SAT · Format
SAT format
The digital SAT runs as four modules across two subjects, with a break in the middle. What follows is what appears in each, and how the test behaves while you are sitting it.
Reading and Writing
Two modules, 39 minutes each, 27 scored questions plus 2 pretest questions per module.
Every question has its own passage, and the passages are short: usually a single paragraph, occasionally two for the questions that compare texts. There is no long reading passage with a set of questions attached, which is the largest departure from the paper test.
Questions appear in a fixed order by skill domain, easiest first within each group:
Craft and Structure comes first, covering vocabulary in context, the purpose or structure of a text, and the connections between two texts on the same subject.
Information and Ideas follows, covering the central idea of a passage, which evidence supports a claim, what a chart shows, and what conclusion a text most logically leads to.
Standard English Conventions comes next: punctuation between clauses, subject–verb agreement, verb tense, pronouns and modifiers.
Expression of Ideas closes the module, with transitions and with questions that ask which sentence best achieves a stated goal from a set of notes.
Knowing this order is useful during the test. If you are running short of time, the questions you have not reached are grammar and rhetoric rather than reading, and those tend to be quicker to answer.
Math
Two modules, 43 minutes each, 20 scored questions plus 2 pretest questions per module.
Roughly three quarters of the questions are multiple choice with four options. The remainder are student-produced responses, where you type a number instead of choosing. These fall at fixed positions near the end of each module rather than being scattered through it.
The content divides into four areas. Algebra covers linear equations, inequalities and systems. Advanced Math covers quadratics, exponentials, polynomials and functions. Problem Solving and Data Analysis covers ratios, percentages, rates, probability and statistics. Geometry and Trigonometry covers angles, triangles, circles, volume and right-triangle trigonometry.
A calculator is available throughout, and a reference sheet of formulas sits behind a button on screen.
How navigation works
Within a module you may move between questions freely, in any order, and change an answer as often as you like. A flag marks a question to return to, and a panel lists every question in the module with its status.
Between modules there is no way back. When a module ends, whether because you finished it or because time ran out, it closes.
The break falls between the second Reading and Writing module and the first Math module. It runs on its own timer and can be ended early.
Pretest questions
Each module carries two questions that do not count toward your score. They are being trialled for future tests, they are not marked in any way, and there is no way to identify them. Answering every question as though it counts is the only sensible approach, since two of the ones you skip as unimportant may well be the ones that count.