Last Minute SAT Prep Programs

Only have a couple days left before the SAT? There’s still time to improve your scores! A few hours of focused prep can make a big difference in your test performance, especially if you have obvious mistakes that you haven't noticed.

Here are some guidelines that will help you design a last minute SAT study plan that works for you. I'll also give you a bunch of last minute SAT tips to raise your score.

Time-Based Study Plans

First, figure out how much time you can afford to devote to SAT prep in the short time you have before the test. Don’t forget to factor in other commitments and make sure you’re getting enough sleep so you can take full advantage of your review.

The 5 Hour Plan

If you have five hours to study and you haven’t studied at all before now, you should use your time to take an SAT practice test. This will help you get more comfortable with the format of the test and the types of questions to expect. You can improve your scores slightly just by taking a practice test!

If you have already taken a few practice tests and don’t think it will be as helpful for you to take another one, use your five hours to take a closer look at missed questions. Focus on where you tend to make the most mistakes, and try to understand why they're happening. See the 15 hour plan below and this article to learn more about how to review your mistakes.

You should also think about how much time you’re spending per question. For Math, it should be no more than a minute. For Critical Reading and Writing, it should be no more than 30-45 seconds. Familiarize yourself with how it feels to spend this much time on a question so you will know how to structure your time on the test. 

If you find yourself spending a longer amount of time on a question, you should skip it and move on to the next one so you will get to every question in the section and not miss easy points later!

The 15 Hour Plan

With this much time, there is potential for a substantial improvement in your scores. Let's break it down hour by hour.

Hours 0-5: Take a Practice Test 

If you haven’t studied yet, this will help you get an idea of your weak spots and where you should focus the rest of your time. Be sure to take the test with realistic time constraints so that you can diagnose the problems you’re having accurately (often the main issue students have on the SAT is time).

Hours 5-10: Review Your Mistakes

For each question you answer incorrectly, make sure you know why your choice was incorrect and how to arrive at the correct answer. Also keep track of the questions where you had to guess. Even if you got some of them right, you still want to review anything that you didn't quite understand on the test. Usually mistakes fall into four categories:

1. Not Enough Time: You didn’t get to the question

Study Strategy: Practice doing questions within the time constraints for the test so you get used to moving faster. Learn how to effectively skim reading passages, and make sure you know when to skip questions. Remember, you get a minute for math questions and 30-45 seconds for reading and writing questions.   

2. Question Comprehension: You didn’t understand what the question was asking or got tricked by it

Study Strategy: Slow down and read the questions more carefully! Sometimes it helps to write down the question in simpler form before answering. It also can't hurt to practice similar questions so your familiarity with the format will prevent confusion.

3. Unknown Material: You didn’t know the material covered in the question

4. Careless Mistake: Your brain tapped out for a sec

Study Strategy: Why did you make the mistake? Time pressure? Read the question too fast and missed an “except” or other critical word? Work on your time management so you can leave yourself a few minutes at the end of a section to go over your answers. On the flip side, be sure that you’re not going through questions faster than you should and making these mistakes as a result.

Hours 10-15: Get Specific

This is when you can really focus on the section or sections where you are making the most mistakes. Practice questions for that section and review any material that is unfamiliar to you. 

If you really want to make the most of your study time, you might consider signing up for PrepScholar. We’ve shown a 100 point improvement for 15 hours using our prep program. This is because we help you accurately determine your strengths and weaknesses across all sections of the test and will tailor your prep time to your needs so you get the most out of it.

If you sign up now, you can also use PrepScholar to prepare for the next time you take the SAT.

The faceless spectre of time will never tire from pursuing us all, especially on the SAT.

General Tips for Last Minute Studying

Here are a couple of additional pointers to help you get the most out of your last minute study time. Take a look at this article for even more tips.

Spend more of your last minute study time on analyzing your mistakes than on practice testing

You’re going to see the biggest difference in your scores if you take the time to understand your mistakes. As I mentioned earlier, you should be able to explain why your answer was incorrect as well as the rationale behind the correct answer. That way when you come across a similar question later, you'll know exactly how to answer it!

Know the facts

Take a look at these formulas you should know for the SAT. Also familiarize yourself with grammar rules for the writing section so you can feel more confident about your answers. You don't want to run into any big surprises on the test. 

Be time-conscious

If you have a tendency to fall victim to time pressure, practice doing questions with the same time constraints you would have on the test. This will help you get used to the pacing and prevent you from accidentally lingering for too long on a question you should have skipped initially.

Plan your essay

Don’t go into the SAT essay without anything prepared! Come up with some versatile concrete examples that you will be able to use in your argument.

Looking Ahead

If you think you’ll take the SAT again, try not to procrastinate as much on studying for the next test date. Short cram sessions aren’t going to cut it if you’re looking to boost your score a few hundred points or more. It can take over a hundred hours of studying to achieve really big score improvements. See these estimates for score improvements vs. study time:

0-50 SAT Composite Point Improvement: 10 hours
50-100 Point Improvement: 20 hours
100-200 Point Improvement: 40 hours
200-300 Point Improvement: 80 hours
300-500 Point Improvement: 150 hours+

Figure out your target SAT score based on which schools you plan to apply to, and then decide how you’re going to get there. Also check out these study plans for ideas on how to structure your studying over a longer period of time. Remember, last minute studying can be helpful, but it shouldn’t be your only prep method!

In conclusion...

What's Next?

If you're still looking for more last minute SAT tips, head on over to this article. It will give you some test-taking strategies and advice for how to prepare on the day of the test. 

For additional last minute SAT prep, you should consider reading these guides.

Here's a link to eight SAT practice tests to kickstart your studying!