How to Use Khan Academy for Digital SAT Prep

Find the lesson behind a missed question

If you have taken a Bluebook SAT practice test, start with a question you remember. An answer you guessed correctly can be just as revealing as an answer you missed. Ask yourself what you would have done if the question had used different names, a new graph, or different answer choices. A clear gap, such as “I mixed up the starting amount and the rate,” gives you a reason to open a particular lesson.

Sign in to College Board’s My Practice with the credentials you used for Bluebook. Open your scorecard or Score Details, then choose Practice on Khan Academy. Find the question in the matching test walkthrough. Read as far as the first decision you handled differently and follow the link from the explanation to its skill lesson. If you have a long list of misses, a practice test review can help you choose a question that represents a recurring problem.

Starting before your first full practice test? Open the SAT Math or SAT Reading and Writing course and try its Course Challenge. Pick a skill that the results bring to your attention and look at a question you found difficult. College Board describes this starting point, along with the Foundations, Medium, and Advanced practice levels, in its guide to Khan Academy.

Pause where you have to make a choice

Imagine that a word problem describes a print shop that charges a setup fee plus a price per invitation. You remember how to multiply but keep multiplying the setup fee by the number of invitations. When you play the lesson’s worked example, pause just before the instructor writes an equation. Name the amount that is charged once and the amount that changes as the order grows. Write your expression, then compare it with the instructor’s setup.

Now give your expression a quick reality check. How would the bill change if the order grew by a single invitation? Would doubling the order also double the setup charge? Apply the same checks to a fresh exercise. A correct expression paired with a clear explanation tells you more about the skill than a familiar answer you recognize on sight.

In Reading and Writing, change the kind of pause you use. For a transitions question, cover the choices and finish a short thought in your own words. Perhaps the next sentence gives an example of a broad claim. Perhaps it challenges an assumption in the previous sentence. Name that relationship before looking for the transition that expresses it. When you compare your reasoning with the explanation, look for the words in the passage that settle the choice.

Pick your next level from your own work

Use Foundations when the first step feels unfamiliar. Try a lesson, then close the example and attempt an exercise that asks for the same decision. Move to Medium when you can recognize what the new question is asking and choose an approach yourself. Try Advanced practice when you want to see what happens to that approach in a less familiar question.

Keep the notes small enough to read before your next session. A filled entry could say, “Linear models. I treated a setup fee as a per-copy charge. I can now label both costs in a printing order. Next, set up a delivery charge from a table.” That final phrase tells you what to open. If the new question exposes a different gap, keep the original entry and start a new one for the problem you actually encountered.

Sample plan

• Monday, 20 minutes. Follow a missed linear-model question from My Practice to its Khan Academy lesson. Label the fixed and changing amounts.
• Tuesday, 15 minutes. Try a fresh Foundations question and describe the units of each term in your equation.
• Wednesday, 10 minutes. Open a transitions lesson. Predict the relationship between the sentences before you reveal the choices.
• Thursday, 20 minutes. Attempt a Medium linear-model exercise with a table. Check that your equation fits a second row.
• Friday, 15 minutes. Try another transitions question. Explain what the tempting alternate choice would imply about the passage.
• Saturday, 20 minutes. Work on the skill that still required a hint. Leave room in the session to explain a new item from scratch.
• Sunday, 5 minutes. Read your notes and write the next lesson title beside the specific decision you want to practice.

Carry a lesson into mixed practice

A lesson title gives away the skill. A mixed set asks you to recognize it. After studying linear models, put a printing-cost problem beside a problem about repeated percentage growth. Describe what stays constant in each situation before choosing a method. If your algebra is sound but choosing a model still feels difficult, write that distinction in your SAT error log. You can return to Khan Academy with a more precise question about when to use the method you learned.