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SAT Study Planning
Why listen to us? We've been doing this for nearly 20 years, and our successes and failures with students have taught us what works and what doesn't work.
Also, our plan is based on official SAT material and only uses workbooks and apps written by veteran SAT tutors. It won't make you waste time with unrealistic big test-prep company questions, and you won't need to sign up for an expensive SAT course to use it.
Who this plan is for
This plan is for a student who has about 10 weeks until a digital SAT and can study most weekdays: 15 minutes of reading and an hour of Mathchops a day, plus that week's book chapters. If you have more time than that, or less, skip down to "Short on time (or have extra)?" below.
Here's what you're studying for. The SAT has two sections: Reading and Writing (64 minutes, 54 questions) and Math (70 minutes, 44 questions), with a 10-minute break in between. That's 2 hours and 14 minutes of testing.
Each section is split into two modules. How you do on the first module decides whether the second one is easier or harder. There's no essay.
You take it in the Bluebook app, which has a Desmos graphing calculator built in. You can use it on the whole Math section, so practice with it now instead of discovering it on test day.
Best SAT Books For 2026
Note: We know it would be great if you just needed to buy one SAT book. But if you're serious about improving, you'll want to use a few different resources.
College Board's Bluebook app (#1 for practice tests)
Since the SAT is now digital, you'll definitely want to practice with the same software you'll be using on test day. The College Board has an app, called Bluebook, that you can download to use to take practice tests. The more realistic tests are #5 and 6.
Before your first test, open Test Preview in Bluebook and spend 15 minutes on the tools: the highlighter, the answer eliminator, the review flag, and Desmos. After each test, your scores show up in My Practice, where you can go back through every question. That's where your Sunday corrections happen.
The Complete Guide to SAT Reading (#1 for the Reading section)
Why buy: Erica Meltzer's SAT Reading book is the premier resource for this part of the test, and no one explains SAT Reading as well as she does. It's robust, but approachable (I feel like I'm describing a wine).
The Ultimate Guide to SAT Grammar (#1 for grammar questions in Reading and Writing)
Why buy: Erica's coverage of grammar and usage rules is far superior to that of any other company we've seen, and her practice questions are extremely realistic.
Mathchops (#1 for math practice)
Mathchops is an amazing app that will allow you to drill realistic SAT questions in an easy to use app. It's so good that we use it with all our private tutoring students. NEW: Mathchops now has grammar: Grammar Chops.
NOTE: If you need to either brush up on or learn math concepts, 1600.io and Ela Sharma's guides are both great to teach concepts. I suggest completing either of those resources BEFORE starting this plan, if possible.
Vince Kotchian Test Prep's 10-week SAT study plan
Estimated time: 75 minutes or more per weekday, Monday through Friday: 15 minutes of reading and an hour of Mathchops, plus that week's book chapters. There are eight practice tests scheduled (on Saturdays), and students should review and correct those tests the day after they take them.
Daily to-dos
- Read for 15 minutes using aldaily.com (look up words you don’t know)
- Use Mathchops for 60 minutes
- Study our SAT words of the day page to learn SAT vocabulary.
Week 1 (finish all tasks by the end of the week)
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Read pages 1 - 42 in The Complete Guide to SAT Reading
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Read the intro and Ch. 1 and 2 in The Ultimate Guide to SAT Grammar and do all exercises
Week 2
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Read pg. 43 - 76 in The Complete Guide to SAT Reading and do all exercises
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Read Ch. 3 and 4 in The Ultimate Guide to SAT Grammar and do all exercises
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Saturday: take a Bluebook practice test and correct your mistakes on Sunday.
Week 3
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Read pg. 77 - 114 in The Complete Guide to SAT Reading and do all exercises
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Read Ch. 5 and 6 in The Ultimate Guide to SAT Grammar and do all exercises
Week 4
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Read pg. 115 -155 in The Complete Guide to SAT Reading and do all exercises
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Read Ch. 7 and 8 in The Ultimate Guide to SAT Grammar and do all exercises
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Saturday: take a Bluebook practice test and correct your mistakes on Sunday.
Week 5
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Read pg. 156 - 200 in The Complete Guide to SAT Reading and do all exercises
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Read Ch. 9 and 10 in the Ultimate Guide to SAT Grammar and do all exercises
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take a Bluebook practice test
Week 6
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Read pg. 201 - 252 in the Complete Guide to SAT Reading and do all exercises
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Read Ch. 11 and 12 in the Ultimate Guide to SAT Grammar and do all exercises
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take a Bluebook practice test
Week 7
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Read pg. 253 - 299 in The Complete Guide to SAT Reading and do all exercises
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Read Ch. 13 and 14 in the Ultimate Guide to SAT Grammar and do all exercises
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Saturday: take a Bluebook practice test and correct your mistakes on Sunday.
Week 8
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Read pg. 300 - 321 in The Complete Guide to SAT Reading and do all exercises
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Read Ch. 15 and 16 in the Ultimate Guide to SAT Grammar and do all exercises
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Saturday: take a Bluebook practice test and correct your mistakes on Sunday.
Week 9
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Read Ch. 17 and 18 in the Ultimate Guide to SAT Grammar and do all exercises
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Saturday: take a Bluebook practice test and correct your mistakes on Sunday.
Week 10
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Read Ch. 19 and 20 in The Ultimate Guide to SAT Grammar and do all exercises.
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Saturday: take a Bluebook practice test and correct your mistakes on Sunday.
How to correct a practice test
Taking a practice test mostly tells you what you already know. Correcting it is how you learn something, so don't skip Sunday.
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Open the test in My Practice and go through every question you missed or guessed on. A lucky guess counts as a miss.
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Before you read the explanation, try the question again with no clock. If you get it now, your problem was time or carelessness. If you still can't, it's a skill you haven't learned yet.
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Write down the skill the question tested, like "systems of equations" or "transitions." That label will mean something to you in two weeks. "Question 14" won't.
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Look for repeats. If the same three or four skills keep showing up, that's what the next week is for: extra Mathchops time for math, the matching chapter in Erica's books for Reading and Writing. The College Board's Student Question Bank also lets you pull official questions by skill and difficulty, so you can drill whatever keeps showing up.
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A week or two later, redo those questions cold. If you still can't get one, you haven't learned it yet, and it goes back on the list.
Short on time (or have extra)?
If your test is closer than 10 weeks, don't try to cram all ten weeks in. Keep the daily to-dos and let your first practice test decide what else you do.
About 6 weeks: Take a Bluebook test this Saturday and correct it Sunday. Then work through the Reading and grammar assignments in order, but skip any grammar chapter on a skill you didn't miss. Keep taking a test on Saturdays and correcting it on Sundays.
2 to 3 weeks: Skip the books. Take one Bluebook test, correct it the way I describe above, and spend every remaining day on the skills it exposed, using Mathchops and the Student Question Bank. Take one more full test about a week before the real one, and learn Desmos in Test Preview if you haven't.
More than 10 weeks: Work through 1600.io or Ela Sharma's book first, like the note above says, then start Week 1.
SAT study plan FAQ
How many hours a day should I study for the SAT?
On this plan, 75 minutes or more on weekdays (15 minutes of reading and an hour of Mathchops), plus that week's book chapters and a practice test most Saturdays. More hours won't help much if you aren't correcting your mistakes. If that isn't realistic, start earlier and stretch the plan over more weeks.
Is this plan for the digital SAT?
Yes. Every practice test is in Bluebook, the same app you'll use on test day, and the books cover the current Reading and Writing section.
How many practice tests should I take?
Eight over ten weeks, on Saturdays, each one corrected the next day. A test you don't correct mostly gets you the same score again, so the Sunday review matters as much as the test.
What if math is my weak spot?
Learn the concepts before you start drilling. 1600.io and Ela Sharma's book both teach them well, and Mathchops gives you the daily practice once you know them.
Can I get a personalized SAT study plan?
Yes, that's what our one-on-one tutoring is. Blake starts with your baseline scores, turns your goal into a realistic weekly plan, and uses your missed questions to set the next week's work. He meets students at our Carmel Valley office or on Zoom. Here's how Digital SAT tutoring works.
The two main ways we can help you with SAT / ACT prep are HERE. Blake meets students in person at our Carmel Valley office in San Diego.