SAT preparation, taught live online
The SAT has been fully digital and section-adaptive since 2024, which changes how you prepare rather than just where you sit. The second module of each section is chosen by how you performed on the first, so pacing on early questions carries weight it never used to. Our preparation is built around that: you work in timed modules from the first week, on the same kind of interface you will meet on test day.
Exam format
What the SAT actually looks like
The structure, the timing and the scoring, stated plainly — before anything about a course.
- Length
- 2 hours 14 minutes of testing, plus a 10-minute break
- Questions
- 98 — 54 in Reading and Writing, 44 in Math
- Scored
- 400–1600, from two section scores of 200–800
- Adaptivity
- Section-adaptive: your second module is chosen by the first
Reading and Writing — two 32-minute modules, 54 questions
Short passages, one question each, grouped so that difficulty rises through the module. Four domains: information and ideas, craft and structure, expression of ideas, standard English conventions. The passages are short enough that skimming is not the skill being tested; reading precisely is.
Math — two 35-minute modules, 44 questions
Algebra, advanced maths, problem solving and data analysis, and a smaller geometry and trigonometry strand. Most questions are multiple choice; some ask you to type the answer instead of choosing one, which removes the option of working backwards from the choices.
The adaptive step between modules
Each section's second module is selected from your performance on the first. A weak first module caps what the second can be worth, which is why pacing at the start of a module matters more on this test than on a linear one.
- A graphing calculator is built into the app and available throughout Math, alongside a reference sheet of formulas. Both save time only if you have already decided when to reach for them.
- You sit it on a laptop or tablet in the College Board's own testing app, so the interface is worth being fluent in before test day rather than on it.
Before you start
Is SAT preparation right for you?
Who it suits. Students preparing for SAT Reading and Writing and Math who need a structured plan around a target test date.
When to check another option. An English-proficiency requirement alone: first check whether your application needs the SAT, an English test, or both.
Why it matters
What a SAT score is for
The SAT is still the most widely accepted admissions test in the United States and is read by an increasing number of universities elsewhere. For an international applicant it does something a transcript cannot: it puts every candidate on one scale, which is why a strong score can carry weight against a school record an admissions office has no way to calibrate. It also feeds merit scholarship decisions at many institutions, so the same afternoon's work can affect what a place costs as well as whether you get one.
Coverage
What the preparation covers
The ground a course goes over. How much of it you need, and in what order, is what the first session decides.
- Reading and Writing: information and ideas, craft and structure, expression of ideas, standard English conventions
- Math: algebra, advanced maths, problem solving and data analysis, geometry and trigonometry
- Working the built-in graphing calculator and reference sheet so they save time instead of costing it
- Module pacing and the adaptive second module — what an early rush actually costs you
- Full-length simulated tests under real timing, then a question-by-question review
Where marks go
Where candidates lose marks on the SAT
Not a list of study tips. These are the specific ways this particular test takes marks off people who know the material.
Rushing the first module
The most expensive habit on the digital SAT, and the one people least expect. Because the second module is chosen by the first, ten minutes saved early can cap the ceiling of the whole section. Accuracy at the start is worth more than time banked for the end.
Reading the passage before the question
Reading and Writing passages are short, and each has exactly one question. Reading the text first and the question second means reading for everything instead of for one thing — which costs seconds on every question and adds up to a module.
Opening the calculator by reflex
The built-in graphing calculator is genuinely powerful and genuinely slow to set up. On a question that takes twenty seconds by hand, reaching for it costs more than it saves. Knowing which question types are worth it is a skill, not an instinct.
Student-produced responses entered wrong
The Math questions that ask you to type an answer have formatting rules — how to enter a fraction, how many characters fit, what a negative looks like. Marks are lost here on questions that were solved correctly.
Treating grammar questions as ear tests
Standard English conventions questions test specific rules — boundaries between clauses, subject-verb agreement across a long subject, modifier placement. What sounds right and what is right diverge exactly where the test likes to sit.
Never practising on the real interface
Annotation, flagging, the review page, the countdown you can hide: all of it is muscle memory or it is friction. Meeting it for the first time on test day costs minutes that were not budgeted for.
Lesson format
Group course, or one-to-one
Group · 72 hours
Seventy-two hours across Reading and Writing and Math, in classes capped at six so there is room to ask why an answer is wrong. Every unit closes with timed module work, and the course runs alongside the full-length simulator rather than saving it for the end.
One-to-one
One-to-one lessons when the gap is specific — a Math domain that will not settle, a reading pace that runs out of time, or a retake where you already know your two weakest areas and want to spend every hour on them.
How it runs
How the teaching works
A diagnostic before anything is planned
The first session is spent finding out where the marks are actually going. That is not a formality: on most of these tests the gap a student describes and the gap the diagnostic shows are different, and hours spent on the described one are hours wasted.
Teaching in the order your deadline allows
A group course works through the syllabus in a fixed order because a class of six has to. One-to-one starts with whatever is costing you most and works outwards, which is why it suits a retake or a short runway better.
Timed work from early, not saved for the end
Untimed accuracy is a poor predictor of a timed score, and finding that out three weeks before the test is too late. Timed sections start in the first fortnight, short at first.
Review and progress checks
Review looks beyond the mark: which errors recur, whether the reasoning is clearer and how accuracy holds under time pressure. Bring earlier attempts to the discussion so the next practice has a specific purpose.
All of it runs in the browser, live, with a teacher on the other end. There are no recordings sold as a course and no premises to travel to.
Timeline
How long SAT preparation takes
A rough shape rather than a promise. People arrive at different starting points and the plan is built around yours, but this is what a full run usually looks like.
- 1
Twelve to sixteen weeks out — diagnostic and the plan
A full-length timed test first, on the real interface, before any teaching. It settles two things: which section is actually costing you, and what your pace is under a clock rather than at a desk. The plan is built from that result, not from a general syllabus.
- 2
Weeks 2–8 — content, with timed modules from the start
Working through the domains in the order the diagnostic ranked them, with a timed module every week from the first fortnight. Untimed accuracy is a poor predictor of a timed score, and the earlier that gap shows up the cheaper it is to close.
- 3
Weeks 8–12 — full-length tests and review
A full-length test roughly every ten days, each one followed by a question-by-question review. The review is where the score moves: the pattern in the wrong answers is more useful than the score at the top.
- 4
The final fortnight — pacing and consolidation
No new content. Timed sections, the question types that are still costing marks, and a deliberate wind-down so the last test you sit is not the day before the real one.
Practice
Practising between lessons
Lessons are where something gets explained; the marks move in the hours between them. Both of these are included with every SAT course and package.
Full-length practice tests
The real section timing, the on-screen tools the test gives you, and the real adaptive behaviour. A score from an untimed paper printout tells you much less than it appears to.
Question bank
Filter to one section and one difficulty band and work a narrow skill until the pattern in your wrong answers is obvious. Solved questions are remembered, so a session does not hand back what you already got right.
FAQ
SAT questions we get asked
- How many times should I sit the SAT?
- Most people sit it twice, occasionally three times. Universities that superscore take the best section results across sittings, so a second attempt aimed at one weak section is often worth more than a third aimed at everything. Sitting it repeatedly without changing how you prepare between attempts is not.
- Is the digital SAT easier than the paper one?
- It is shorter and adaptive, which are different things from easier. The adaptivity means a strong performance is rewarded faster and a slow start is punished harder, so the same person can find it either more or less forgiving than the paper test depending on how they pace.
- Do I need my own calculator?
- No. A graphing calculator is built into the testing app and is available throughout the Math section. You may bring an approved handheld one as well, and some students prefer the familiarity, but nothing on the test requires it.
- Can I prepare for the SAT and the ACT at once?
- It is possible but rarely a good use of time. The overlap in content is real and the overlap in technique is not — pacing, question style and the role of Science pull in different directions. Sit a timed section of each, pick the one that suits you, and put the hours there.
- How much does the score move with preparation?
- We will not give you a number, because we cannot show you the working behind one and neither can anyone else honestly. What we can say is where your marks are going now and which of those are the cheapest to recover, which is what the diagnostic is for.
- Group course or one-to-one?
- A group course suits a full run from a standing start, and it is the better value. One-to-one suits a retake, a short runway, or a gap that is specific enough to name — a Math domain that will not settle, or a reading pace that runs out.
Pricing
What SAT preparation costs
Shown in US dollars. Charged in US dollars — there is no conversion at checkout to be surprised by.
One-to-one lessons
One-to-one lessons when the gap is specific — a Math domain that will not settle, a reading pace that runs out of time, or a retake where you already know your two weakest areas and want to spend every hour on them.
Single lesson
One 90-minute lesson, to see how it goes.
$10010 lessons
Prepaid, usable across subjects where the exam has them.
$970$97 per lesson
20 lessons
The usual choice for a full preparation run.
$1,900$95 per lesson
Group course · 72 hours
Seventy-two hours across Reading and Writing and Math, in classes capped at six so there is room to ask why an answer is wrong. Every unit closes with timed module work, and the course runs alongside the full-length simulator rather than saving it for the end.
- $1,050
Paid in full
The whole course, one payment.
- $575
In instalments
Per instalment, taken monthly.
First private lesson, or first week of a group course: if it is not what you wanted, you get your money back.
Where this comes from
Everything above about the format of the SAT is taken from College Board, the body that sets it. Last checked against that source on . If you find something here that no longer matches it, tell us and we will correct it.