Colleges use the SAT to measure verbal and mathematical reasoning abilities and to assess an applicant's readiness for college.
Registering for exams
There are three ways to register for the SAT:
- Online: Visit CollegeBoard.com to register online. Select your test date, test center, and get immediate registration confirmation.
- Mail: Fill out the paper registration form in the College Board's Registration Bulletin. Get a free copy of this publication from your school counselor's office.
- Phone: You can register by phone if you previously registered for an SAT test. Call:
(800) SAT-SCORE (728-7267) 7 a.m.–midnight, ET;
(609) 771-7600 8 a.m.–8:45 p.m., Monday–Friday, ET;
TTY is available anytime: (609) 882-4118.
Preparing for exams
Practice test
College Board’s SAT Preparation Center offers practice questions and a test to reinforce your test-taking skills and help you be more comfortable when you take the SAT. This practice test will give you a good idea of what to expect on the actual test.
On their site you can:
- Download and print an official SAT practice test.
- Receive a score and skills reports.
- Review explanations of answers to test questions.
- Review student-written essays with score explanations.
Test structure
| Critical reading | |
|---|---|
| Question type | Number of questions |
| Sentence completions | 19 |
| Passage-based reading | 48 |
| Time: Two 25-minute sections; one 20-minute section. Total: 70 minutes. | |
| Writing | |
| Question type | Number of questions |
| Identifying sentence errors | 18 |
| Improving sentences | 25 |
| Improving paragraphs | 6 |
| Essay writing | One essay |
| Time: Two 25-minute sections; one 10-minute section. Total: 60 minutes. | |
| Math | |
| Question type | Number of questions |
| Multiple-choice | 44 |
| Grid-ins | 10 |
| Time: Two 25-minute sections; one 20-minute section. Total: 70 minutes. | |
