The SAT does not often directly test the order of operations, but you must know the order in which mathematical operations should be performed in order to deal with many of the questions on the test. The best way to remember which operation gets performed before another is the acronym PEMDAS, which stands for:

If you come across an equation that contains any or all of these elements, you should carry out the math within the parentheses first, then work out the exponents, then do the multiplication, then the division, and finally the subtraction. Given the expression:

You would first work out the math in the parentheses (following PEMDAS even within the parentheses, meaning do multiplication before subtraction):

Then work out the exponents:

Then do the multiplication:

Then the division:

Then the addition:

Then the subtraction: