Fiveable SAT Math: Tips and Tricks

📢 SAT Math: Tips and Tricks

The SAT Math test consists of 58 questions divided into two sections:

• ✍🏼 Section 3 of the SAT: 20 questions, non-calculator, in 25 minutes.
• 🧮 Section 4 of the SAT: 38 questions with a calculator in 55 minutes.

The test goes by fast, so staying calm and working efficiently matters. Here are five strategies to keep in mind as you work through the math sections.

5️⃣ Major SAT Math Strategies

Here's a quick run-down of the 5 major strategies:

1. 🔚 The End: Make sure to answer what the question is actually asking.
2. 🔌 The Plug: Substitute real numbers for variables and check against the answer choices.
3. ⬇️ Break it Down: Solve pieces of a complex problem independently, then combine them.
4. 👉👈 Close Enough: Eliminate answers that are clearly too big or too small before solving.
5. 📲 Calculate: Only reach for your calculator when you genuinely need it for complex arithmetic.

Now let's go through each one with practice questions.

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🧰 SAT Math Strategy Toolbox

🔚 The End

This strategy forces you to slow down and confirm you're solving for the right thing. It sounds obvious, but rushing through a problem and solving for the wrong variable is one of the most common ways students lose points on questions they actually know how to do.

Courtesy of SAT Practice Test 9 - Section 3 - NO CALCULATOR

Say you got an answer of 0.5, which is the correct value for $x$. So why did you get it wrong? You didn't use 🔚 The End.

The question asked for the value of $2x + 1$, not just $x$. If you'd read the full question first, you'd have seen that the correct answer is $2(0.5) + 1 = 2$, not 0.5.

Use 🔚 The End so you don't lose points on questions you actually know how to solve.

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🔌 The Plug

This strategy has two applications, making it one of the most versatile tools for the math section. We'll call them The OG Plug and The Plug 5.0.

The OG Plug

This works especially well on problems with multiple variables or abstract expressions that are hard to simplify algebraically. Here's an example:

Image Courtesy of SAT Practice Test 1 - Section 3 - NO CALCULATOR

Trying to solve this algebraically means dealing with fractions and double variables, which gets messy fast. Here's how 🔌 The OG Plug simplifies things:

1. The problem says $x > 3$, so pick an easy value. Let's use $x = 4$.
2. Plug $x = 4$ into the original expression. You get $42/13$.
3. Now plug $x = 4$ into each answer choice and see which one also gives you $42/13$.

Answer B gives $42/13$, which matches our result. That's the correct answer. You could also solve this algebraically by adding fractions and simplifying, but plugging in is often faster and less error-prone.

The Plug 5.0

This is the reverse of The OG Plug. Instead of choosing your own numbers, you test the answers the SAT gives you.

Image Courtesy of SAT Practice Test 1 - Section 3 - NO CALCULATOR

Solving this system with elimination or substitution can involve big numbers and lots of algebra. With 🔌 The Plug 5.0, you just test the answer choices directly.

1. Take the ordered pair from an answer choice and plug it into both equations.
2. If it satisfies both equations, that's your answer. If not, try the next choice.

Let's start with choice B, $(3, -8)$, in the second equation:

That checks out. Now verify with the first equation:

Also true. Answer Choice B is correct, and you didn't need any algebra to get there.

Tip: If you're not sure which answer to try first, start with B or C. They're in the middle of the range, and if the result is too high or too low, you'll know which direction to go.

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⬇️ Break it Down

This strategy helps you tackle complex questions by solving smaller pieces independently, then combining them. It's especially useful for problems involving:

• Multiple variables
• Fractions
• Percentages
• Ratios

Here's an example:

Image Courtesy of SAT Practice Test 1 - Section 4 - CALCULATOR

Start by identifying what you know:

• $p$ = new (final) price
• There was a 20% discount applied
• There was an 8% sales tax applied
• Let $o$ = original price

Now ⬇️ Break it Down step by step:

1. A 20% discount means you pay 80% of the original price, so after the discount: $0.8 \times o$
2. An 8% sales tax means you add 8% on top, so after tax: $p = 1.08 \times 0.8 \times o$
3. The question asks for the original price in terms of $p$, so solve for $o$ by dividing both sides by $(1.08 \times 0.8)$:

$o = \frac{p}{0.8 \times 1.08}$

That matches answer choice D. Mark it and move on.

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👉👈 Close Enough

This strategy is a huge time-saver. Instead of solving the entire problem from scratch, you use estimation and common sense to eliminate answer choices that can't possibly be right.

This works especially well on multi-step problems where full calculations take a long time. Here's an example:

Image Courtesy of PSAT Practice Test 2 - Section 4 - CALCULATOR

Whenever you have a problem involving an equation with an ordered pair but no graph, sketch a quick graph. It doesn't need to be perfect.

🎨 Sketch it Out: Self-Created; Your drawing doesn't have to be perfect to get the idea.

Now use 👉👈 Close Enough:

1. From the sketch, the line has a positive slope, meaning it increases as you move right and decreases as you move left.
2. The y-intercept (where the line crosses the y-axis) will be lower-left of your given point, but since we're tracing backward along a steep positive slope, the y-intercept is actually higher than you might expect only if... let's think about this differently: with a slope of $5/1$, for every 1 unit you move left on the x-axis, y drops by 5. So the y-intercept depends on where your point is.
3. You can immediately eliminate choices A and B since those values are too low.
4. The slope is $5/1$, meaning y changes by 5 for every 1 unit change in x. That steep rise means the y-intercept will be at the highest remaining value: D, 11.

Mark it and move on.

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📲 Calculate

This is less of a strategy and more of a general tip for Section 4 (the calculator section).

Just because you can use a calculator on every problem in Section 4 doesn't mean you should. Many questions are faster to solve mentally or on paper. The calculator becomes essential when you're dealing with things like $1463 \times 17$ or messy decimals.

Know your own strengths before test day. Practice some problems with and without a calculator so you have a feel for when reaching for it actually saves time versus slows you down.

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💫 Closing

These five strategies cover the most common situations where students lose time or make avoidable mistakes on SAT Math. Practice using them on timed practice tests so they become second nature by test day.