Using Drills and Exercises Properly

Many students prepare for the SAT or PSAT the same way they would for a typical school exam: by memorizing content—such as vocabulary, formulas, and essay examples—and completing large volumes of practice questions. However, once you understand how SAT questions are structured, it becomes clear that this memorization-and-repetition strategy is not effective. The SAT is not designed to assess advanced subject knowledge, so memorizing obscure vocabulary or complex formulas offers limited benefit. Moreover, the test does not reuse specific questions, so completing dozens of practice tests with the hope of encountering identical items on test day is unlikely to yield results.

(This explains why so many students put in considerable effort yet see minimal improvement. They’re treating the SAT as if it were a final exam for a high school subject like Geometry—which it is not.)

This raises an important question: if success on the SAT does not come from memorization and excessive drilling, what is the best way to prepare?

The answer lies in building a deep understanding of how the test functions. When you truly grasp the underlying structure and logic of the SAT, you'll realize it is fundamentally straightforward. You do not need to dedicate hundreds of hours to preparation. (Those aiming for a perfect score may require more focused time and effort, but that will be addressed separately.)

Understanding the SAT means thinking critically about how and why the test is designed the way it is. The goal is to reach a point where you can view the test from the perspective of its creators. You develop this insight by reflecting on the concepts discussed in this guide and intentionally applying them to a meaningful sample of official test questions.

This process may involve some memorization—for example, learning what patterns to watch for—and it will certainly involve practice as you apply your understanding to real questions. But the ultimate objective is to view the SAT as a consistent, rule-based system that can be decoded with the right approach. Rather than saying, “I’ve memorized thousands of vocabulary words and taken 30 practice tests, but my score won’t improve,” you want to say, “I understand the patterns the test follows, and I can anticipate how each question is constructed.”

The SAT consistently tests the same core principles using the same rules and logical structures, even though individual questions may appear different at first glance. When you learn to recognize these patterns, you can decode the questions more effectively and choose the answer that aligns with how the College Board scores the test.