SAT questions are divided into groups. For example, in one of the 30 minute verbal sections, the 10 sentence completions are grouped together as questions 1–10, the 13 analogies are listed together as questions 11–23, and the 12 reading comprehension questions make up questions 24–35. Math questions are similarly organized by groups: regular multiple choice, quantitative comparisons, and grid-ins are all listed separately from each other. Except for reading comprehension questions, all of these groups of questions are arranged by difficulty, from easiest to most difficult.

Imagine that you are taking a test that consists of two questions. After your teacher hands out the test, and before you set to work, a helpful little gnome whispers to you from the corner, “The first problem is very simple, the second is much harder.” Would the gnome’s statement affect the way you approach the two problems? The answer, of course, is yes. For a “very simple” question, it seems likely that you should be able to answer it quickly and without much, or any, agonized second-guessing. On a “much harder” question, you will probably have to spend much more time, both to come up with an answer and to check your work to make sure you didn’t make an error somewhere along the way.

And what about all the other students who didn’t hear the gnome? They might labor over the first easy question, exhaustively checking their work and wasting time that they’ll need for the tricky second problem. Then, when those other students do get to the second problem, they might not check their work or be wary of traps, since they have no idea that the problem is so difficult.

Because SAT questions are ordered by difficulty, it’s as if you have that helpful little gnome sitting next to you for the entire test. The simple knowledge of question difficulty can help you in a variety of ways.