For Parents

7 Surprising Things That Can Boost Your Teen's SAT Score

(None of them are another practice test.)

By Daniel Brink, Ph.D. · Updated June 3, 2026

When your teenager's SAT is looming, the instinct is to pile on more — more drills, more flashcards, another prep book. But some of the things that move the needle most have nothing to do with studying. They're free, they're simple, and your teen already has full control over every one of them. The catch? They're all quietly connected — and the phone sits at the center of most of them.

1. Read books.

Reading for pleasure is the closest thing to a cheat code. The SAT is dense with text — even the math section is full of multi-step word problems you have to untangle before you can solve. A kid who reads regularly processes that kind of dense language faster and panics less when a question runs long. It doesn't have to be the classics. Fantasy, memoir, sports biographies — whatever they'll actually finish. The win is sustained attention on long-form text, which is exactly what the test demands.

2. Sleep enough.

A rested brain is ready to think; it's also when everything studied during the day actually gets filed away and "sticks." Contrast that with a brain that watched reels until 2 a.m. — it shows up foggy, slow, and irritable. The week before the test, protecting sleep is worth more than one more cram session. A clear head beats an extra hour of tired studying every time.

3. Be off the phone as much as possible.

This is the linchpin. Almost everything else on this list is something the phone quietly steals — time to read, time to sleep, time to move, time with friends, even time to be bored. You don't have to confiscate it. Even carving out phone-free zones — dinner, the hour before bed, study time — gives all the other habits room to actually happen.

4. Exercise.

A body that moves keeps the brain sharp. Exercise boosts blood flow to the brain and is one of the most reliable ways to lower stress and improve focus — which matters a lot on a three-hour timed test. No gym membership required. A daily walk, a sport, anything that gets the heart rate up a few times a week does the job.

5. Eat healthy.

Steady fuel means steady focus. The sugar spikes and crashes from junk food make it harder to concentrate, especially during long study blocks and the test itself. Real food and protein beat energy drinks and a vending-machine lunch. Boring advice, maybe — but the brain runs on what you feed it.

6. Build real, human friendships.

Genuine in-person connection is one of the best stress buffers there is — and stress is the enemy of test performance. Phones give the illusion of connection while crowding out the real thing. A teen with real friendships handles the pressure of a big exam far better than one who's isolated behind a screen.

7. Be bored.

This one feels backwards, but boredom is where the brain wanders, makes connections, and learns to solve problems on its own. A mind that's never idle — always topped up with a screen — never builds that muscle. And the SAT rewards exactly that: flexible, creative thinking on unfamiliar problems. So let them be bored sometimes. It's doing more than it looks.

The thread running through all of it

None of these work in isolation — they feed each other. Sleep is easier when the phone's away. Friendships grow when there's time that isn't filled with a screen. Boredom shows up when nothing's there to fill it. They're all free, all within reach, and all things any family can start this week.

And once those foundations are in place, the actual prep works far better — because a focused, rested brain can finally absorb it. The fastest way to point that prep in the right direction is to find out exactly which math skills are shaky.