Is Desmos Dead on the SAT in 2026?

By Laura Whitmore

When the digital SAT first came out, you could solve almost every math problem with Desmos and still move quickly. That’s not true anymore in 2026.

The SAT has shifted, and there are now plenty of questions where Desmos doesn’t just fail to help—it actively slows you down. In some cases, it can even push you toward the wrong answer because of messy decimals, tricky sliders, or too many moving parts.

I'm Laura Whitmore and I've been coaching the SAT for nearly 20 years and founded Strategic Test Prep in 2021 to help students raise their scores with clear, practical strategies. I also scored a 1590 on the Digital SAT, and this lesson is based on the exact kinds of questions students can expect to encounter on the updated 2026 exam.

In this post, I’ll walk through three SAT-style problems where solving by hand is faster, cleaner, and more reliable than using Desmos.

👉 Don't feel like reading? Watch the full video here. 

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💡 Problem 1: “No Solution” Equations

Now, this first problem looks like the kind of thing students want to type straight into Desmos: an equation with constants, ugly fractions, and a question asking for the value of a variable.

But this is exactly where Desmos can waste your time.

When the equation involves fractions that produce non-repeating decimals, Desmos often spits out ugly values that are hard to interpret. If you try to use sliders to adjust constants like RRR and SSS, you’ll likely spend forever hunting for the exact value.

The key phrase in the problem is this: the equation has no solution.

That immediately tells you what you need to do.

A “no solution” equation happens when the variable terms cancel out but the constants don’t match. A simple example is:

2x + 5 = 2x - 7

If you subtract 2x from both sides, you get:

5 = -7

That’s impossible, so there’s no solution.

So what’s the SAT really testing? It’s testing whether you know that for “no solution,” the coefficients of x on both sides must match. Once you recognize that, you don’t need to solve the whole thing. You just set the x-coefficients equal to each other and solve for the constant you’re asked about.

That’s how you get the value of r, which in this case comes out to:

r = 5/9

And that right there is another reason Desmos isn’t ideal. Fractions like 5/9 are not easy to “land on” using sliders. This problem is simply faster by hand.

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💡Problem 2: Quadratics With Constants

The second problem is another classic trap. It’s a quadratic equation involving two positive constants, A and B, and it asks about the product of the solutions.

A lot of students see a quadratic and think, “Okay, graph it.”

But here’s the issue: you’re not dealing with one constant—you’re dealing with two. That means you’d need multiple sliders, and then you’d need to calculate the product of two solutions afterward.

That’s a long route.

For a quadratic in the form a𝑥^2 + b𝑥 + c = 0, the product of solutions is c/a

So once you identify c and a, you're basically done.

In this problem, the constant term is AB, so that’s your c. The coefficient in front of 𝑥^2 is 63, so that’s your a.

That means the product of the solutions is:

AB

63

The problem tells you the product equals KAB. So you set:

AB

63 = KAB

Divide both sides by AB, and you get:

K = 1/63

That's it.

This is the perfect example of a problem that looks “Desmos-friendly” but is actually much faster with one algebra shortcut.

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💡Problem 3: Systems of Equations With Binomials

The third problem is a system of equations, and systems are another category where students instinctively open Desmos. But not all systems are created equal.

If the system is clean and linear, graphing might be fine. But when the system involves binomials and multiple terms inside parentheses, typing it correctly takes time—and one small mistake can ruin the whole thing.

This is where solving by hand is the better move.

In this system, if you add the two equations together, something really nice happens: the

𝑦-terms cancel immediately because they’re additive inverses.

That leaves you with a simple result:

2(𝑥 − 5) = 360

At this point, a lot of students automatically divide by 2 to solve for

𝑥 − 5. But the question doesn’t ask for 𝑥. It asks for:

6(𝑥 − 5)

So instead of dividing and then multiplying again, you can skip steps. If you need

6(𝑥 − 5), and you already have 2(𝑥 − 5), you multiply both sides by 3:

6(𝑥 − 5) = 360 ⋅ 3

So the final answer is:

1080

That’s fast, clean, and way more efficient than graphing.

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⏰ The Big Takeaway: Desmos Is a Strategic Tool

Desmos is still incredibly useful on the Digital SAT. But in 2026, using it for everything is no longer the best strategy. Some problems are designed to punish over-reliance on graphing. If you learn how to recognize those question types, you can save time, avoid mistakes, and improve your score.

If you want more practice like this, we are offering our updated 2026 Math workbook for free.

And if you want a deeper breakdown, we also have an upcoming Desmos Crash Course where we’ll walk through what Desmos does best, how to use it confidently on test day, and how to save serious time on the Digital SAT. 

Until next time, happy prepping.

Happy Prepping,