if you’re reading this post, chances are you have at least three months until you take the sat. this is great news! three months is a perfect amount of time to spend prepping for the sat: you have just enough time to become an expert on the test and keep your grades up if you manage your time well.
the downside of having a lot of time to study is that it can be tough to stay consistently focused on your sat prep. the best way to stay on track is with a schedule, and since you’re here, i think we can safely say that you have exactly what you need to ace the test! that is, you will have everything you need once you get acquainted with the study materials. that’s where we come in!
the sat isn’t just about taking a lot of practice tests; you’ll need to learn lots of fundamentals, from math to reading. with that in mind, we’ve devised an sat study schedule that will help you not only become a better test taker, but transform you into someone who’s far more skilled at reading and math. after all, the new test is designed to measure how much high school math you remember and how well you can handle a wealth of ideas packed into a 700-word passage.
ready to study? let’s get started!
(oops, you procrastinated, you say? never fear, we have a one–month sat study schedule too!)
table of contents
how this sat study plan is organized
this plan is broken up on a weekly basis. the intention is not for you to knock everything out in one sitting. rather, you should spread the prep out over the week, studying in 45- to 90-minute chunks. some weeks are lighter than others, but as the test approaches, we’ve ramped up the study sessions. in the beginning, you might only be spending 4-5 hours per week on the study schedule; as the test nears you might be spending more like 8 hours per week.
you should not feel that you always have to study math and verbal separately. in fact, it is advantageous to make sure that some study sessions contains a mixture of the two, since it is good to get in the habit of having your brain switch back and forth between math and verbal, the way it will on the real test. so while the plan breaks up math and verbal into separate sections, this is just to help you keep your schedule organized.
the sat study plan is broken up between “review” and “practice.” don’t feel your study sessions should be broken up this way either. you’ll want to do a little review and then a little practice. that practice doesn’t always have to relate directly to what you’ve just reviewed — that’s why we’ve assigned magoosh prep questions at random. otherwise, you’ll always be too comfortable because you know which concept each question is testing (i.e., the concept you’ve just drilled). with random questions, you’ll be ready for whatever the test throws at you.
magoosh has many, many lesson videos…so not all of them were included. what we’re trying to do is to include math that is more on the advanced side, and (of course) aligned with what the sat is testing. the videos we didn’t include were the ones that tested more basic concepts (roots, integer properties, percents and ratios, etc.). these concepts will definitely be tested. in fact, they’ll be all over the math section. so if you need a refresher or your math is a little shaky, weave these basic lessons into the study schedule. to make sure your fundamentals are strong from the get go, you’ll want to cover these videos in the first couple of weeks.
one last thing: if you can’t finish everything in the first week, don’t despair. you can move on to the following week without having to complete all the work. i’ve arranged the weeks so that they focus on one area. i try to give you as much practice as i think is helpful in a one-week period. falling a bit short won’t hurt you. in fact, you can always revisit previous weeks later on — a good way of reviewing.
materials & resources
magoosh sat prep
that’s us! our sat prep includes lessons and questions that you will work through, thereby increasing your sat efficiency.
you can also study with us on your phone. our sat test prep app makes studying on the go easy for both iphone and android users.
magoosh high school blog
an invaluable (and free!) resource. if you want extra help on a section or general advice, you can search for posts relating to the sat. this section of the blog is completely dedicated to up-to-date information on the sat.
**the official sat study guide (2020 edition) – og, or official guide, will be the shorthand used in this schedule
isbn-13: 978-1457304309
isbn-10: 1457304309
this is the sat bible–questions created by the writers of the test (the college board). you’ll have plenty of practice tests and content to give you a sense of the actual difficulty and complexity of the test (it’s more difficult than the content found in most other books). find it on amazon or check out the kindle version.
important note: you may use other editions of the official guide, just make sure the title of the chapter matches the instructions given.
here is a direct link to the free practice tests if you don’t want to use the book. you can print the pdf’s.
we also have official sat study guide video explanations to the college board questions. check them out!
magoosh sat ebook: complete guide to the sat (free download)
an overview of the sat with many helpful examples, the free complete guide to the sat ebook is a great resource for understanding how the test is designed, and the fundamentals you’ll need to know to answer questions.
official sat practice by college board + khan academy
this is a free resource offered in conjunction with the college board, which is the company that designs the sat. perhaps the best part of the college board/khan academy partnership is that it brings us practice materials that are completely free. these free materials include the same practice tests offered in the official sat study guide. really, the only new things you are paying for when you purchase the the official sat study guide are the explanations that come in the back of the book (which aren’t that great anyhow).
supplemental reading
as we mentioned, doing well on the sat isn’t just about cracking open an sat prep book and practicing. you’ll also want to do a lot of extra reading. as part of your sat study plan, you should expose yourself to the types of ideas and syntax that might appear in an sat article.
the following articles come from the new yorker and the new york times. the articles below give you a taste for the length and tone of the pieces you should be reading. it is best to stick with the science & tech and business sections of the new yorker since they best mirror the kinds of passages that you’ll see on the test.
for the first few weeks of the 3 month sat study schedule, we’ve provided you with enough reading. but after that, you’ll have to hunt the passages down yourself. if you have access to them, read articles in reputable newspapers (online is fine), if you have access to them. the journal directories linked below also have a variety of open-source articles you can use as study tools.
open source directories and journals
- humanities: continent
- education & society: journal of educational technology & society
specific articles
- science: ibm scientists find new way to shrink transistors
- science: crows may learn lessons from death
- science: testing neurons with ultrasound
- business: college rankings fail to measure the influence of the institution
one other resource is the electric typewriter. this website has pooled excellent writing from many sources (including the two above) and broken them down into easy to navigate categories. if you are struggling to find reading from the new yorker or the new york times, i highly recommend this website. here are some articles that might be interesting:
when you read these articles, you should be in a quiet place, and you shouldn’t just skim while doing this practice (in contrast, you do want to skim when you read during the actual sat, which is a technique you’ll learn more about in our lessons). instead, force yourself to focus, read, and then come up with a quick mental summary of each piece, something along the lines of:
the article talks about the power of ancient tsunamis to dramatically alter the landscape but that scientists can’t determine if these big waves have global implications, the way volcanos or global warming does.
if you struggle to come up with a mental summary, write or type a quick one using this template:
the article talks about ____________, and specifically how ___________________ a question or dilemma raised in this article is ___________________. the author seems to believe that ___________________.
your weekly three month sat study schedule
a quick note: to make this plan as easy as possible to navigate, we have hidden the content of each day, so that you can see it when you’re ready for it. just click on a given day to see the corresponding tasks and click the heading again to hide them when you’re done!
week 1
math
- math review
- magoosh lessons
- watch algebra, equations, and inequalities lessons (up to “factoring – combined”)
- magoosh lessons
- math practice
- magoosh
- do 10 random practice questions from the math page. you can set up your filters like this:
- do 10 random practice questions from the math page. you can set up your filters like this:
- magoosh
verbal
- verbal review
- magoosh lessons
- watch any four lessons from the first half of the reading lessons. we suggest watching “active reading.”
- watch at least one writing lessons on sentence structure. we recommend “intro to sentence structure.”
- magoosh lessons
- verbal practice
- magoosh
- go to the reading page and complete questions from any one reading passage (set “one task” in the filters).
- go to the writing page and choose “custom practice mode” and complete questions from any one writing passage (set “one tasks” in the filters).
- magoosh
supplemental reading
week 2
math
- math review
- magoosh lessons
- watch five lessons of your choice from the algebra, equations, and inequalities lessons. skip the videos containing material you are already familiar with.
- magoosh lessons
- math practice
- magoosh
- do 10 random practice questions. reach out to our help team if you don’t understand something. the help button is displayed on all pages in your course.
- magoosh
verbal
- verbal review
- magoosh lessons
- finish watching the writing videos (from the usage lesson to the effective language use lesson)
- magoosh lessons
- verbal practice
- magoosh
- complete questions from any two writing passages (22 questions total or 2 tasks).
- complete questions from any two reading passages (20-22 questions total or 2 tasks).
- watch four lessons from the second half of the reading lessons.
- magoosh
supplemental reading
week 3
math
- “passport to advanced math” review
- magoosh lessons
- passport to advanced math – trigonometry (choose the 3 lessons you most need review on)
- passport to advanced math – extra topics (suggested topics below)
- factor theorem
- graphs of polynomials
- transformations of functions
- magoosh lessons
- math practice
- magoosh
- do 10 random practice questions
- magoosh
verbal
- verbal practice
- magoosh
- choose “practice mode” and complete questions from one writing passage.
- choose “practice mode” and complete questions from one reading passage.
- re-watch any of the writing or reading lesson videos, if necessary.
- magoosh
supplemental reading
choose three medium-length articles or one long article (you can break this up over 2-3 sittings) from the sources at the beginning of the sat study schedule.
week 4
math
- “passport to advanced math” review
- magoosh lessons
- intro to complex numbers
- arithmetic with complex numbers
- magoosh lessons
- math practice
- magoosh
- do 30 random practice questions in the “calculator” section.
- magoosh
verbal
supplemental reading
choose three medium-length articles or one long article (you can break this up over 2-3 sittings) from the sources at the beginning of the study schedule.
week 5
up until now, you’ve cut your teeth on practice content and haven’t touched any college board stuff in this sat study plan. there simply isn’t that much content from the college board, so you want to use it wisely.
the hope is you’ve gotten yourself up to the level where you are ready for the stuff the college board is going to throw at you on test day. there is only one way to find out!
practice test #1 from official guide
the college board test #1 is in the official guide and also available online for free here and here.
- time yourself.
- since this is your first full-length practice test, you don’t have to do the entire test in one sitting, though that would be ideal.
- when you are done, make sure to follow the how to review an sat practice test video guide.
- once you’ve assessed your weaknesses, go back over the material you’ve covered so far. for instance, you might want to revisit certain magoosh videos or lessons covered in the other book.
- since you still haven’t covered every topic on the test, feel free to bounce around the magoosh lessons, choosing the ones that address topics we’ve yet to cover. for instance, scatterplots and other graphs have yet to be covered. if you missed one of those questions on the practice test, you could go to the relevant magoosh lesson to learn more about them.
- the entire process should take about 8-10 hours. (weekend fun, anyone?)
week 6
math & verbal
- math review
- magoosh lessons
- passport to advanced math – extra topics (suggested topics below)
- formal logic
- quadratic formula
- functions with discontinuities
- passport to advanced math – extra topics (suggested topics below)
- word problems
- writing equations
- backsolving
- magoosh lessons
- math practice
- magoosh
- do 15 random practice questions. randomized practice is becoming increasingly important in this sat study plan, since you’ll be taking more practice tests and the order of math subtopics on the test is somewhat randomized. the order isn’t completely randomized; you’ll notice that easy questions are near the beginning of the section and harder questions appear towards the end.
- magoosh
supplemental reading
choose three medium-length articles or one long article (you can break this up over 2-3 sittings) from the sources at the beginning of the sat study schedule.
week 7
practice test #2 from official guide
the college board test #1 is in the official guide and also available online for free here and here.
follow the same format as week 5. assuming you have a better sense of the format, and therefore that the whole process won’t take as long, here are some magoosh videos to watch:
- geometry (choose three of the first five videos, up to “right triangles.” choose lessons you most need to review.)
- coordinate geometry (watch at least two of the first four videos, up to “slope”). remember, if the topics are familiar, you can speed through the video.
no supplemental reading
week 8
math
- math review
- magoosh lessons
- watch at least four more lessons from the geometry section.
- magoosh lessons
- math practice
- magoosh
- do 15 random practice questions.
- magoosh
if you didn’t have time to review all of your questions from your last practice test, use today to catch up!
no supplemental reading
week 9
practice test #3 from official guide
the college board test #3 is in the official guide and also available online for free here and here.
follow the same format as weeks 5 and 7. assuming you have a better sense of the format, and therefore that the whole process won’t take as long, here are some recommendations:
- coordinate geometry lessons (next four videos, up to “distance between two points”)
- statistics lessons
supplemental reading
use however much time you have left to read articles (two suggested).
week 10
math
- math practice
- magoosh
- do 20 random no-calculator practice questions.
- magoosh
supplemental reading
read three articles.
this is a light week. so go back and review any of the concepts that you still feel shaky on. if there was one week in which you weren’t able to cover everything, now is a good opportunity to go back and complete what you can.
week 11
practice test #4 from official guide
the college board test #4 is in the official guide and also available online for free here and here.
mixed practice
- the official sat study guide (aka the college board book)
- the first half of this book, before the practice tests, contains practice problems and explanations.
- based on your weaknesses, choose a part to focus on. for instance, if you’ve struggled in reading, do the practice questions that relate to reading. if you’ve struggled with math, focus on the math questions. read the explanations once you’ve thought through your wrong answers.
- don’t read the text not related to the questions. much of this is basic strategy that the magoosh videos (and some of the books) do a better job of explaining.
- the first half of this book, before the practice tests, contains practice problems and explanations.
supplemental reading
read three medium-length pieces or one long piece.
week 12
practice test #5 from official guide
the college board test #4 is in the official guide and also available online for free here and here.
follow the same format as previous weeks.
assuming you have a better sense of the format, and therefore that the whole process won’t take as long, you can use the remaining time to go back and review any of the concepts that you still feel shaky on. if there was one week in which you weren’t able to cover everything, now is a good opportunity to go back and complete what you can. you can also spend however much time you have left reading articles (two suggested).
the day before your sat
- no studying!
- eat well and go to sleep early.
test day
- no studying!
- eat a full breakfast before leaving home.
- read our sat test day checklist.
- remember to pack:
- several #2 pencils (no mechanical pencils & no pens!)
- your calculator
- a drink and a healthy-but-sugary snack that also contains protein. dried fruit and nuts, or crackers and cheese with juice, are both good options.
- no phones allowed!!
conclusion
congratulations, you made it!
now it’s time for a well deserved break…but don’t forget to come back here when you get your scores, and let us know how all your hard work paid off! 🙂
all magoosh sat prep plans are digital sat ready! start studying today.
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