Most students start SAT math prep by opening a book at chapter one, or by doing whatever practice set comes up first. Both waste time, because they treat every topic as equally important to you. They aren't. Here is the order I'd use, the same one I'd give a student sitting in my classroom.
You can't decide what to study until you know what is costing you points, and you can't know that from a feeling. Students tell me they are "bad at geometry" and then miss three geometry questions and nine algebra questions. Take one complete test, timed, in one sitting, and work every problem out on paper so you can see later where it went wrong.
A free test on freepracticeSAT.com works, and so do the official tests in the College Board's Bluebook app. Either one gives you something real to sort.
Go through every question you got wrong and put it in one of three piles. Be honest with yourself here. This step decides everything that follows.
Careless slips. You knew how to do it and made a small error: copied a number wrong, dropped a negative, answered for $x$ when the question asked for $2x$.
Missing basics. The SAT topic was fine, but something underneath it wasn't. You set up the quadratic correctly and then couldn't add two fractions, or you distributed a negative wrong: $-2(x - 3) = -2x - 6$ instead of $-2x + 6$.
Topics you never learned. You looked at it and had no idea where to start.
Most students expect the third pile to be the biggest. In my experience it is usually the smallest. The first two piles are where most of the points are.
This is the step students skip, and it is the one that pays off most. A missing basic doesn't cost you one question. It costs you a question in algebra, another in a word problem, another in geometry, because the same skill is hiding underneath all of them.
The basics I see most often are fractions, negative numbers, distributing, solving a two-step equation, and reading the coordinate plane. None of them are SAT topics, so no SAT book teaches them, but every SAT topic is built on them. I wrote more about this in the five math gaps that hold back SAT scores.
Once a basic is fixed, it stays fixed, and it quietly improves your score across the whole test. That is why it comes before anything else.
The digital SAT math section has 44 questions, and they are not spread evenly over the four content areas:
| Content area | Questions out of 44 | What it mostly is |
|---|---|---|
| Algebra | about 13 to 15 | linear equations, systems, slope, linear inequalities |
| Advanced Math | about 13 to 15 | quadratics, functions, exponential models, polynomials |
| Problem-Solving and Data Analysis | about 5 to 7 | percents, ratios, probability, statistics |
| Geometry and Trigonometry | about 5 to 7 | area, volume, triangles, circles, trig ratios |
Counts from the College Board's test specifications. What is on the SAT math section has the full breakdown.
Algebra and Advanced Math together are roughly 70% of the test. If your sorting showed topics missed in both those areas and in geometry, start with the algebra. Then move to Advanced Math, which builds on it. A student who is solid on linear equations, systems and quadratics has most of the test covered.
Desmos is built into the digital SAT for every math question, and many students only use it as a calculator. Systems of equations, the number of solutions of a quadratic, and the vertex of a parabola can all be read straight off a graph in seconds. Learning a handful of these moves is quick and saves real time. How to use Desmos on the SAT covers the most useful one.
Some topics show up once on a test, or not at all. If you have two weeks left and haven't fixed your basics, they are not where your time should go. Come back to them when the earlier steps are done.
Careless slips, the first pile, get fixed differently. Work every problem on paper, and re-read the question before you choose an answer. That costs a few seconds, and most students have time to spare. On our own practice tests, students scoring above 700 finish with minutes left over. I wrote about that in SAT math timing.
Sorting a test by hand takes an evening, and it is easy to call a missing basic a careless slip. On freepracticeSAT.com every question and every wrong answer choice is linked to the mistake or the missing basic behind it, so a free full test does the sorting for you. If you want the next step done too, the \$29 plan turns that list into a schedule up to your test date, in the order above. You can see a sample plan before you decide.
If your score has stopped moving no matter how much you practice, my SAT math score is stuck is the place to read next.
Good luck,
Dr. Brink
Ph.D., 32 years teaching math
Start with step 1. A full SAT math practice test, free, with the sorting done for you.
Take a free practice testSide-by-side looks at other SAT math tools, with prices checked on their own websites. Each one says where the other option is the better choice.