Free Practice SAT Tests - How To Get 40+ Official SAT Practice Tests
Taking practice tests is one of the best ways to get ready for the SAT. The College Board has publicly released 10 Practice SATs on their website. In this article, we will tell you where to find these and many more! All of these these are previously administered SATs, so there is no better resource out there to use for practice.
To start, let’s begin with the College Board’s 10 practice SATs. All of the tests included below have been released publicly by The College Board and are available to the public.
**The College Board removed Practice Test #2 and #4 from their website for undisclosed reasons. You can still access them using the links above.
Practice Tests #1-4 were the first 4 practice tests that the SAT released when the SAT was redesigned in 2016. None were actually administered. These tests are not the most accurate reflection of the current SAT, as they include certain question types and math topics that have never been tested on official SATs. We do not recommend using practice SAT #1-4 unless you have taken all other practice tests available.
Practice SAT #5-10 are released official SAT test dates from 2016, 2017, and 2018.
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Where To Find More Practice SATs - Free Links
Now before we go any farther, let me quickly explain where these additional SATs come from. Each year, the March, May, April, and October SATs are released to students who took the SAT and paid an additional for the Question-and-Answer Service (QAS). The QAS gives a copy of the SAT they took and exact answers. Copies of these tests are then scanned, downloaded, and shared across the internet and used as practice tests by students and test prep organizations. All of these tests are readily available online for free (if you know where to look).
You can click this link, and you will find where Brian Mcelory, kindly, provides updated links to the SAT tests. If you google “sat qas pdf download,” you will also be able to find links where you can find the tests. Someone is illegally selling the tests, but there is no need to purchase them as they are widely available for free.
How to Use Practice SATs Effectively
Practice SATs are a critical part of preparing to take the SAT, but it is important to know how to use them and when to take them. Using practice SATs effectively will help you get ready to score well on test day. We recommend that students take 2-3 practice SATs before taking the real test. Here are 4 strategies we recommend to use practice SATs effectively;
1) Take your practice SAT in one sitting when possible.
The SAT is a very long and difficult test....it's almost 4 hours if you include the essay! That is a very long time to sit and stay focused on a Saturday morning. After taking the test, many of our students have told us how difficult it was to stay focused during the SAT. The only way to build up your testing endurance and be ready for the SAT is to take a practice test as if it is the real SAT!
We know it’s no fun, but practicing the SAT in 1 big sitting is crucial to success on test day.
We recommend taking your practice SAT on a Saturday or Sunday morning in a quiet location at home or to sign up and take a proctored practice SAT. I know that finding time to complete the full test in one sitting may be difficult, but is it the best way to get ready. Even if you cannot take all of your practice SATs like this, do make sure that you complete at least 1 practice SAT in one sitting before taking the real SAT.
2) Keep strict time when completing your practice SATs.
When you do not have time to complete the SAT in one sitting, it is still effective practice to break the test up into two sittings or even individual sections. Whenever you complete any part of a practice SAT, make sure to do so under strict, timed conditions. Managing the time constraints and finding the right pacing that works for you is a huge part of getting prepared for the SAT. Do not give yourself a few extra minutes to finish as even these few minutes will permit you to complete a few more questions and can greatly inflate your score. The practice tests are great for finding your weaknesses, so be honest with yourself, keep strict time, and then work to improve your score.
3) Never do practice SATs off the computer.
Print out the practice SATs! I cannot stress this enough. We have many students who just pull up the tests on their computers or tablets and work from there. Without the paper copy, students will lose time scrolling back and forth and usually cannot complete the test as quickly. In addition, it does not allow students to build good test-taking strategies, such as annotating in the Reading Test, crossing out incorrect answers in the Writing & Language Test, and labeling figures in the Math Test. You'll be given a big paper SAT booklet on test day, so print out the practice tests and treat them like the real thing.
4) Review your practice SATs.
Taking practice tests is only useful if you learn from your mistakes on the practice tests! After taking a practice SAT, you should take time to review every question that you missed AND every question and you got right but were not 100% confident on. If you don't know why you missed a question or exactly why you got it correct, you are not going to improve on subsequent practice SATs. Once you find your areas of weakness, put in some study time focused on your areas of weakness before taking another practice SAT. If you want to see your scores improve, you need to spend 1-3 hours reviewing your practice SAT.
5) Add in some test prep if your practice test scores are not improving.
Some students can get ready for the SAT on their own using just the practice tests. However, most students will benefit from having some expert instruction on the SAT. The additional help, whether it be in the form of a private tutor or a SAT class, can help students identify their weaknesses and learn the right strategies to maximize their scores.
If you are preparing for the SAT and struggling to make the type of progress you are looking for, check out our Ultimate SAT Course, which includes the most comprehensive free trial in Test Prep and is taught by an expert tutor with over 6,000 hours of experience. We also offer live classes and private tutoring.