Ultimate SAT Study Guide

Everything you need to ace the SAT, completely free

Master the SAT Without Breaking the Bank

This comprehensive guide contains all the resources and strategies you need to achieve your target score.

Free Resources $0

Everything in this section costs literally $0. As long as you can make an account, everything here is accessible to anyone with access to the internet.

Practice Questions

  • Queue Bank (use non-active questions only)
  • Khan Academy
  • Miyagi Labs (very powerful)

Video Lessons

  • Khan Academy

Practice Tests

  • Blue Book (Official College Board - only 10, so use wisely)
  • Princeton Review (Get at least 1 for free when you sign up)
  • Miyagi Labs

Paid Resources

Some can be pirated for free, but we recommend supporting the authors if possible.

Recommended Books

  • Princeton Review
  • Erica Meltzer (We HIGHLY suggest for Reading & Writing)
  • Kaplan

Example Study Plan

1

Schedule Your Test

Find a high school nearby and schedule your test date.

  • Trust me, you do not want to be driving 1 hour or more to your exam Saturday morning
  • Try to find somewhere close by and at a good date
2

Start 3 Months Before

Begin studying around 3 months before your actual test.

  • This differs person-to-person and how much effort you put in per day
  • 3 months gives you plenty of time to improve significantly
3

Take a Diagnostic Test

The very first thing to do is take a full, timed, no-help practice test on Blue Book.

  • This step is CRITICAL - everyone is different but here you get a benchmark/starting point
  • Don't worry if your first practice test isn't great
  • If you don't know what you need to learn, how are you going to study?
  • Examine the results - not so much the score, but your strengths and weaknesses
  • Look at Reading & Writing vs. Math, and specific subjects within each (grammar, geometry, etc.)
4

Drill Your Weaknesses

Start drilling the types of questions you got wrong using books (ex: Erica Meltzer for grammar) or Khan Academy/Miyagi Labs.

  • The best way to improve your score is working on your weaknesses
  • Target specific question types: graphing or trigonometry for Math, summary or rhetorical analysis for R&W
A NOTE ON VOCABULARY PROBLEMS:

This is the one section that almost everyone says you can't study for, and we agree. Unless you start studying vocab at least 6 months before or read consistently for a year, vocabulary is partially out of your control. If you're getting more than 3-5 vocab questions wrong, try using SAT Vocab lists online with Quizlet.

5

Take Regular Practice Tests

Every 2-3 weeks, take another full practice test to track your progress.

  • This helps you see if your studying is working
  • Adjust your study plan based on results
  • Don't waste all 10 Blue Book tests - save some for closer to test day
6

Review and Repeat

Continue the cycle: practice, review mistakes, drill weaknesses, test again.

  • Focus on understanding WHY you got questions wrong
  • Learn the patterns in SAT questions
  • Stay consistent with your study schedule

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