The math section of the SAT can be one of the trickiest sections to manage successfully, and the high percentage of student scores below 500 proves it.
Why is it so hard? For starters, the Math section of the SAT assesses everything you have learned in your high school math classes: basic to advanced algebra, geometry, and even data analysis. That is a lot to remember, especially if you are like me, who preferred to forget all about geometry as soon as it was over because, well—geometry!
The other tricky part is that, just like the rest of the SAT, the two math sections are timed. Yes, maybe you do know how to solve for a, b, and c, but it is going to take you five minutes. Unfortunately, you probably do not have five minutes to spare on the Math section; after all, you have 57 other questions to answer!
So, unless you are some super-smart math whiz kid (and if you were, why would you be reading this?), this Math section is simply just hard! SO, how do you go about scoring higher?
It is going to take time and self-discipline on your part to improve those scores, but at the end of it, you will be able to show universities that you are ready for college-level math and be more likely to be accepted into your preferred schools!
There are several strategies you can follow, though, to make the most efficient use of your time.
#1 It is all about the numbers (and not just because this is the Math Section)
You may already know this, but the SAT is a multiple-choice test. There are 58 questions between the Calculator and No-Calculator portions of the Math Section. Your raw score (the number of questions you answered correctly) is turned into a scaled score in the 200-800 range. Your score reports from previous SATs will tell you exactly how many questions you answered correctly or not. From there, you can determine just how many more you need to get correct to get a 600.
Let’s pretend on your last SAT you answered 26 questions correctly for a scaled score of 500.
On your next SAT exam, you want that 600. According to the chart, you will need to answer about 13 more questions correctly. That may sound like a lot, but think about it this way: you do not need to answer 19 questions correctly. That’s about 30% of the entire Math section, which provides you with a lot of wiggle room to skip and guess on harder questions while focusing on easier questions, saving you time to ensure that you get those easier questions right!
Furthermore, if you are simply guessing on those harder questions, you are going to get about a quarter of them correct because that is the beauty of multiple-choice tests. Those extra four or five right answers allow you even more wiggle room, just in case you make a mistake on the questions you are answering.
Knowing this should decrease your stress over the Math section by a lot, and you did not even have to learn any math formulas! Furthermore, the questions in the Math section are in order of difficulty–easy, medium, hard–so with some practice you will be able to identify those more difficult questions and know to just guess on them and move along.
#2 Know thyself (mathematically speaking)
In my opinion, the Math section is one of the more difficult sections because unlike Reading–which mostly assesses the same skills you have been practicing for all of high school–SAT Math requires you to know A LOT of content from a variety of different types of math. It’s algebra and geometry and data analysis and trigonometry. That is A LOT of math.
However, I have two pieces of good news for you. First, you are good at something in math (I can solve for x, y, and z all day) and less good at others (let’s not talk about geometry problems, okay?). You have to find what you are good at and what you are not. Once you know your weaknesses, then practice, practice, and practice some more. Watch explainer videos; ask your math teacher for a help session and worksheets. Have your math whiz older sister walk you through problems. Find problem sets to drill to that the skill becomes second nature. After all, math is a skill, and practice makes–if not perfect–at least a lot better.
Second, not all types of math are equally tested on the SAT. The exam covers four types of math, which the College Board organizes as
- Heart of Algebra
- Problem Solving and Data Sets
- Passport to Advanced Math
- Additional Topics in Math
If you look through the topics under those categories, you will notice that some concepts, like solving linear equations or interpreting graphs, are mentioned more often than something like function notation. So if linear equations give you trouble, practice them until you can do them in your sleep and worry less about concepts that do not show up as often.
This is also where practice tests and good resources matter, but we will discuss that later.
The last part of knowing yourself when it comes to SAT math is knowing why you are making the mistakes you make. Are they careless errors from moving too quickly or not reading carefully? Is some part of the concept still fuzzy to you? Whatever it is, taking the time to identify WHY you got a question wrong will help you do better overall than almost anything else. It will provide you with the direction you need to improve your mathematical skills.
#3 This is the way. But so is that. And that.
The beauty of a multiple-choice math test means that there are several ways to approach answering a question. You will never miss a question because you did not answer it the “right” way. All that matters is that you choose the correct answer. Luckily, there are quite a few SAT math strategies out there that can help in case you get stuck on a question. There are lots of explainer videos out there with different techniques, but an easy one you may already use is plugging in the answers to find the correct choice through the process of elimination.
Finding techniques that allow you to quickly solve a problem will go a long way towards increasing your score. It is worth it to allot some of your SAT prep to learning and practicing those strategies.
#4 Time waits for no student
You have 80 minutes to answer 58 questions over the course of the Calculator and No-Calculator sections of the Math test. That breaks down to less than ninety seconds per question.
However, since you already know that you are not planning on answering the hardest questions, you are already giving yourself more time per question. Plus, once you start practicing regularly and drilling the concepts you are not great at, you will also improve your speed because you know how to approach a problem.
At the same time, you should always be monitoring how much time you spend on a problem. If you are thirty seconds to a minute in and are having trouble figuring out what to do, skip it. Go on to the next problem. Mark it so that if you have time, you can go back to it.
Just do not forget to eventually put an answer down even if you do not try to solve it before time is up. An unanswered question is definitely wrong; DO NOT leave blank bubbles on your answer sheet. Fill in something for every question no matter what!
#5 Only the best
Finally, when practicing for the SAT, use questions that actually look like what is on the real test. The best options are to use the practice tests offered by the College Board on the SAT website. After that, use Khan Academy for more practice. The College Board has partnered with them to create Official SAT Practice, so the questions they provide will be like what you see on the test.
If you are working on just learning particular concepts, it is perfectly alright to use worksheets or problem sets from your school textbooks. Just remember that those will not necessarily ask questions in the same way as the SAT, so you will want to familiarize yourself with those types of questions by taking and using the official practice tests.
It is possible to improve your math score, and the above tips will help you do it. The key is that you have to put in the work it takes to improve, so grab your pencil, and get started!
