CruxStudy › Digital SAT prep
Most free SAT prep is a list of tips. This is the test itself: twelve full-length adaptive practice exams with no repeated question, 1,500 SAT questions that each come with a worked explanation, and a plan that works backwards from the date you are sitting it.
The paper SAT is gone. Since 2024 the test is taken on a laptop or tablet in College Board's Bluebook app, it is about an hour shorter than the old one, and it adapts to you while you sit it.
| Section | Questions | Time | What it asks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reading & Writing | 2 modules × 27 | 32 min each | Short passages, one question each. Vocabulary in context, evidence, transitions, punctuation and grammar. |
| Math | 2 modules × 22 | 35 min each | Algebra, advanced math, problem solving and data, geometry and trigonometry. About a quarter are type-in answers, and a calculator is allowed throughout. |
| Total | 98 questions | 2 h 14 min | Plus a 10-minute break between the two sections. |
Each section is split into two modules. Module 1 is a mixed-difficulty set that every student sees. Your performance on it routes you into either a harder or an easier Module 2 — and the harder form carries a higher score ceiling.
The practical consequence is that the first 27 Reading and Writing questions, and the first 22 Math questions, decide the range you are competing within. They are worth more attention than their raw count suggests. Each section scores 200 to 800 and the two add to a 400 to 1600 total. There is no penalty for a wrong answer, so a blank is simply a guess you declined to take.
The plan below is the one CruxStudy builds automatically once you enter your test date. If your date is closer, the phases compress rather than disappear.
Sixteen questions, untimed, about fifteen minutes. It scores all eight content areas and builds your plan from there.
Take the diagnostic Skip to a full practice testYes, at the section level. Each section has two modules. Module 1 is mixed difficulty, and how you do on it decides whether Module 2 is the harder or the easier form. The harder form carries a higher score ceiling, which is why the first module matters more than its question count suggests.
98 questions in 2 hours 14 minutes of testing time, plus a 10 minute break between the Reading and Writing section and the Math section.
No. A wrong answer scores the same as a blank, so you should answer every question even when you are guessing.
Most students see the best return from four to six full-length timed tests spread across their study window, with the review of each one taking longer than the test itself. Taking tests without reviewing them is the most common wasted effort in SAT prep.
Colleges accept both and do not prefer either. The practical difference is pacing and content: the ACT gives you less time per question and includes a Science section, while the SAT adapts and allows a calculator throughout. Our SAT versus ACT comparison walks through how to decide, and the fastest answer is usually to sit one timed section of each.
Most of it is, permanently and with no account: the arcade, practice by skill, the diagnostic, all four calculators, every blog article, the mini test, and the starter lessons covering how your exam works, both strategy lessons and the opening lesson of every content area. Membership at $9.99 a month adds the rest of the lesson library, the full-length adaptive exams, synced progress, your full score history, printable reports and a parent dashboard.
CruxStudy is a college admission test prep program by CruxSci. Not affiliated with, or endorsed by, the College Board or ACT, Inc. SAT and PSAT/NMSQT are trademarks of the College Board; ACT is a trademark of ACT, Inc.