When to flag a question and move on

Staying on a hard question is fine while you're still getting somewhere. Leave when one of these happens:

• In Reading and Writing, you've read the passage twice (about 60 seconds) and still can't say what it means.
• In Math, about 90 seconds have gone by and you don't know what to write next.
• You've worked through the algebra twice, and neither try got you to one of the choices.
• You switched from B to D, and now you're back on B.
• You're doing arithmetic that seems too heavy for the SAT, or working out more than the question asks for. That usually means there's a shorter way you haven't seen yet.

If a question feels hard but you know your next step, keep going. Try to end the module with five flags or fewer. Each one needs about a minute when you come back, so a long list leaves too little time for any of them.

Leaving takes about 15 seconds. Do it in this order:

1. Cross out the choices you've ruled out while you still remember why. When the answer eliminator is on, each choice has a small circled letter to its right. If you don't see them, click the eliminator, the crossed-out “ABC” at the right end of the bar above the question. Click a letter to cross out that choice, or press Ctrl+Alt+1 to Ctrl+Alt+4 for A to D.
2. Pick the best choice that's left.
3. Click Mark for Review, next to the question number at the left end of the same bar, or press Ctrl+Alt+V. The bookmark beside it turns red.
4. Click Next, and try not to keep working on the question in your head while you read the next one.

A crossed-out choice stays on the screen with a line through it, and an Undo link replaces its circle in case you change your mind. Don't cross out the choice you picked, though. In our practice tests that clears your answer without a warning. Guessing and the answer eliminator covers the eliminator in more detail.

A grid-inA question where you type your own answer instead of picking one of four.Read the lesson has no choices to cross out. Type your best number, then flag it.

A flag doesn't change your score, and nobody else sees it. Use Mark for Review in every practice test, so leaving a question is a habit by test day.

The “Question 7 of 27” button at the bottom center of the screen opens the question list, with a numbered square for every question in the module.

A question you guessed on and flagged shows a solid square with a red bookmark, because flagging doesn't erase your answer. Click any square to jump to that question.

The Go to Review Page button at the bottom of the list opens a page called Check Your Work, and clicking Next on the last question takes you there too. It shows the same squares, and it's where your second pass starts.

Finish the whole module before you go back to anything. Then, from the review page, go back in this order:

1. Put an answer in every dashed square.
2. Then work the flags where you were down to two choices. You may need only one detail to decide between them.
3. Leave the flags where you didn't know how to start for last. They can eat the time the others need.

Skip the questions you answered and didn't flag.

A second look can catch “least” read as “greatest,” an answer for the wrong quantity, a sign or unit slip, or a choice you crossed out too early. It won't give you a formula or a word meaning you didn't know the first time. If that's what stopped you, keep your guess and go to the next flag.

Change an answer only when you can say what was wrong with it. Suppose the question asks for the value of $3x$. Your work ends at $x = 5$, and you picked 5. You answered for the wrong thing, so the answer you want is 15.

Or the passage says the tremor may have caused the crack, and the choice you picked says the tremor caused it. Your choice is surer than the passage is, so look again at the others.

When you're done with a flagged question, click Mark for Review again to take the bookmark off. Otherwise the review page can't show you which flags still need you.

With 2:00 left, stop what you're working on and go to the review page. Put an answer in every dashed square, even if you have to guess without crossing anything out. Then go back to your best remaining flag.

When the clock hits zero, the module closes for good. You can't come back to it from the next module or during the break, so make every change before then.

On test day the review page won't let you move on until time runs out. A practice test has a button there that ends the module early. Leave it alone and use the spare minutes on your flags. Pacing each module has the rest of the timing plan.