Table of Contents 
Table of Contents 

Introduction 
How to Follow This Study Schedule 
Materials and Resources 

One Week SAT Study Schedule 

Day 1, Saturday 
Day 2, Sunday 
Day 3, Monday 
Day 4, Tuesday 
Day 5, Wednesday 
Day 6, Thursday 
Day 7, Friday 
Test Day 
 
 

   
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Introduction
Only one week until the SAT? No problem! 
 
This is our crash-course study schedule. I don’t recommend it to those who are scoring in the 1000 
range and suddenly want to jump up to the 1300 range. For that, you’ll need more prep time (check out 
our ​3-month study schedule​). 
 
However, if you’ve already taken the SAT and are taking it again, this one week SAT study schedule 
will be the perfect refresher course. Or, if you are already a 4.0 student who has always excelled at 
standardized tests but wants a little bit of a “tune up,” then you’ve come to the right place. 
 
What the test will come down to is the following: knowledge of fundamentals and how well you can 
remain focused and be near the top of your game for three plus hours. That’s why this one week SAT 
study schedule will have you do many timed practice sections and a full-length practice test. 
 
For this schedule, you’ll be spending two to three hours on the weekend and about 90 minutes on 
weekdays.​ ​I’ve set this up so that Day 1 corresponds to a Saturday, Day 2 to a Sunday, and so on. Day 7 
will be the day before the SAT (you’ll get a little bit of a study reprieve for that day). 
 
If you can’t finish quite everything on a given day, don’t fret. Just do as much as you can in this one 
week SAT study schedule. For the next day, always do just that day’s work. For example, if you don’t 
finish Day 2’s work, on Day 3 just do the work for that day. Don’t “carry over” one day’s work into 
another.   

   
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How to Follow This Study Schedule 

● The first thing you will do every morning is read a full-length SAT passage and complete the 
questions that follow it. This will take exactly 15 minutes. The first day it will be hellish, but come 
test day when the first thing you’ll have to do when you open your test booklet is a 65-minute 
reading section, it won’t be that bad (you might even think, ​that was it?​). 
 
● Get a mental math app on your phone. (If you are one of those very few armed without a 
smartphone, then use the Internet instead). Whenever you have a spare moment, start knocking 
out some mental math. Sure it will hurt at first, but in seven short days you can go from “my 
brain hurts from 17 + 9” to “bring it on, 17 x 9!” Of course, structure is great. So I’ll slip in some 
15-minute mental math prep, starting on Day 2. 
 
● The SAT isn’t so much about learning strategies as it is about drilling concepts. Also, there is no 
guessing penalty. Along with far fewer trap answers, this is another reason to breathe a sigh of 
relief! So, this one week SAT study schedule is about doing many, many practice tests, and not 
so much about learning a “system” that you have to apply to the test. 
 
● That said, try to understand the fundamentals at play in a question. If you don’t understand 
these, you’ll need to review them (that’s where the Magoosh lessons come into play). The 
Magoosh blog is also very helpful from a content standpoint. Most of all, you’ll want to 
understand why you answered a question incorrectly. Don’t just zip through these practice 
tests.

 
Materials and Resources 

Magoosh SAT Prep 

That’s us! Our ​New SAT Prep​ includes lessons and questions that you will work through, thereby 
increasing your SAT efficiency. 
 
Magoosh High School Blog 

   
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An invaluable (and free!) resource. If you want extra help on a section or general advice, you can search 
for posts relating to the SAT (make sure you don’t click on posts relating to the old SAT!). ​This section 
of the blog​ is completely dedicated to the Redesigned (New) SAT. 
 
*​The Official SAT Study Guide (2016 Edition) 
This is the SAT bible that has questions created by the writers of the test (the College Board). You’ll 
have four full-length practice tests, which give you a sense of the actual difficulty and complexity of the 
test (it’s more difficult than the content found in the other books). 
 
You won’t have to go through all four tests in one week (I’m not ​that​ evil!) but, almost everything you’ll 
need from a practice question standpoint point is found in this book. ​Find it on Amazon​ for under $20. 
 
We also have ​Official SAT Study Guide​ video explanations​ to the College Board questions. Check them 
out! 
 
Official SAT Practice by College Board + Khan Academy 
This is a free resource offered in conjunction with the College Board, which is the company that 
designs the SAT. Perhaps the best part of the ​College Board/Khan Academy partnership​ is that it brings 
us practice materials that are completely free. These free materials include the same practice tests 
offered in ​The Official SAT Study Guide.​ Really, the only new things you are paying for when you 
purchase ​The Official SAT Study Guide​ are the explanations that come in the back of the book (which 
aren’t that great anyhow). So… 
 
*Unless you like working offline and/or just love the smell of books, you might want to stick to the free 
practice tests, and not purchase ​The Official Guide​ — which, again, contains the exact same tests found 
on the Khan Academy site.   

   
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One Week SAT Study Schedule
Day 1, Saturday 

This is the big day. Turn off all electronic gadgets and for the next three hours commit yourself to the 
SAT. 
 
● Do the first test in the ​Official Guide,​ pg. 334-388. 
 
Give yourself the exact time for each section. If you finish early, you can move to the next 
section, but don’t go back. On test day, you won’t be able to move on to the following section 
until the proctor has called time. This will give you time to rest if you finish early. Even if you 
finish early on this practice test, I suggest resting, but if you don’t finish with much time, avoid 
the temptation to rest. This will hurt the first time, but it will be invaluable preparation for the test 
you take a week later. 
 
After you are finished, do the following: 
● Grade the test. 
● Figure out your score. 
● Review a few of the questions you missed trying to figure out why you got them wrong. 
● Write down two to three things you’ll do differently for the next test. 
● Write down a reasonable target score you hope to get on the real test. (Shooting for 50-100 
points over, given the one week constraint, seems pretty reasonable). 
 

Day 2, Sunday 

● “Wake up” Reading passage, pg. 119-126 

● Watch three​ ​Magoosh Lesson Videos​ of your choice. Based on your practice test performance, 
choose an area or areas that you need the most work in.    

   
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 For instance, if your writing score was much lower than your reading score, you might want to 
focus on writing fundamentals. 

 
● Math section, pg. 482-489 
● Writing section, pg. 468-481 
● Mental math, 15 minutes 
 
Whenever you miss a question, go back and figure out, to the best of your ability, why you missed 
the question.​ Though you won’t always be able to do this, just trying to work it out will help your 
performance next time around. 
 

Day 3, Monday 

● “Wake up” Reading passage, pg. 452 

● Two more Reading sections, pg. 455-463 
● Math section, pg. 491-503 
● Watch two to three​ ​Magoosh Lessons​ of your choice. It might be a good idea to find videos 
relating to any of the concepts or fundamentals you struggle with during the practice sets. 
● Mental math, 15 minutes 
 

Day 4, Tuesday 

● “Wake up” Reading passage 

● Reading section, pg. 564-569 
● Writing section, pg. 585-594 
● Math section, pg. 602-617 
● Watch two to three ​Magoosh Lessons 

   
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 ● Mental math, 15 minutes 
 

Day 5, Wednesday 

● “Wake up” Reading passage, pg. 466 

● Writing section, pg. 578-584 (1-22) 
● Math section, pg. 595-601 
● Watch two to three​ ​Magoosh Lessons​. In general, you can intersperse these videos anywhere, 
even in the day’s practice questions. 

 
● Mental math, 15 minutes 
 

Day 6, Thursday 

● “Wake up” Reading passage, pg. 572-574 

● Writing section, pg. 690-703 
● Watch two to three ​Magoosh Lessons 
● Mental math, 15 minutes 
 

Day 7, Friday 

● “Wake up” Reading passage, pg. 575-577 

● Math section, pg. 704-711 
● Mental math, 15 minutes 
 

Test Day 

● No studying! 

   
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 ● Eat a full breakfast before leaving home. 
● Read our​ ​SAT Test Day Checklist​. 
● Remember to pack: 
○ Several #2 pencils (no mechanical pencils and ​no pens​!) 
○ Your calculator 
○ A drink and a healthy-but-sugary snack 
● No phones allowed! 
 
You made it through the One Week SAT Study Schedule! Congratulations, and good luck on your 
SAT! 

   
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