The SAT is a timed test, and some people take this to mean that they should answer items as quickly as possible. They cut corners on items to speed through a section. This is a classic error. It’s an especially disastrous policy on SAT Math, because the “easiest” items are at the beginning. If the last item had a fifty-point bonus attached to it, things would be different, but every item counts the same. Getting two hard items right doesn’t do you any good if you miss two easy items in your haste. You’ll be better off taking the time to answer the easy items correctly, and then using whatever time you have left to take an educated guess on the remaining harder items.

Accuracy counts more than speed. First go through a section and answer all the items that come easily to you. Then:

To achieve the second point, avoid choosing the answer that looks “right” at first glance. On easy items, this choice may well be the correct answer. For items numbered 12 or higher, an answer that screams “Ooh! Ooh! Pick me and hurry on!” should be handled like a live snake. SAT distractors are designed to catch the eye of students in a hurry. More often than not, an answer choice for a hard item that looks too good to be true is exactly that—too good to be true.

Remember, if you can safely eliminate one of the answer choices as being wrong, you should take a guess because you beat the wrong-answer penalty.

For most students, the best method for picking up points in the Math section is by:

This approach is not as thrilling as getting the hardest five items right (while chancing tons of mistakes along the way), but it does put you on the best path to a high score.