Where to Find the BEST SAT Practice Tests
If you’re gearing up for the Digital SAT (DSAT), you’ve come to the right spot. Taking a practice test is one of the best ways to prepare yourself for test day. However, it’s also important to prep with high quality materials that accurately reflect the new test. In this article, I’ll guide you through the best resources for DSAT practice and how to use them to ace your SAT!
Side note: This article has been updated to reflect the shift in the SAT to a fully digital format. If you’re looking to prep for the Digital SAT (DSAT), you’re in the right place.
1. Bluebook App
The Bluebook Digital Testing App (known as Bluebook for short) is the official testing app of the new Digital SAT. You can download and run the app on a Windows or Mac device, an iPad, or a school-managed Chromebook.
Why do I recommend the Bluebook? First and foremost, this is the same exact app you’ll use on test day. You will literally log in to this app on your device at the testing center.
In my opinion, the Bluebook is the holy grail of DSAT prep. Not only is the interface the same as on actual test day, but the questions are made directly by the College Board themselves. This means that you get the most accurate testing experience in terms of interface and content.
Furthermore, Bluebook is the only app that can give you an accurate score prediction. Some other apps may come close, but only Bluebook knows how the scoring is really done. Bluebook also mimics the adaptive nature of the DSAT perfectly, knowing whether to route you to an easier or harder 2nd module.
I recommend all students take at least one Bluebook SAT practice test, but it shouldn’t be the only thing you rely on. In fact, I recommend spacing these tests out, just so you can get the full benefit of being able to rely on the most accurate scoring out there. That way, you can keep track of your score progression over time using one consistent source of truth (the Bluebook tests).
2. Khan Academy
Khan Academy stands out for its longstanding partnership with College Board and large collection of high quality resources. On the site, you’ll be able to find lessons for both Reading/Writing and Math. Each has its own collection of units ranging from easy to medium to advanced, and each unit has its own lessons on the various sub-topics you’ll see on the SAT.
Khan Academy, like the Bluebook, is free to use. I would recommend identifying whichever topics you’re weakest on and focusing specifically on those. You can also go in order through the entire curriculum, but it’s a lot of material to go through. This is a great resource to use in between practice tests, just so you don’t blow through them all too quickly.
3. Third-Party Resources
If you’re looking for additional resources beyond Bluebook and Khan Academy, you can turn to third-party resources. For some students, this might be necessary, especially if you find yourself blowing through the rest of the content.
There are many prep companies out there offering third-party prep (Kaplan, PrepScholar, etc…), and I can’t really speak to the quality. However, I’ve developed my own test prep platform, Adaptilearn, to complement existing resources and give students another opportunity for prep. Adaptilearn gives students an easy way to prepare by automatically serving up the most beneficial practice questions based on a student’s performance and learning needs. Plus, each question is modeled directly after existing SAT questions, giving students high-quality prep to rely on. Trying it out is also free!
Bonus: Legacy (Paper) SAT Prep
The paper SAT has been officially phased out as of March 2024. Before then, the College Board offered up to 10 full practice tests on Khan Academy (two of which — tests 2 and 4 — were later removed). If you’d like to see what those practice tests were like, I’ve archived and uploaded the PDFs here for you to access through my site.
- Paper SAT Practice Test 1 – Questions – Answers – Explanations
- Paper SAT Practice Test 2 – Questions – Answers – Explanations
- Paper SAT Practice Test 3 – Questions – Answers – Explanations
- Paper SAT Practice Test 4 – Questions – Answers – Explanations
- Paper SAT Practice Test 5 – Questions – Answers – Explanations
- Paper SAT Practice Test 6 – Questions – Answers – Explanations
- Paper SAT Practice Test 7 – Questions – Answers – Explanations
- Paper SAT Practice Test 8 – Questions – Answers – Explanations
- Paper SAT Practice Test 9 – Questions – Answers – Explanations
- Paper SAT Practice Test 10 – Questions – Answers – Explanations
Every year, the SAT also released a full copy of the exact administered tests from most March, May, and October test dates (some school-day QAS also came from April). These were known as the Question-and-Answer Service (QAS) tests, which were some of the best resources you could use as Paper SAT prep material. You can access these tests on my website using the links below. Just remember that these are also old, paper tests, and should not be your main resource for prepping for the Digital SAT.
- March 2018 QAS – Questions – Answers
- April 2018 QAS – Questions – Answers
- May 2018 QAS – Questions – Answers
- March 2019 QAS – Questions – Answers
- April 2019 QAS – Questions – Answers
- May 2019 QAS – Questions – Answers
- May 2019 Intl. QAS – Questions – Answers
- October 2019 QAS – Questions – Answers
- March 2021 QAS – Questions – Answers
- April 2021 QAS – Questions – Answers
- May 2021 QAS – Questions – Answers
- May 2021 Intl. QAS – Questions – Answers
- October 2021 QAS – Questions – Answers
- March 2022 QAS – Questions – Answers
- April 2022 QAS – Questions – Answers
- May 2022 QAS – Questions – Answers
- May 2022 Intl. QAS – Questions – Answers
- October 2022 QAS – Questions – Answers
Some of these QAS tests were the same as the College Board / Khan Academy tests. In fact, the College Board wrote practice tests #1-4 from scratch, and designated the following QAS tests to serve as practice tests #5-10:
- May 2016 QAS (Same as Practice Test #5)
- May 2016 Intl. QAS (Same as Practice Test #6)
- October 2016 QAS (Same as Practice Test #7)
- January 2017 QAS (Same as Practice Test #8)
- October 2017 QAS (Same as Practice Test #9)
- October 2018 QAS (Same as Practice Test #10)
How to Utilize These Tests to Maximize Your Prep
What’s the best way to prepare for the SAT? Well, it depends. Of course, you’ll want to go through practice tests under simulated test conditions, get your predicted score, and go through your missed questions thoroughly to understand your mistakes. However, there’s still the question of what order to go through tests, or if it really matters at all.
Small study habits can make a big difference.
If you’re a student who has never taken a Digital SAT practice test before, or you struggle to figure out where you went wrong after reviewing your answers, I would first take a practice test on the Bluebook app. This will be your best bet as a beginner, as you can later access full answer explanations in addition to scoring. You’ll get a great indication of what your starting score is, and you’ll be able to easily figure out what mistakes you could have avoided with the guidance from the answer explanations.
On the other hand, if you’re a student who is well-versed in taking SAT practice tests, I would recommend you move on to Khan Academy and third-party resources. You won’t get the benefit of accurate score predictions that Bluebook gives you, but you’ll still be able to prep with lots of DSAT-like questions.
If you’re wondering whether the order of practice tests matters: some students have reported Bluebook tests 4, 5, and 6 as being more reflective of the actual difficulty of the Digital SAT. I would recommend taking at least one of those early on, but save the other two for once you’re further along in your prep. Don’t blow through all the practice tests at once, either: make sure to take at least one, but space out your tests by mixing in Khan Academy and third-party prep in between.
Furthermore, if you want to maximize the effectiveness of your prep, you should take the test as close to test conditions as you can. This includes things like…
- Taking the test on the Bluebook testing app
- Waking up early on a Saturday morning to take the test
- Following the allowed time within each section
- Taking short breaks between sections as permitted
- Keeping the test-taking session to one continuous sitting
But wait! You’re not done with prep after taking a practice test. In fact, it would be a big prep mistake to simply take the test and score it without reviewing your answers afterwards. Reviewing your answers is crucial for understanding why you made a mistake and what you can do to avoid such a mistake in the future. Be meticulous about retrying each question that you missed, using answer explanations to aid you if needed. By the end of your review, you should be able to solve each and every question from that test unassisted.
TL;DR
Practicing for the SAT takes time. You’ll want to use high quality resources to make sure you’re simulating the real thing as best as possible. Having a set of SAT practice tests at your disposal makes things a lot easier.
Newer students can stick to the Bluebook tests for the answer explanations and automated scoring, while more experienced test takers can move to the Khan Academy and third-party resources for even more prep material.
If you’re struggling to solve these tricky SAT problems on your own, or the answer explanations aren’t quite making sense, you can always consider hiring a private tutor like me to help you out.
In either case, good luck with your test prep journey, and wishing you best of luck in achieving your dream score!
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