SAT Test Calculator Use

Bring your favorite calculator to the SAT exam...

The SAT allows you to bring a calculator to the exam - but don't celebrate just yet. If calculators made all the difference on SAT performance, then everyone would be scoring 800s on the math section, right?

But use it sparingly

SAT math questions are specifically designed not to require a calculator. If you rely on your calculator to answer more than about 1 out of every 5 questions, then you are doing something wrong.

Look for factoring and other shortcuts

SAT math questions present opportunities to benefit by factoring equations and using "guesstimation." If a problem seems too long or tedious to solve pretty much in your head and on scrap paper, stop and reexamine it. You probably missed a shortcut somewhere.

Keep in mind that every SAT question is written for a very specific purpose, to test a particular academic skill (as crazy as that must seem to you right now). SAT questions don't waste words. If you think a question presents an extraneous piece of data, look again, carefully. The data probably provides a clue as to how to make a long math equation much more manageable to solve -- which also means a much more efficient solution, from a time standpoint.

Never use the calculator until after you have read the question

The more heavily you rely on a calculator, the more likely you are to misread questions. That will have a negative impact on your score, since many incorrect answer choices are written to penalize test takers for not following directions. If you don't believe us, note what happens as you work through practice questions in your SAT preparations.

Times to use the calculator

You can, and should, use your calculator selectively. Use it to double-check your work, and to reassure yourself - if, for example, you should happen to draw a blank during the middle of the test and forget what 8 + 4 equals.

Things that can (and likely will) go wrong if you rely too heavily on Mr. Calculator:

You can hit a wrong key. Most calculators have small keys that are easy to hit by mistake. Even if you bring a larger calculator with a larger keypad (which, by the way, we recommend) you can still hit the wrong key. Haven't you ever dialed a wrong phone number?

(On a personal note, this writer once calculated the tax on a $25,000 car to be $83,000 in the course of some haggling at a dealership, during which the salesman had so kindly lent me his crappy, flimsy little calculator. Fortunately, I caught the mistake and got the correct answer on the next attempt. I also paid less than invoice for the car -  but that will be the subject of some other website. Yeah right!)

You become overconfident. A calculator cannot reason. It may spit out a number that you would never come up with on your own. You know, intuitively, that the average of 20, 25, 33, 78, and 81 CANNOT be 233. Your calculator doesn't. If you're lulled into believing that your calculator will ace the SAT for you, you may not catch that kind of mistake.

You can't go back and check the intermediate steps when you use a calculator. That's why calculators with print capabilities are banned from SAT test rooms.

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