Most students preparing for the SAT spend their study time grinding through practice problems the long way — expanding every expression, setting up every equation from scratch, and calculating when they could be estimating. That approach costs time you don't have. The Digital SAT rewards students who work smarter, not harder. Below, our lead SAT tutor Stefan Maisnier break down five algebra strategies — demonstrated in short, focused videos — that can shave seconds off every problem and add points to your score.

Strong study habits in high school pay off twice: they help you earn better grades now and make you a stronger candidate for college admission and scholarships, especially when paired with a competitive SAT score. And in addition to leading to better grades in high school and a higher SAT score, strong study habits will serve you well in college, and beyond, in whatever career you choose. In fact, some study habits can even be applied to the process of building athletic, musical, or communication skills.

If you’ve spent any time preparing for the digital SAT, you’ve noticed that there is a calculator right in the interface for the math sections. It’s tempting to use, especially if you don’t fully trust your mental math skills or you’re not completely comfortable with harder algebra and coordinate geometry questions. But should you use it? And if so, when? While calculators can sometimes be useful on the SAT and can sometimes shave a few seconds off a problem, they can also lead test takers astray. Rounding the values for 𝝅 or √2 may lead to incorrect responses, and typing numbers and operations too quickly can hide key concepts and result in careless mistakes. For tests like the SAT, where there’s no partial credit and you can’t show your work, the calculator can be both a blessing and a curse.

Over the past 8 years, as the SAT has undergone two massive updates, the ACT has generally remained static in the turning world of college admissions. Any changes to its format have been comparatively minor, making it relatively straightforward to prepare for. But, as of July 15th, 2024, the ACT has announced some fairly extensive changes that will be rolled out in 2025-26. In this article, we will summarize those changes and consider how they might impact a student’s decision to take the ACT vs. the SAT.

Two years ago, when College Board announced that the new Digital SAT would abandon dreaded long-passage reading comprehension questions in favor of a shorter, quicker, mixed verbal section, thousands of high school sophomores and juniors breathed a collective sigh of relief. Six paragraph science passages, plot-free fictional excerpts, and paired historical texts with flowery opaque language would all be retired with few lamenting their absence from the new exam. After all, these new passages were going to be easy! One and done! How could it possibly be difficult to guess the main idea of a five-line passage?