Digital SAT Math Topics

The Digital SAT ends with two Math Modules. There are 17 topics that are tested on the Digital SAT Math Modules. The Digital SAT Math topics are listed below.

Linear Functions
Combining Like Terms & Solving Equations
Angles, Polygons, & 3-D Shapes
Quadratic Functions
Functions
Data & Probability
System of Equations
Ratios & Proportions
Exponential Growth/Decay
Circles
Percent
Transforming Functions
Trigonometry
Solving for a Variable in Terms of Others
Exponents
Common Math Tricks
No Solution & Infinite Solutions

Math Topics

Linear Functions

Linear functions questions test students’ knowledge on the linear equation $y=mx+b$ and how slope applies to rate of change and the y-intercept applies to the initial value.

Combining Like Terms & Solving Equations

Combining like terms & solving equations questions test students’ ability to combine like-terms and solve simple or complex equations.

Angles, Polygons, & 3-D Shapes

Angles, Polygons, & 3-D shapes questions include angles, triangles, quadrilaterals (specifically parallelograms), spheres, cylinders, cones, and rectangular prisms. Rarely, there can be a question about regular hexagons, but that is really a question about equilateral triangles, since regular hexagons can be divided into six equilateral triangles. Questions can ask the measure of an angle, length of a side, height, volume, or density.

Quadratic Functions

Quadratic functions questions test students on the forms of the quadratic function, zeros of the function, vertex of the function, and properties of the roots of the function.

Functions

Function questions typically ask students to evaluate a function using the equation, graph or table. Sometimes the question asks students to calculate the output, value of the function, and sometimes students are asked to calculate the input, normally the x-value or t-value.

Data & Probability

Data & probability questions test students’ ability to interpret data from a chart and/or perform calculations related to the probability of an event occurring. Some questions will ask to find the likelihood of an event occurring while others may ask for the total possible outcomes, such as number of different ordered groups or number of combinations.

System of Equations

System of equations questions ask students to solve for a variable in a system of two equations with two variables or to identify an equation(s) that represents a mathematical relationship in a text.

Ratios & Proportions

Ratio and proportion questions ask students to analyze the relationship between quantities, determine how one value compares to another, and solve problems involving equivalent ratios. These questions often require students to simplify ratios, scale values up or down, and use cross-multiplication to find missing terms. They may appear in contexts such as comparing ingredients in a recipe, analyzing speed or density, or solving word problems involving part-to-whole or part-to-part comparisons. Some complex questions give a ratio for lengths of a real item and a scaled version, then ask students to use that to calculate areas.

Exponential Growth/Decay

Exponential Growth/Decay questions on the Digital SAT test students’ knowledge of the exponential function $A=A_0(1\pm r)^t$ , including the initial value, ratio, exponent, and its accompanying graph.

Circles

Circles questions on the SAT test students’ knowledge of the equation of a circle, $(x-h)^2+(y-k)^2=r^2$ ; the area of a circle, $A=\pi r^2$ ; circumference of a circle, $C=2\pi r$ ; and relationships between angles in a circle and corresponding sector or arc lengths.

Percent

Percent questions test students’ understanding of percentages by asking students to solve for the percent, part, or whole, given the other values. Complex percent questions include fending the original value before an percent increase or decrease.

Transforming Functions

Transforming functions questions ask students to draw mathematical conclusions about the values of a function after a transformation, such as a horizontal translation, vertical translation, dilation, and/or reflection.

Trigonometry

Trigonomety questions test students’ knowledge of sine, cosine, and tangent in a right triangle or in similar triangles.
$sin(A)=\dfrac{opp}{hyp}$

$cos(A)=\dfrac{adj}{hyp}$

$tan(A)=\dfrac{opp}{adj}$

More complex questions involve the relationship that $sinA=cos(90-A)$ , where $A$ is an angle less than $90^o$ .

Solving for a Variable in Terms of Others

Solving for a Variable in Terms of Others questions on the Digital SAT ask students to solve for a specific variable in an equation or formula in terms of the other variables. Sometimes the questions are relatively easy and only require one step, while complex ones require multiple steps including factoring out a variable.

Exponents

Exponents questions on the SAT ask stuents to simplify an expression by combining terms and combining exponents, adding exponents when multiplying terms with the same base, subtracting exponents when dividing terms with the same base, and multiplying exponents when one term with an exponent is raised to another exponent. Some questions may ask students to identify equivalent forms of an expression written in more complex forms than the provided form.

Common Math Tricks

Common math tricks questions involve substituting values in for expressions or simply adding equations together to get a final equation that the question is looking for, rather than solving for each variable. Many times common math tricks can be applied to a number of different questions types on the test.

No Solution & Infinite Solutions

No solution & infinite solutions questions ask students to determine what value a constant must have in an equation for a system of equations to have no solution or infinite solutions. This is common for a system of equations including a linear equation and a quadratic equation. In this system, it is important to remember the rules about the discriminate in the quadratic formula for determining the number of solutions.

How Often Is Each Math Topic Tested on the Digital SAT?

There are 17 topics tested on the Digital SAT Math modules, but some are more common than others. Below is a table that shows each question category and how often it appears on the test based on the ten full-length paper practice tests released by the College Board.

Math Category	Overall	Min %	Max %
Linear Functions	15.0%	13.0%	18.5%
Combing Like Terms & Solving Equations	11.7%	5.6%	14.8%
Angles, Polygons, & 3-D Shapes	10.4%	5.6%	16.7%
Quadratic Functions	9.6%	5.6%	13.0%
Functions	8.9%	3.7%	16.7%
Data & Probability	8.7%	5.6%	11.1%
System of Equations	8.1%	3.7%	13.0%
Ratios & Proportions	5.7%	1.9%	7.4%
Exponential Growth/Decay	5.6%	3.7%	9.3%
Circles	3.5%	1.9%	5.6%
Percent	3.1%	1.9%	3.7%
Transforming Functions	2.6%	0.0%	7.4%
Trigonometry	2.0%	0.0%	3.7%
Solving for a Variable in Terms of Others	1.9%	0.0%	3.7%
Exponents	1.3%	0.0%	1.9%
Common Math Tricks	0.9%	0.0%	3.7%
No Solution & Infinite Solutions	0.9%	0.0%	1.9%

Diagnostic SAT with Assessment

The best way to find out what topics you need the most help with is to take a diagnostic SAT with an advanced assessment. Students can take a free practice SAT with Caddell Prep to get their accurate score based on the College Board scoring and an advanced assessment that shows exactly which Math topics they need the most help in to improve their scores the most.