Are you looking to start your SAT prep but not sure how to begin?
We’ve come up with an 8-week study plan so you can do your best on the SAT! This is a general guideline so you can cover all the bases in 8 weeks. We recommend about 5-12 hours a week for studying, depending on your schedule.
Week 1
This week is all about making sure you have some basic test prep skills under your belt. The best way to gain these skills is to go to our youtube channel and go through some of our SAT tips videos.
Also in week 1, you should take a diagnostic SAT or PSAT so you have a baseline score. You can find these tests here!
Week 2
Take your diagnostic SAT or PSAT you completed last week and break it down. Find out what questions you missed and why. Focus especially on questions you missed in the math and writing and language sections. Do you not know your exponent rules? Are you misplacing commas? Make a list of the types of questions you were missing. With that list, each ongoing week you’ll want to go through the list and learn the content you didn’t know.
In addition, gather the materials you need to study for the SAT. This may be paid online resources, such as our SAT prep course, or free resources such as Khan Academy. These may also be physical resources such as SAT prep books.
For explanations for PSAT Practice Test 1 click here
Week 3
Continue going through the list you made in week 2 and practicing those content questions.
Week 3 we’re going to begin focusing on the reading section. This section is different from the other two because it’s not content-based; you can’t just memorize exponent or comma rules. Perfecting this section is about habit-building more than memorization. Watch all there reading tips videos you can find (we have some on our channel). Then try completing a reading section untimed so you can learn how the section works and focus on getting every question correct.
This is also the week to program your calculator. If you don’t know how to do this, you can check out our blog post on it here!
Week 4
Now that you’re about a month into your studying, it’s time to take another full SAT test to check your progress. If you find that you’re still guessing on a lot of questions, do this test untimed. After you finish the full test, review it, and go over the questions you missed. If you missed any content questions, add them to your math and writing and language question list (you should be continuing to work on this list every week!).
Week 5
Get a watch because it’s pacing week! This week is all about time management. Look up pacing strategies online and practice doing each section timed.
You should also finish out the content list you created back in week 2.
Week 6 and 7
Practice makes permanent! It’s time to take lots of practice tests to seal in all the information you’ve learned. Each test should be timed and you should be using a bubble sheet and real testing conditions.
Every time you finish a test, look over what you’re still getting wrong and need to work on. Review the content you are missing.
Week 8
It’s the final stretch! Which means it’s time for super review. Take every test you’ve done in the past 8 weeks and look over the mistakes you’ve made in each one. Think about how you can prevent doing them on the real exam. Brush up on any outstanding math and grammar elements you’re unsure of.
Finally, take one more practice exam. You should feel confident at this point about taking your real exam soon.
You’re Ready!
Now that you’ve successfully completed our 8-week SAT plan, you’re ready to crush your SAT!
