Where you should focus depends on how much time you have and where you're starting from. Here's the advice I give students in four common situations. Each plan leans on the free interactive lessons in this course, plus practice in the College Board's Bluebook app.
“I'm a complete beginner with a few months to prepare.”
- Take a practice test in the Bluebook app.
- Build a study plan based on your results.
- Plan for 30 minutes to 1 hour of practice each day, using this course and other SAT resources.
- Make flashcards to reinforce concepts.
- Take additional Bluebook tests to track improvements.
“I'm a complete beginner, and the test is just a week away.”
“I struggle with time management on the SAT.”
- Try speed drills where you solve questions in under 50 seconds.
- Skip and return—if a question takes too long, move on and come back later.
- Follow process of elimination—many questions are faster to solve by spotting errors than by reading everything carefully.
- Focus on high-yield grammar rules (Lessons 4–11) to build automatic pattern recognition.
“I want a perfect SAT Writing score (or as close as possible).”
- Commit to mastering every writing, grammar, and punctuation question type (Lessons 1–20).
- Carefully review any question you miss, making sure you understand why the incorrect answers are wrong and the correct answer is right.
- Follow strict timing—about 40 seconds per question—and push for near-flawless accuracy.
Start studying now
Every rule on the Digital SAT Writing section, taught interactively with Bluebook-style practice — free.
Get started → Work with Matthew