Every question in a module is worth exactly the same. Spend your minutes where they buy the most points.
A Digital SAT Math module contains 22 questions and lasts 35 minutes. Which of the following is closest to the average time available per question?
35 minutes is 35 × 60 = 2,100 seconds, and 2,100 ÷ 22 = 95.45, so about 95 seconds each. A divides the 2,100 seconds by all 44 questions in the section — but the section is two separate 35-minute modules, so 35 minutes buys 22 questions, not 44. C rounds 22 down to 20 first, which quietly hands you ten seconds a question you do not have. D reads the calculator: 35 ÷ 22 = 1.59 minutes, and 1.59 minutes is 95 seconds, not 1 minute 59 seconds.
1
Turn the module into seconds before you ever sit the test.
Two numbers are worth memorising: 95, and the smaller one you get after reserving review time.
35 min = 35 × 60 = 2,100 s
work in seconds, not minutes
2,100 ÷ 22 = 95 s
the raw average
reserve 2 min for the review screen
2,100 − 120 = 1,980 s
1,980 ÷ 22 = 90 s
your real working average
90 seconds of working time per question
It is an average, not an instruction
Nobody spends 90 seconds on every question. The number matters because it tells
you what "too long" means: at two minutes on one item you have already borrowed
from the next one, and 90 seconds is a great deal shorter than it feels while you
are stuck.
2
Bank time early so you can afford the end of the module.
Questions in a module run roughly easiest first. A flat 90 seconds each wastes time at the front and runs out at the back.
Block
What they feel like
Each
Block total
Q1–8
one step, or a read-off
45 s
8 × 45 = 6:00
Q9–16
two steps, or a short context
90 s
8 × 90 = 12:00
Q17–22
a parameter, or a translation
150 s
6 × 150 = 15:00
review
flagged items and blanks
—
2:00
360 + 720 + 900 = 1,980 s
33 minutes of questions
1,980 + 120 = 2,100 s
exactly the module ✓
Finishing the first eight in six minutes is not rushing — those questions genuinely
take 45 seconds. What it buys is two and a half minutes each for the last six, which
is the only way they get answered at all.
3
Check the clock four times, not forty.
The screen shows time remaining, so learn the plan in that form. You can hide the timer and tap it back when you want it.
Clock reads
You should be finishing
If you are behind
29:00 left
question 8
you are over-working the easy ones — read faster, trust the first method
17:00 left
question 16
flag the next hesitation immediately instead of pushing through it
10:00 left
question 19
give the remaining items 90 s each and guess the rest
2:00 left
all 22 answered
fill every empty box now, then refine with whatever is left
Four glances across 35 minutes cost about five seconds. Glancing after every
question costs a minute and a half and makes you anxious on top.
4
Two passes through the module, using the flag and the review screen.
"Mark for Review" puts a flag on the question; the review screen at the end lists all 22 with their flags and any blanks.
0–20 sdo I have a route?if not: pick a choice, flag it, move
20 s – budgetwork the routeit should be landing by now
over budgetstill nothing in sightanswer, flag, move — pass 2 exists
pass 2review screen → the flagged numbersno unseen questions hanging over you
Flag it, but answer it first
A flag is a bookmark, not an answer. Click a choice before you flag, every time —
if the module ends before you get back, a flagged guess still scores and a flagged
blank cannot. Once a module's time is up it is closed for good: you cannot return
to module 1 from module 2.
Skip on sight, without guilt, when the topic is one you never studied, when the
working has three or more stages, or when you have restarted twice.
5
Every question is worth the same, so do the trade in your head.
There is no bonus for the hard one. A point is a point, and the cheap points are at the front.
stuck on Q14 for 3 minutes
180 seconds spent
180 ÷ 45 = 4
that is four easy questions
best case from staying: 1 point
and it is not even certain
cost of staying: up to 4 points
a net loss of three
The two minutes you already spent are gone either way
Staying because you have invested two minutes is exactly backwards. Those
two minutes are spent whatever you do now; the only live question is what the
next minute buys. Almost always it buys more somewhere else on the
screen.
One more reason the easy ones matter: how you do in module 1 decides which module 2
you are given, and the harder module 2 is where the higher scores live. Dropping
cheap points early costs twice.
6
Never leave a blank. Nothing is deducted for a wrong answer.
There is no guessing penalty on the SAT, so an empty box is a point you have thrown away rather than lost.
What you do
Chance it scores
Points from 4 such questions
blind guess, 4 choices
14
1.0
one choice eliminated
13
1.3
two choices eliminated
12
2.0
left blank
0
0.0
Ten seconds of elimination turns a 25% guess into a 50% one. That is the best
return on ten seconds anywhere on the test.
The rule covers the typed-answer questions too. They have no choices to guess
among, so the odds are poor — but a plausible number still costs nothing, and an
empty box scores zero with certainty. Type something before the module closes.
✓
Check: two students, same mathematics.
Identical ability, one module each, one of them with a plan.
no plan90 s each from Q1, 7 min lost on two hard items4 questions never seen
result18 attempted, 4 blank≈ 15 right
with the budget6:00 for Q1–8, flag twice, all 22 answered2 educated guesses
result22 attempted, 0 blank≈ 19 right
differencefour points of pacingno extra mathematics learned
Remember the flow
95 s average · 45 s early, 150 s late · Answer then flag · Fill every box
Four clock checks, and no question is worth more than any other.
Now you try
Practice problem
With 11 minutes left in a module, a student still has 9 questions unanswered. Three of them are flagged items she expects to take about 2 minutes each. Which is closest to the average time she can give each of the other six questions?
11 minutes is 660 seconds. The three flagged items claim 3 × 120 = 360 of them, leaving 660 − 360 = 300 seconds for the other six: 300 ÷ 6 = 50 seconds each. C spreads 660 over all 9 (73 s), which ignores that three of them are already known to be expensive. D divides 660 by the 6 and forgets the flagged three entirely. A divides the correct 300 seconds by all 9 — the right subtraction attached to the wrong count.
Hint: convert to seconds first, then pay the expensive items before
you divide. If the number you get is uncomfortably small, that is the plan telling
you to drop one of the flagged items to a guess and buy back two minutes.
