Since the math questions are presented in an increasing order of difficulty, dividing the section roughly into thirds will help you manage the section.You do not need a perfect score on the math section to do well on the SAT. Spend time answering the questions that you have the best shot at answering correctly. The last two or three questions on the test might take you several minutes each to answer. That time might be better spent going over some of the earlier questions where you had to make some guesses.
This is the second in a series of articles in our SAT Math Overview. The series includes:
Think of this analogy. Imagine that every minute you have in each math section is actually a dollar. You have $25 to spend on points in a 25-minute section, and you want to buy as many points as you can. Some questions take you one minute to answer, costing you $1 for that point. Others may take three minutes, or cost $3 for that point. Others may take you 30 seconds and are an amazing bargain at 50 cents per point. Since the SAT saves the hardest for last, think of the first part of the section as the bargain basement and the last part as the high-priced boutique.
Why would you spend five minutes on a point when there are 30-second cent points earlier in the test section? You wouldn’t turn down a 50 cent apple in the grocery store in favor of buying the same apple for $5 would you?
That’s essentially what you’re doing if you answer the questions in order. You might need to skip the hard questions at the end so that you have time to double-check some of the easy questions. If you run out of time and all you have left to guess on are a couple of questions that would’ve taken 10 minutes to answer, then no harm done. That’s a lot better than taking the 10 minutes to answer those two questions at the expense of 9 or 10 easier questions.
Early on in the section, if you think you’ve got the right answer just go for it and move on. You instinct is probably right because it is the easy section. Later on, you might want to be suspicious of that instinct and make sure it isn’t a trap. If you’re having trouble with a question in the easy section, skip it, but return to it before you get to the hard section. You might find that after answering a few other questions, you will return to that question with a new mindset and score an easy point.
Since the questions are in order of difficulty, you’ll want to pay attention to your timing. Don’t just divide the time you have by the number of questions (e.g., 2o questions into 25 minutes is 1 minute and 15 seconds per question). In actuality, you should spend less time in the first third and more time in the last third. That 20 questions in 25 minutes might look like six minutes for the first seven questions, eight minutes for the next seven and 11 minutes for the last six.
Next, read about The Real Trick to SAT Math.