August SAT 2026 Recap: What Students Should Learn Before the September and October SAT
- 8 hours ago
- 11 min read
By Laura Whitmore
The August SAT is officially over. Congratulations to everyone who spent the summer studying, took the test, and can finally stop thinking about SAT questions for at least a few hours. 🎉
👉 Now comes the inevitable post-test ritual:
Was English harder than usual?
Why did Math Module 2 suddenly get weird?
Did everyone else see that much advanced math?
And what on earth was that one vocabulary word?
During our live August SAT recap, I sat down with our tutor Emmitt—a Brown University student who scored a 1510 on the SAT in high school and took this year’s August SAT alongside students—to talk through what he actually experienced on test day.
And if you're taking the SAT in September or October, pay attention. August is the first SAT of the new school year, so the patterns we see now can give us useful clues about what students may need to prepare for next.
Want a break from reading? Head over to my YouTube video instead!
😵 First Impression: English May Have Been the Bigger Problem
When I asked which section felt harder, the answer was English. Not Math. English.
Our tutor had taken several Bluebook practice tests before sitting for the August exam and felt that the real Reading and Writing section—especially Module 2—contained more technical passages and required more thinking than what he had recently encountered in Bluebook.
He normally finishes practice English modules with some time left. On the actual August test? The clock became much more relevant. He finished, but Module 2 pushed him considerably closer to the time limit.
✔ Why this matters
Students sometimes assume that if they can comfortably finish the Bluebook practice tests, their pacing problem is solved.
Not necessarily.
Practice tests are still incredibly useful, but you should also prepare for the possibility that your real test contains passages that feel:
denser,
more scientific,
more technical,
or simply slower to process.
Your pacing strategy needs enough flexibility to survive a module that is harder than expected.
📖 Hard Reading Passages Require a Different Kind of Reading
One of the biggest Reading and Writing themes from the live was the difficulty of the more technical passages. These are the questions where you reach a paragraph about some extremely specific scientific study and suddenly wonder whether you accidentally registered for a graduate-level biology exam.
You did not.
The SAT is still asking you to understand the logic of the passage, not earn a PhD in whatever organism or theory happens to appear in it.
✔ A better approach: information seek
If you're running short on time, stop treating every passage like something you need to understand perfectly from beginning to end.
Instead:
Read the question first.
Identify what information you need.
Look closely at the final sentence, where the passage's main claim or conclusion often appears.
Go back to the beginning only if you need a definition or background information.
During the August test, our tutor used this approach when time became tight. Rather than continuing to read every difficult passage sentence by sentence, he focused on the details most likely to matter—often the final sentence.
I think of these questions less as traditional reading comprehension and more as information seeking. You do not need to lovingly absorb every sentence. You need to find the information that answers the question. A scientific introduction that takes five rereads and contributes nothing to the answer is not where you want to spend your limited Module 2 minutes.
⏱️ A Smart Pacing Strategy Might Mean Leaving Reading and Coming Back
Another interesting takeaway was how our tutor navigated the harder English module.
He did not stubbornly work through every question in order. When he felt himself losing momentum around the reading-heavy portion, he jumped ahead to questions he could answer more quickly—grammar, transitions, and rhetorical synthesis—then returned to the harder reading questions later.
That is a strategy more students should consider.
✔ Think in terms of points, not question order
There is no prize for completing Question 10 before Question 11. If one scientific passage is eating three minutes of your life and you know there are several grammar questions waiting later in the module, go collect those points. Then come back.
The goal is not: Finish everything in order.
The goal is: Earn as many points as possible before time expires.
Those are not always the same thing.
🔤 Vocabulary Was Still Capable of Being Rude
There were also difficult Words in Context questions.
Our tutor encountered at least one Module 2 question containing multiple words he did not confidently know. And yes, this can happen even to a 1500+ scorer. The useful part is what you do next.
✔ If you don't know the word, use everything you do know
Try asking: Have I heard this word before?
Even if you cannot recite a dictionary definition, you may remember its general connotation.
For example, you may not be able to define a word perfectly, but you might remember hearing it used to describe someone negatively. That alone can help eliminate answer choices.
Then look for:
positive versus negative connotation,
recognizable roots,
prefixes,
suffixes,
and contextual clues from the sentence.
If none of those gets you anywhere, make the best educated choice you can and move on.
There is a point where staring at an unfamiliar word for another 90 seconds stops being productive.
🔄 Those Weird, Extra-Long Transition Choices? Not Everywhere
Earlier SAT administrations generated a lot of discussion about transition questions with unusually long answer choices rather than the familiar single transition word.
Interestingly, our tutor did not encounter that format on his August form. His transition questions looked much more familiar: one-word transitions filling a blank. That does not prove that the longer transition format is gone. Students receive different forms, and participants in the live chat reported different experiences.
✔ What should you study?
Do not build your preparation around predicting the exact appearance of the answer choices.
Learn the relationships transitions represent:
continuation,
contrast,
cause and effect,
example,
emphasis,
sequence,
conclusion.
If you understand the relationship between the ideas, it matters much less whether College Board gives you one word or an entire phrase.
📝 Rhetorical Synthesis Still Rewards Efficiency
The student-notes questions were another area where efficiency mattered.
For most of the rhetorical synthesis questions our tutor encountered, he did not need to read every bullet point. Instead, he could identify what the student wanted to accomplish and select the answer that satisfied that goal. Only when multiple choices appeared to meet the goal would he need to return to the notes and verify which choice was factually supported.
That is still one of my favorite strategies for these questions: Read the goal first.
The notes are there when you need them. You do not receive bonus points for reading all six bullets just because College Board was kind enough to write them.
✔ What Happened on SAT Math?
The Math section told a very different story.
The overall impression was not that Math was easy—but that the difficulty leaned heavily toward Advanced Math, particularly nonlinear functions and questions involving variables.
Meanwhile, the especially brutal geometry students sometimes expect near the end of Module 2 was less prominent on this particular form.
📈 Advanced Math Had a Big Moment
If you're taking the September or October SAT, this is probably the Math takeaway I would underline twice.
There appeared to be a strong emphasis on:
nonlinear functions,
quadratics,
expressions involving squares and cubes,
equations containing multiple variables,
and more abstract Advanced Math setups.
Our tutor described reaching question after question and feeling like he had just dealt with a similar Advanced Math idea moments earlier.
✔ What should future test takers review?
Make sure you are comfortable with more than basic quadratic factoring.
You should be able to work with:
different forms of quadratic equations,
nonlinear systems,
exponent relationships,
variable-heavy equations,
function notation,
transformations,
and questions where the numbers are replaced by constants.
At higher scores, College Board does not always make the math itself dramatically more advanced. Sometimes it makes familiar algebra look extremely unfriendly. Your job is to recognize what is hiding underneath.
📐 Geometry Was There—But It Wasn't the Main Villain
One of my pre-test predictions involved pyramids and three-dimensional geometry.
Our tutor did not personally receive a pyramid question, although another Strategic Test Prep student on a different international form did.
✔ That is an important reminder: Not everyone receives the same test form.
Our tutor did encounter a three-dimensional geometry problem, but overall he felt his Math section contained fewer of the extremely layered geometry problems that students often associate with the end of hard Module 2.
This does not mean September students should stop studying geometry. Please do not read this section and ceremonially burn your circle formulas. It means you should make sure your prep is balanced enough that Advanced Math receives the attention it deserves.
🖥️ Desmos Was Still Very Much Alive
There has been a lot of discussion about whether harder SAT questions are becoming less “Desmos-able.”
Based on this experience, Desmos was still enormously useful. Our tutor used it frequently throughout both Math modules, including on questions involving variables. He also used regression and sometimes assigned convenient numerical values to variables to explore relationships.
Later in the live, he estimated that he used some form of Desmos on roughly half of Math Module 1 and somewhere around two-thirds or more of Module 2.
That is a lot of Desmos.
✔ But “knowing Desmos” means more than graphing a line
Students preparing for upcoming SATs should be comfortable with:
regressions,
function definitions,
sliders,
intersections,
systems,
tables,
testing values,
and manipulating an equation until it becomes useful in Desmos.
Our tutor's biggest Math recommendation for future test takers was exactly this: become comfortable enough with Desmos that you can recognize opportunities to use it even when a question does not initially look calculator-friendly.
If your entire Desmos strategy is: “I know how to type y = mx + b,” we have some work to do.
🚩 Know When One Math Question Is Winning the Fight
Even an expert tutor did not glide effortlessly through every single Math question.
There was one Advanced Math question late in Module 2 where he spent several minutes trying both Desmos and by-hand approaches before deciding he was not making enough progress. So he moved on. That is good test taking. Not failure.
He was able to solve most of the remaining difficult questions and return only if time allowed.
Students targeting high scores sometimes struggle with this because they feel they should be able to solve every problem. That thought can be expensive. If one question has consumed several minutes and given you almost nothing in return, it may be time to stop donating your test to it.
Flag it. Move. Collect other points.
One of the Biggest Lessons: Bluebook Comfort Does Not Guarantee Test-Day Comfort
This came up repeatedly during the live. Our tutor had taken Bluebook practice tests immediately before the August SAT and generally felt very secure with his timing. Then the real test—especially English Module 2—felt tighter.
His advice was not to stop using Bluebook. Quite the opposite. Use it to develop your test-day process—but also create a plan for what happens if the real module feels harder than your practice.
You should know:
when you will skip,
which questions you tend to answer fastest,
how you will handle the final five minutes,
and what you will do if several difficult questions appear in a row.
A pacing strategy that works only when everything goes beautifully is not really a pacing strategy.
September and October Students: Here's What I Would Do Next
The most useful reason to analyze the August SAT is not to obsess over what appeared on someone else's form. It is to improve your own preparation.
✔ Based on what we saw in August, I would focus on these areas before an upcoming SAT:
1. Strengthen Advanced Math
Do not spend all of your Math prep doing straightforward linear equations because they make you feel productive.
Spend time with:
nonlinear functions,
difficult quadratics,
variables and constants,
exponent relationships,
and multi-step Advanced Math problems.
2. Expand Your Desmos Toolkit
Practice using Desmos on problems where you would normally default to algebra.
Ask:
Can I graph this?
Can I regress this?
Can I define this function?
Can I test values?
The more methods you know, the more options you have under pressure.
3. Prepare for Harder English Pacing
Practice reading technical passages strategically. Do not automatically read every sentence with equal intensity. Find the claim. Find the conclusion. Go back for context only when the question requires it.
4. Practice Skipping Without Panicking
A skipped question is not a lost question. It is a question you have decided to answer later. That distinction matters.
5. Review Your Practice Tests—Don't Just Take Them
High-yield preparation does not mean taking a Bluebook test, seeing your score, sighing dramatically, and immediately opening another one.
Analyze the misses. What went wrong? Then practice that specific weakness before taking another test. Our tutor described that cycle—practice test, analyze, target the weakness, repeat—as one of the most effective parts of his own preparation when he moved from the high 1400s to a 1510 in high school.
Trying to Jump From the 1300s to a 1500?
A student asked during the live whether going from a 1310 to a 1500 on the September SAT was possible. The answer was yes—but the important part is what comes after the word possible.
A large score increase requires targeted work. Not simply more hours. Not six random practice tests in seven days. And definitely not a heroic Friday-night cram session fueled by panic and caffeine.
You need to identify what is suppressing the score, practice those areas deliberately, and keep repeating that process. One test can also feel very different from another. Our tutor took the SAT multiple times before reaching his 1510, and the experience reinforced an important point: students targeting highly competitive scores often benefit from giving themselves more than one testing opportunity.
⚡ A Few Test-Day Habits From Our Lightning Round
The live ended with some rapid-fire questions about how an experienced test taker actually handles the Digital SAT. A few answers are worth stealing.
✔ Hide the clock if it distracts you
Our tutor prefers hiding the timer so he does not compulsively stare at it. He checks periodically, and the timer becomes visible again when five minutes remain. That strategy will not work for everyone.
The important thing is to decide before test day whether seeing the clock helps your pacing or feeds your anxiety.
✔ You do not have to highlight everything
Rather than spending time using the annotation tool heavily, he mentally paraphrases difficult sentences in his own words. That forces active processing without turning the passage into a digital coloring book.
✔ Ask for extra scratch paper before you desperately need it
If you know you use a lot of paper on Math, ask for more during a calmer point in Module 1 rather than wasting precious time trying to get it during difficult Module 2. That is a tiny logistical detail. Tiny logistical details become much less tiny when the clock is running.
✔ What Parents Should Take Away From the August SAT
For parents, one of the clearest messages from this test is that score improvement at the higher levels is not only about learning more academic content. Execution matters.
A student can know the math and still lose points because:
they spend too long on one question,
they underuse Desmos,
they do not adjust when a real test feels harder than Bluebook,
or they struggle to extract the important information from dense English passages.
That is also why plateaus can be so frustrating. Sometimes the student does not need another 500 generic questions. They need someone to identify why those last questions keep going wrong.
💡 Final Thoughts: What August Tells Us About What's Next
If I had to summarize the August 2026 SAT in a few takeaways, they would be:
✔ English Module 2 deserves serious pacing practice.
✔ Dense scientific passages are still capable of slowing down strong students.
✔ Advanced Math and nonlinear functions deserve plenty of attention.
✔ Geometry did not dominate every form—but you still need to know it.
✔ Desmos remains one of the most powerful tools available on SAT Math.
✔ And the exact mix of questions can change depending on your form.
For students preparing for September or October, the goal should not be to recreate the August test. The goal is to learn from it. Practice consistently. Review intelligently. Build a pacing plan that survives a difficult module. Learn Desmos beyond the basics. And do not wait until the Friday night before your test to suddenly become extremely interested in SAT preparation.
Our tutor's final advice from the live was simple: give yourself enough time, commit to the process, and become genuinely comfortable using the tools available to you—especially Desmos.
If you want more support before your next SAT, we're offering several ways to prepare depending on where you are in the process. Our ⭐️ 1:1 SAT tutoring provides personalized help based on your individual strengths, weaknesses, and score goals, while our October SAT Advanced Strategy Class 🔥 is designed for students with a 1350+ baseline who want more in-depth strategy and practice.
And if you’re taking the September SAT and just need a focused final review, we also offer a ✨ 2-hour Advanced Review Crash Course the week before the test to help you sharpen key strategies and head into test day feeling confident.
Happy prepping!
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