From Quora: My Answer to "What do you need to know to take the SAT test (math and English topics)?"

For math, you need to understand basic arithmetic, algebra, geometry, graph and chart reading, and extremely basic statistics, complex numbers, and right triangle trigonometry. Basically, it’s what any American high school student should know by the end of the first month of 11th grade (junior year in high school).


For the reading portion, you should be able to determine the meaning of words from their context, basic ideas about how points are made in written English (i.e., how arguments are structured and stories are told), the main idea of a written passage, how two different authors might approach the same topic, and the ideas they’d have about that topic. You should also be able to skim the passage to find answers to questions, and how to avoid “distractor” wrong answers to those questions. You should know that the word you don’t know is probably the wrong answer to the question. Basically, if you’ve made it to 11th grade, you should understand the reading.
For the writing (non-essay) section, know the rules of punctuation, subject, verb, and tense agreement, how sentences are structured, and a few grammatical rules such as when to use “who” or “whom,” and when “he,” “she,” and “they” are to be used.


For the essay, you should learn what the terms “ethos,” “pathos,” and “logos” mean, the names of basic rhetorical arguments (or at least how to describe them if you can’t remember the names), and how to identify them for the essay. As I stated for the reading section, you should know how a written argument is structured (the prompt will always be a piece of persuasive writing, such as a newspaper editorial). This is because you will be asked to describe how the author makes his or her point in the prompt, not whether you agree or disagree with the point the author makes.


If you have time, you can point out flaws in the author’s argument, but only after you’ve discussed all the ways the author makes his or her point. If you actually have time, you can note “The author’s argument could have been strengthened by including [something left out] and addressing [the obvious counterargument the author seems to have dismissed or completely ignored].” You most likely won’t have that much time, so concentrate on describing what the author does right.
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You can learn more by going to my website - Tutoring by John Linneball or to my YouTube channel : John Linneball Tutoring