice tests and want to keep working on test-taking skills like time management and strategy, then these exams are a great option!

• Math Practice Test 2 Pages 32-53
• Math Practice Test 4 Pages 30-54

Practice Tests for the Digital SAT

The College Board is switching the SAT to a digital format starting in 2023. With the new format comes new test-taking techniques and challenges. To help students prepare, the College Board has released practice tests that match the new testing format. 

Currently, the College Board has released four full-length practice tests for the digital SAT. These are not math-specific, but they can help you adjust to the new format. 

• SAT Practice Test 1
  • Practice Test
  • Scoring Guide
  • Answer Guide
• SAT Practice Test 2
  • Practice Test
  • Scoring Guide
  • Answer Guide
• SAT Practice Test 3
  • Practice Test
  • Scoring Guide
  • Answer Guide
• SAT Practice Test 4
  • Practice Test
  • Scoring Guide
  • Answer Guide

Official Math SAT Prep at Khan Academy

If you want a little extra prep (which you likely will since there aren't many official practice tests), there are a bunch of official Math practice questions available as part of Khan Academy's free SAT prep. To access them, you'll need to sign up for an account, but it's free and tracks your progress over time.

On Khan Academy, the SAT lessons and practice questions are divided by type, (e.g., solving quadratic equations, percents, scatterplots, etc.), so they're very helpful for more targeted studying. There's a lot of math content, which can help you brush up on concepts you might have missed or forgotten. You can see a sample Math question below:

Math Practice Questions on the Official SAT Website

Finally, the College Board offers a short SAT Math practice section on its website. This feature includes 30 calculator questions and 18 no-calculator questions. These are all different from those in the 10 practice tests above, so if you'd like more SAT Math practice, this is a great resource to use.

The only drawback to these online SAT Math questions is that they're not given in a practice test format—rather, you'll be shown the correct answer after every question. Nevertheless, the quality of these questions is unbeatable.

Additional SAT Math Materials

In general, I recommend against any SAT Math practice tests that were not written by the College Board so they won't be realistic practice. You want to use real practice materials so that you can ensure you're taking tests that reflect the actual content and difficulty of the SAT.

If you take practice tests made by other companies, they might be more or less difficult and might not include all the content on the actual SAT Math section.

That said, unofficial tests can still be great for practicing math skills—just not for practicing SAT-style questions. SAT Math, more than any other section on the test, is based on knowledge, so having plenty of materials to practice the different math skills required is important (and poor or inaccurate formatting doesn't always matter as much).

Check out our massive collection of SAT study material for a list of both official and unofficial SAT practice tests.

If you still want more SAT Math study material—and don't mind spending a little cash—look at our guide to the best SAT Math prep books.

Get your study on!

How to Use SAT Math Practice Tests Effectively: 4 Tips

Since you have a limited number of full-length SAT practice tests (with a total of 10 Math practice tests), each one is a precious commodity. You need to make sure you get the most out of each one. Here are my top four tips to best use your SAT Math practice tests:

Tip 1: Take Full-Length Practice Tests Under Realistic Testing Conditions

Take each full-length SAT practice test in one sitting with accurate timing and realistic testing conditions. That means sitting for about four hours (if you're including the Essay in your practice). Only allow yourself the prescribed time per section; the time allowed is listed at the beginning of each section. Use a watch to time yourself.

You need to get used to the timing of the SAT and learn to pace yourself. Don't give yourself any extra time on a section. If you do, you might be able to answer extra questions and therefore artificially inflate your score. Remember, you want these practice tests to be reliable indicators of your real SAT score, so no cheating!

I recommend taking each official SAT practice test in one sitting (in other words, don't sit for the Math tests one day and then take the Reading and Writing tests another day). The SAT is a marathon, and you won't be fully prepared for it if you don't take the practice tests in one go.

If you don't have time to take each of the official practices tests in one sitting (one sitting will be about four hours per test), then you can split the sections over multiple days, but make sure you take at least one full section each day (e.g., you complete the whole Math No Calculator section).

NOTE: Realistic testing conditions means obeying all test rules. On the SAT Math section, be sure to only use your calculator on the calculator-permitted Math section (section 4)—and do not use your calculator on the No Calculator section (section 3). You need to get used to doing mental math! Don't cheat in your practice or you won't be prepared the day of the SAT.

Use a watch, not a phone!

Tip 2: Review Your Practice

My second tip is to review your practice tests! When you finish, score your practice test. Then, look at the in-depth answer explanations for every question you got wrong. Try to figure out where you went wrong. Do not skip this step! If you do, you're not going to learn from your errors, and you'll continue making them.

Spend at least an hour reviewing your SAT practice tests (or at least 15 minutes per section). While it might seem like a lot of study time wasted, I promise it's not. It's the most valuable time spent because it's the time where you'll learn from your mistakes.

If you don't have a lot of study time, I recommend taking two SAT practice tests with detailed review, and then at least four SAT Math practice tests with no review.

Tip 3: Practice Skills Between Tests

Some students see the improvement they want by simply taking practice tests and familiarizing themselves with the pace and style of the SAT. However, most students need to review math concepts that they forgot, never learned, or never quite mastered.

In-between practice tests, I highly recommend that you read our individual SAT Math content guides. These guides address the specific content areas (i.e., Coordinate Geometry, Trigonometry, Systems of Equations, etc.) that you need to master to do well on SAT Math.

After taking your first practice test, see whether you can figure out why you got those math questions wrong. Did you skip a step? Did you misread the question? Or did you not know the content needed to solve a question?

If you didn't know how to solve a question, then you need to review that content!

Tip 4: Get Help If You Need It

If you're not improving with each practice test, look for extra help: consider supplementing the SAT practice tests with a tutor, class, book (such as the ones above) or program. While some people might be able to learn from their mistakes on practice tests through self-study, most need outside help to identify their weaknesses and to help them improve.

Whatever prep you choose, know that a good prep program should be personalized to your specific needs, focusing on your area of weakness while not wasting your time covering topics you've already mastered.

What's Next?

Interested in testing yourself with the hardest SAT Math questions out there? Check out our 13 toughest SAT Math question guide.

Running out of time on the SAT Math section? Our guide will help you beat the clock and maximize your score.

Aiming for a perfect SAT score? Check out our guide on how to get a perfect 800 on the SAT Math section, written by a real perfect scorer.

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