If you’re taking the SAT, you obviously want the highest score you can get in the time you have available. But what if you’re freaking out a little bit because the SAT is in a month, and you haven’t really started studying? First, you are not alone–there are literally thousands of students who are feeling the same time crunch. And, yes, a month is not a lot of time, but it is still absolutely possible to see an impressive score improvement. It’s all about maximizing the time you do have by focusing on the areas of the exam that will have the greatest impact. This one-month schedule is designed to help you do just that.
Of course, it is incredibly challenging to balance school, extracurriculars, AND the SAT. But look at it this way: In four weeks, the efforts you make to carve out time for SAT prep could make a potentially significant increase in your SAT score and that, in turn, could make a significant difference in the strength of your college application. That’s a very valuable investment.
Make it your own
This schedule is designed with flexibility in mind. Yes, it is intended to cover a whole lot of content in a relatively short timeframe. However, how much time you devote to each study session and how much of the content you cover really comes down to whether or not it will benefit your individual prep needs. You are welcome to skip around the modules or skim through lessons that cover material you already know or that don’t suit your goal needs. For example:
- If you’re stronger in math, skip some of the math Practice & Review sessions and replace that time with additional Reading and Writing practice and review.
- Conversely, if your reading and writing skills are stronger, consider supplementing the scheduled Reading and Writing practice with more math-focused practice and review.
- If a module is full of lessons on topics you’re comfortable with, skip that module’s lessons but still do the quizzes and any associated practice. That way you can catch any unexpected weaknesses.
- If you aren’t aiming for an incredibly high score, you don’t need to spend a lot (or any) time on lessons or practice for the most difficult, less frequently tested concepts, i.e. Advanced Topics in Math.
- If you already have an above average score and are aiming to push into the highest percentiles, you don’t need to spend a lot (or any) time on intro or fundamental concepts–you’ve likely already mastered these. Prioritize the more difficult questions and spend considerable time reviewing and analyzing the questions you’re missing.
Time commitment
The goal here is to get through as much material as you can in one month’s time. How much time you devote to SAT prep each day really depends on you and the current demands you’re juggling. We want to provide you with some guardrails, so we’re suggesting 60-90 minutes per study session for at least 5-6 days each week–of course, you’ll need around 2.5 hours for practice test days. That being said, your personal daily commitment can vary significantly based on your individual strengths and goals for score improvement. Tailoring your study sessions to meet your needs is crucial. For example, if you’re pretty busy during the week, and have limited time to devote to SAT study, you can change things up: Do less work during the week and have 1-2 longer study sessions on the weekends. Bottom line: Try your best to come up with some sort of schedule for the next four weeks, and do your best to stick to it 💪
How to use this schedule
Consider it like a living document. We’re guessing that there is a lot more material that you’ll be able to cover in a month, so you’re really in the driver’s seat here. As you move through the schedule, feel free to adjust your focus based on your performance in practice tests and quizzes. It’s essential to monitor your progress and adapt your study plan to maximize your growth.
Review is essential
After you work through a set of questions, be sure that, for any question you missed, or got right but feel shaky on, or took too long to solve, you make note of the content and question type and carefully read the answer explanation. Ideally, you’ll keep a digital document or journal where you can jot down the question type and why you missed it. This is a crucial step in determining whether any patterns emerge in the content or question types that are challenges for you.
Materials & resources
Magoosh SAT Prep
That’s us! Our SAT Prep includes lessons and questions that you will work through, thereby increasing your SAT familiarity. Bonus! Magoosh’s digital format mimics what you’ll see on test day. You’ll need a Magoosh account to work through this 1-month schedule. Not ready to commit yet? No worries! We’ve got you covered with a Free 1-Week Trial of the Magoosh product 😄
And, if you happen to prefer studying on your phone, our SAT Test Prep App makes studying on the go easy for both iPhone and Android users.
Official Digital SAT Study Resources
To get as close as possible to the real SAT experience, we highly recommend the full-length practice exams on Bluebook, the College Board’s online testing platform. These four practice tests let you explore the interface, format, and scoring of the digital exam. Bonus! they’re totally free!
Khan Academy Official SAT Practice (Optional)
If you are hankering for additional practice, the partnership between The College Board and Khan Academy includes lessons and practice to help you understand the content tested on the digital SAT.
The SAT One Month Study Schedule
Week One
Day 1:
Estimated Time: 60-90 minutes
Let’s kick things off with where you need to go in your Magoosh Account, and that’s Custom Practice. To get there, you need to select the Reading & Writing or Math link at the top of the Dashboard. Once you click either of those section options, you’ll see a box with your current stats for that section. Under that box, you’ll see two options: Guided Practice or Custom Practice. Select Custom Practice. Guided practice is too rigid for a one-month study plan.
Math Custom Practice
Check out the lessons under the General Math Strategies category. You know yourself best, so you should determine whether any particular lesson will help build your test-taking skillset or not. Watch the lesson videos that look interesting or address a topic that you’re not familiar with.
If you’re looking for the lessons that we most highly recommend, here you go:
Learn From Your Mistakes
Picking Numbers
Math Strategy: Picking Numbers
Backsolving
Math Strategy: Backsolving
Quiz: Math Strategy: Backsolving
Student-Produced Response Questions
Question Practice & Review
Launch a 5-10 question custom practice with either all the math subjects selected or a particular subject for which you need more practice and review.
Reading and Writing Custom Practice
Check out the lessons under the Introduction and Specific Reading Strategies categories. Again, you know yourself best! Watch the lesson videos that look interesting or address a topic that you’re not familiar with.
Because the reading skills needed for the SAT are so very different from the reading skills you hone in your classroom work, we recommend that you watch all the lessons and do all the quizzes in the Reading and Writing (RW) categories. The exception! If you are already a strong reader and tend to do very well on reading in standardized tests, then you likely do not need to watch all the RW lessons.
Question Practice & Review
Launch a 5-10 question custom practice with either all the RW subjects selected or a particular subject for which you need more practice and review.
Day 2:
Estimated Time: 60-90 minutes
In your Magoosh Dashboard
Math Custom Practice
Check out the lessons under the Specific Math Strategies category. Watch the lesson videos that look interesting or address a topic that you’re not familiar with.
If you’re looking for the lessons that we most highly recommend, here you go:
Follow Through on Question
Quiz: Follow Through on Question
Play with Numbers
Quiz: Play with Numbers
Plugging in Numbers with Algebraic Equations
Quiz: Plugging in Numbers with Algebraic Equations
Plugging in Numbers on Word Problems
Quiz: Plugging in Numbers on Word Problems
Question Practice & Review
Launch a 5-10 question custom practice with either all the math subjects selected or a particular subject for which you need more practice and review.
Reading and Writing Custom Practice
Check out the lessons under the first (left column) Question Type category.
Watch all the lessons and do all the quizzes in this Reading and Writing (RW) categories.
Question Practice & Review
Launch a 5-10 question custom practice with either all the RW subjects selected or a particular subject for which you need more practice and review.
Day 3:
Estimated Time: 60-90 minutes
In your Magoosh Dashboard
Math Custom Practice
Check out the lessons under the Arithmetic and Fractions category. Watch the lesson videos that look interesting or address a topic that you’re not familiar with.
We aren’t going to suggest any more math lesson videos from this point on. Why? Well, lessons that cover specific topics are really where you need to take the lead in your prep path. Watch or skim any lessons that cover topics you’re weaker in or that you haven’t seen for quite some time–SAT tends to test math covered in 6th-11th grades.
Question Practice & Review
Launch a 5-10 question custom practice with either all the math subjects selected or a particular subject for which you need more practice and review.
*If you haven’t been doing so already, be sure to use the results of these practice and review sessions (math and RW) to help identify your strengths and weaknesses. Then, modify your study accordingly.
Reading and Writing Custom Practice
Check out the lessons under the Strategies and Fundamentals, Specific Writing Strategies, and Development categories.
Question Practice & Review
Launch a 5-10 question custom practice with either all the RW subjects selected or a particular subject for which you need more practice and review.
Day 4:
Estimated Time: 60-90 minutes
In your Magoosh Dashboard
Math Custom Practice
Continue to check out the lessons under the Arithmetic and Fractions category–you’ve probably noticed that there are A LOT of them 😅 Watch the lesson videos that look interesting or address a topic that you’re not familiar with.
Question Practice & Review
Launch a 5-10 question custom practice with either all the math subjects selected or a particular subject for which you need more practice and review.
Reading and Writing Custom Practice
Check out the lessons under the Usage category.
Question Practice & Review
Launch a 5-10 question custom practice with either all the RW subjects selected or a particular subject for which you need more practice and review.
Day 5:
Estimated Time: 60-90 minutes
In your Magoosh Dashboard
Math Custom Practice
Check out the lessons under the Percents and Ratios category. Watch the lesson videos that look interesting or address a topic that you’re not familiar with OR that your practice and review sessions have surfaced as material that you need to review.
Question Practice & Review
Launch a 5-10 question custom practice with either all the math subjects selected or a particular subject for which you need more practice and review.
Reading and Writing Custom Practice
Continue to check out the lessons under the Usage category.
Question Practice & Review
Launch a 5-10 question custom practice with either all the RW subjects selected or a particular subject for which you need more practice and review.
Day 6:
Estimated Time: 150 minutes
Full Length Practice Test
You can either launch a practice test from your Magoosh Dashboard or you can take one of College Board’s Official BlueBook Tests.
You want to do your best to mimic the experience you’ll have on test day. Be sure to put away anything that might distract you from the task at hand. Part of prep is to also build up the endurance to be mentally prepared to focus for almost 2.5 hours, and it’s difficult to do that if you don’t have prior experience.
Day 7:
You’ve already done a lot over these last six days, and it’s time for a well-deserved rest 😁 However, you should also feel free to use rest days for additional practice or to catch-up.
Week Two
Day 8:
Estimated Time: 60 minutes
Score and Review Your Test
Do a deep-dive into your practice test. Here are some questions to guide your review and analysis:
Do you notice trends in the types of questions you missed?
Are there content areas that are emerging as weak points?
Did you make a lot of careless mistakes?
Were there questions that took you way too long to solve?
Give yourself up to an hour for this activity
Day 9:
Estimated Time: 60-90 minutes
In your Magoosh Dashboard
Math Custom Practice
Continue with the lessons under the Percents and Ratios category. Watch the lesson videos that look interesting or address a topic that you’re not familiar with OR that your practice and review sessions have surfaced as material that you need to review.
Question Practice & Review
Launch a 5-10 question custom practice with either all the math subjects selected or a particular subject for which you need more practice and review.
Reading and Writing Custom Practice
Check out the lessons under the Punctuation category.
Question Practice & Review
Launch a 5-10 question custom practice with either all the RW subjects selected or a particular subject for which you need more practice and review.
Day 10:
Estimated Time: 60-90 minutes
In your Magoosh Dashboard
Math Custom Practice
Check out the lessons under the category Algebra, Equations, and Inequalities. Watch the lesson videos that look interesting or address a topic that you’re not familiar with OR that your practice and review sessions have surfaced as material that you need to review.
Question Practice & Review
Launch a 5-10 question custom practice with either all the math subjects selected or a particular subject for which you need more practice and review. For example, if some of the concepts in this category are difficult for you, you might “clear all” and then just check the box next to “Algebra.”
Reading and Writing Custom Practice
Check out the lessons under the Sentence Structure category.
Question Practice & Review
Launch a 5-10 question custom practice with either all the RW subjects selected or a particular subject for which you need more practice and review.
Day 11:
Estimated Time: 60-90 minutes
In your Magoosh Dashboard
Math Custom Practice
Continue to check out the lessons under the category Algebra, Equations, and Inequalities.
Question Practice & Review
Launch a 5-10 question custom practice with either all the math subjects selected or a particular subject for which you need more practice and review.
Reading and Writing Custom Practice
Continue to check out the lessons under the Sentence Structure category and consider reviewing any lessons from the previous categories, especially if you’re still feeling shaky on those content areas.
Question Practice & Review
Launch a 5-10 question custom practice with either all the RW subjects selected or a particular subject for which you need more practice and review.
Day 12:
Estimated Time: 60-90 minutes
In your Magoosh Dashboard
Math Custom Practice
Check out the lessons under the Word Problems category. Remember that you are guiding your own prep!
Question Practice & Review
Launch a 5-10 question custom practice with either all the math subjects selected or a particular subject for which you need more practice and review.
Reading and Writing Custom Practice
Check out the lessons under the second Question Type category.
Question Practice & Review
Launch a 5-10 question custom practice with either all the RW subjects selected or a particular subject for which you need more practice and review.
Day 13:
Estimated Time: 150 minutes
Full Length Practice Test
You can either launch a practice test from your Magoosh Dashboard or you can take one of College Board’s Official BlueBook Tests.
Remember to do your best to mimic the experience you’ll have on test day!
Day 14:
Rest or catch up
Week Three
Day 15:
Estimated Time: 60 minutes
Score and Review Your Test
Do a deep-dive into your practice test:
Do you notice trends in the types of questions you missed?
Are there content areas that are emerging as weak points?
Did you make a lot of careless mistakes?
Were there questions that took you way too long to solve?
Day 16:
Estimated Time: 60-90 minutes
In your Magoosh Dashboard
Math Custom Practice
Continue Check out the lessons under the Word Problems category. Remember that you are guiding your own prep!
Question Practice & Review
Launch a 5-10 question custom practice with either all the math subjects selected or a particular subject for which you need more practice and review.
Reading and Writing Custom Practice
Check out the lessons under the second Question Type category.
Question Practice & Review
Launch a 5-10 question custom practice with either all the RW subjects selected or a particular subject for which you need more practice and review.
Day 17:
Estimated Time: 60-90 minutes
In your Magoosh Dashboard
Math Custom Practice
Check out the lessons under the Powers & Roots category.
Question Practice & Review
Launch a 5-10 question custom practice with either all the math subjects selected or a particular subject for which you need more practice and review.
Reading and Writing Custom Practice
Check out the lessons under the Effective Language Use category.
This is the last category for RW. For the remaining days, more time will be allocated to math content. However, you should still do the RW Practice & Review sessions and review and lesson videos for questions that you miss.
Question Practice & Review
Launch a 5-10 question custom practice with either all the RW subjects selected or a particular subject for which you need more practice and review.
Day 18:
Estimated Time: 60-90 minutes
In your Magoosh Dashboard
Math Custom Practice
Continue to check out the lessons under the Powers & Roots category and start to work through the lessons in the Geometry category.
Question Practice & Review
Launch a 5-10 question custom practice with either all the math subjects selected or a particular subject for which you need more practice and review.
Reading and Writing Question Practice & Review
Launch a 5-10 question custom practice with either all the RW subjects selected or a particular subject for which you need more practice and review.
Day 19:
Estimated Time: 60-90 minutes
In your Magoosh Dashboard
Math Custom Practice
Continue to check out the lessons under the Geometry category and start to work through the lessons in the Coordinate Geometry category.
Question Practice & Review
Launch a 5-10 question custom practice with either all the math subjects selected or a particular subject for which you need more practice and review.
Reading and Writing Question Practice & Review
Launch a 5-10 question custom practice with either all the RW subjects selected or a particular subject for which you need more practice and review.
Day 20:
Estimated Time: 150 minutes
Full Length Practice Test
You can either launch a practice test from your Magoosh Dashboard or you can take one of College Board’s Official BlueBook Tests.
Remember to do your best to mimic the experience you’ll have on test day!
Day 21:
Rest or Catch-up
Week Four
Day 22:
Estimated Time: 60 minutes
Score and Review Your Test
- Do a deep-dive into your practice test. Here are some questions to guide your review and analysis:
- Do you notice trends in the types of questions you missed?
- Are there content areas that are emerging as weak points?
- Did you make a lot of careless mistakes?
- Were there questions that took you way too long to solve?
Day 23:
Estimated Time: 60-90 minutes
In your Magoosh Dashboard
Math Custom Practice
For the last week of prep, you really need to rely on what you’ve learned about yourself. If you are performing well on most of the math topics and only missing the hardest question types, devote time to watching relevant lesson videos from the following categories: Statistics, Data Analysis, Passport to Advanced Math: Trigonometry, and/or Passport to Advanced Math: Extra Topics.
However, if you are still struggling with any of the math categories that we’ve already covered in this schedule, stick with those for more intense review, including watching lessons a second or third time. You want to be sure you are as comfortable as possible with content that is more frequently tested on the SAT if you want to maximize your score potential.
Question Practice & Review
Launch a 5-10 question custom practice with either all the math subjects selected or a particular subject for which you need more practice and review.
Reading and Writing Question Practice & Review
Launch a 5-10 question custom practice with either all the RW subjects selected or a particular subject for which you need more practice and review.
Day 24:
Estimated Time: 60-90 minutes
In your Magoosh Dashboard
Math Custom Practice
Continue to dig into advanced topics, review previous topics, or a blend of both.
Question Practice & Review
Launch a 5-10 question custom practice with either all the math subjects selected or a particular subject for which you need more practice and review.
Reading and Writing Question Practice & Review
Launch a 5-10 question custom practice with either all the RW subjects selected or a particular subject for which you need more practice and review.
Day 25:
Estimated Time: 60-90 minutes
In your Magoosh Dashboard
Math Custom Practice
Continue to dig into advanced topics, review previous topics, or a blend of both.
Question Practice & Review
Launch a 5-10 question custom practice with either all the math subjects selected or a particular subject for which you need more practice and review.
Reading and Writing Question Practice & Review
Launch a 5-10 question custom practice with either all the RW subjects selected or a particular subject for which you need more practice and review.
Day 26:
Estimated Time: 150 minutes
Full Length Practice Test
You can either launch a practice test from your Magoosh Dashboard or you can take one of College Board’s Official BlueBook Tests.
Remember to do your best to mimic the experience you’ll have on test day!
Day 27:
Estimated Time: 60 minutes
Score and Review Your Test
Do a deep-dive into your practice test. Here are some questions to guide your review and analysis:
Do you notice trends in the types of questions you missed?
Are there content areas that are emerging as weak points?
Did you make a lot of careless mistakes?
Were there questions that took you way too long to solve?
Give yourself up to an hour for this activity
Day 28:
Take a bow 🥳
You did it!!! Congratulations. Now, let’s talk about what you should do if you have some time remaining before you take your official SAT test.
Week 5 and Beyond
At this point, if you have been following the schedule, you have done A LOT of work, an incredible number of questions! Excellent job! For the remaining days until the test, keep practicing.
Your first priority should be to finish any remaining unanswered questions in Magoosh. Your second priority should be to re-answer any questions you got “incorrect.” If, when answering previous incorrect questions, you get the vast majority of them correct on the second try, then the supply of “incorrect” questions will dwindle. Many students have found that seeing questions more than once really deepens their understanding.
Best of luck!
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