8 Week SAT Study Plan: Week by Week Schedule

Eight weeks is enough time to raise most SAT scores in a meaningful way, if the time is organized. This plan assumes about 6 to 8 hours of study a week: an hour on most weekdays and a longer session on the weekend for practice tests. It moves from finding your weak spots, to fixing them, to rehearsing the real test.

The plan at a glance

Week 1: find your baseline

• Take a full timed practice test under real conditions: 32 minutes per Reading and Writing module, 35 per Math module, one 10-minute break.
• Estimate your score with our SAT score calculator, and set a target using what is a good SAT score.
• Sort every mistake into a category: grammar, vocabulary, reading, algebra, advanced math, data, geometry. Also note whether it was a knowledge gap, a careless error or a timing problem.

The error list you build this week drives the rest of the plan. Keep adding to it after every practice session.

Week 2: Algebra

Algebra is about 35 percent of the Math section, so it is the best place to start.

• Linear equations and inequalities, slope and intercepts, systems of equations, word problems that turn into linear functions.
• Do 20 to 30 questions per session, sorted by topic, then check every answer with the explanation.
• Start using Desmos for every system and every equation you can graph.

Week 3: grammar

About a quarter of Reading and Writing is grammar and punctuation, and it improves faster than any other skill. Learn one group of rules per day from our SAT grammar rules: sentence boundaries, semicolons and colons, nonessential phrases, agreement, verb tense, modifiers. Finish the week with mixed sets.

Week 4: Advanced Math and Desmos

• Quadratics, exponential growth and decay, equivalent expressions, functions and their transformations.
• Learn the five Desmos techniques in our Desmos guide: solving by graphing, systems, key points of a parabola, sliders and checking answers.
• On the weekend, take full test 2 and compare it with test 1 category by category.

Week 5: Reading and Writing question types

• Work through each question type in our guide to Reading and Writing questions: words in context, structure and purpose, cross text connections, evidence and data, inferences, transitions and rhetorical synthesis.
• Learn 15 to 20 new words a day from our SAT vocabulary lists, and review old ones every few days.

Week 6: data, geometry and weak spots

• Ratios, percentages, statistics, probability and scatterplots in Problem Solving and Data Analysis.
• Area, volume, triangles, circles and basic trigonometry. Check which formulas are on the SAT formula sheet and memorize the rest.
• Take full test 3. Then spend the rest of the week on the two categories that still cost you the most points.

Week 7: timed mixed practice

• Do whole modules under time instead of topic sets: one Reading and Writing module and one Math module per session.
• Practice skipping: mark any question that takes more than about two minutes and come back to it.
• Take full test 4 on the same day of the week and at the same time of day as your real test.

Week 8: review and rest

• Reread your error list, especially the careless mistakes. Most students repeat the same three or four.
• Do short daily sets to stay sharp, but no new full tests in the last three days.
• Prepare your device, ID and admission ticket using our SAT test day checklist.
• Sleep well the two nights before the test. It matters more than one more session.

Adjusting the plan

• Less than 8 weeks? Keep weeks 1, 2, 3 and 7, and fold the rest into your weakest areas.
• More time? Repeat weeks 2 to 6 at a higher difficulty level before the mixed practice of week 7.
• One section far behind the other? Give it two thirds of your study time until the gap closes.

Pick your test date first on our SAT test dates page, then count eight weeks back to find your start date.