The SAT presents you with a lot of questions and not that much time to answer them. As you take the test, you will probably feel some pressure to answer quickly. As we’ve already discussed, getting bogged down on a single question is not a good thing. But rushing too quickly isn’t any good either. In the end, there’s no real difference between answering very few questions and answering lots of questions incorrectly: both will lead to low scores. What you have to do is find a happy medium, a groove, a speed at which you can be both accurate and efficient and get the score you want.

The previous paragraph sure makes it sound easy. But how do you actually go about finding a good speed? First, before anything else, you should recognize that you absolutely do not have to answer every question on the test. Remember, the SAT is your tool to help you get into one of the schools of your choice, and it probably won’t take a perfect score to get you there. You should set a target score, and your efforts should be directed toward gaining that score—not necessarily a 1600.

In setting a target score, the first rule is always this: be honest and realistic. Base your target score on the schools you want to go to and have a realistic chance of getting into. Talking to a college counselor can help you gauge how reasonable your choices are. You can also gauge your expectations by your first practice test. If you score a 450 on the math section of the first practice test, it’s foolish to set your target score at 750. Instead, your target should be about 50–100 points higher on each section than your score on your first practice test. That’s a total of 100–200 points higher for the whole test.

If you reach your target score during preparation, give yourself a cookie or some other treat and take a break from working. But just because you hit your target score doesn’t mean you should stop working altogether. In fact, you should view reaching your target score as a clue that you can do better than that score: set a new target 50–100 points above your original, pick up your pace a little bit, and skip fewer questions. By working to improve in manageable increments, you can slowly work up to your top speed, integrating your new knowledge of how to take the test and the subjects the test covers without overwhelming yourself by trying to take on too much too soon. If you can handle working just a little faster without becoming careless and losing points, your score will certainly go up. If you meet your new target score again, repeat the process.

Your target score can, and should, deeply affect your strategy. If you want to get a 1000 on the test, your strategy will differ significantly from that of someone aiming for a 1400. A person who wants a 1400 must work fast and try to answer almost every question. He or she must be able to work very quickly without carelessness. A person looking to score a 1000 does not have to answer every question. In fact, that person probably shouldn’t try to answer every question. So, what’s the moral? Adjust your pacing to the score you want. The chart below shows the approximate raw scores necessary to achieve certain scaled target scores on each section of the SAT.

If your target score is a 1000 (a 500 on math and a 500 on verbal) you need a raw score of 63 (29 + 34). Think about what this means. There are a total of 138 possible raw points on the SAT. To get a 1000, you need to get a little less than half of those points. In other words, you need to answer a little less than half of the questions cor

rectly (assuming you don’t answer any questions wrong). If we take into account that you probably will answer at least a few questions incorrectly, then you know that you need to get a few more than half of the questions right. Even so, a little over half only constitutes the easy and moderate questions on the test. You could probably get a 1000 without answering a single difficult question—this realization should help you pace yourself accordingly. Instead of rushing to answer as many questions as possible, spend the time you need to avoid errors and make sure you’ll hit your target.

When you take both your practice tests and the real SAT, you should be aware of the clock. You should not become obsessed with the clock and lose time by constantly glancing at those terrible ticking seconds, but you should have a sense of the time to keep yourself on proper pace.

We recommend that you always take practice tests with the clock. Since your proctor will enforce the time on the real SAT strictly, you should do the same on your practice tests. By using the clock on practice tests, you will learn to manage your time and become more familiar with taking the test as the clock ticks down to zero.