SAT Exam Pattern 2025 - Paper Pattern, Marking Scheme and No. of Questions

SAT Exam Pattern 2025: Highlights

Changes in the SAT Exam Pattern

The College Board has fully transitioned to the new Digital SAT exam on March 9, 2024. Some of the crucial changes introduced in the SAT exam pattern 2025 include the following.

Digital SAT exam vs Paper-Based SAT (old)

• Digital Format: One of the biggest changes is moving from traditional paper based tests to a completely digital format.
• Shorter Duration: The test duration is now 2 hours and 14 minutes instead of 3 hours.
• Adaptive Testing: This feature ensures the difficulty level of the questions based on the student’s responses.
• Calculator Use: You can use calculators throughout the entire Math section.
• No Optional Essay: The essay portion has been removed.
• Faster Results: You can expect to receive your scores within days rather than weeks.

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SAT Exam Pattern for Reading & Writing Section

The reading and writing section in the SAT 2025 exam pattern in India consists of short reading passages ranging from 25 to 150 words, followed by an MCQ. The RW section is divided into two modules. Each module has 25 operational questions and 2 pre-test questions. The total number of questions in the reading & writing section is 54. The total duration of this section is 64 minutes. Time per module is 32 minutes. So, for each question, the time is 1 minute and 11 seconds. The SAT exam syllabus 2025 consists of passages from subject areas like literature, history/social studies, the humanities, and science.

Types of Questions in SAT Reading and Writing Section

The SAT pattern of the reading and writing section consists of questions in the form of MCQs that fall under four domains, as mentioned below.

• Craft and Structure: This section checks the comprehension, vocabulary, analysis, synthesis, and reasoning skills of the test takers. It also accesses the knowledge needed to understand and use high-utility words and phrases in context, evaluate texts rhetorically, and make connections between topically related texts.

• Information and Ideas: This section checks the comprehension, analysis, and reasoning skills and knowledge and the ability to locate, interpret, evaluate, and integrate information from texts and informational graphics such as tables, bar graphs, and more.

• Standard English Conventions: This section measures the ability to edit text and understand the core conventions of Standard English sentence structure, usage, and punctuation.

• Expression of Ideas: This section checks the ability to revise texts and improve their effectiveness of written expression and to meet specific rhetorical goals.

SAT Exam Pattern for Maths Section

The maths section in the SAT exam consists of 70% MCQ and 30% student produced responses. This means that some questions will require the candidate to enter the answer. The Math section is divided into two modules. Each module has 20 operational questions and 2 pre-test questions. The total number of questions in the reading & writing section is 44. The total duration of this section is 70 minutes. Time per module is 35 minutes. So, for each question, the time is 1 minute and 35 seconds. This maths section measures the fluency and understanding of application abilities of maths skills and concepts that are most essential. The sample question types of Math can be checked in the SAT sample exam papers.

Types of Questions in SAT Math Section

The SAT test syllabus for the Maths section includes areas like

• Algebra

• Advanced Math

• Problem-solving and Data Analysis

• Geometry and Trigonometry

SAT Digital Exam Pattern with Score Range 2025

The digital SAT exam pattern PDF provides a better understanding of the overall exam format and structure.

Also Read: SAT Syllabus

What is the Format of the SAT Exam Pattern?

The new digital SAT 2025 exam pattern in India has a shorter test duration of 2 hours and 14 minutes with a 10-minute break. This SAT paper pattern 2025 utilizes the multistage adaptive testing exam, where the same skills are accurately measured with a shorter test. The candidates can move backward or forward while answering the questions in one particular section. Once the time runs out for the first section, the second module gets started. The format of the SAT exam includes MCQ questions in the reading and writing sections. In the math section, 70% of the questions are MCQ, whereas 30% os the questions are student-produced responses which means that the candidate is required to enter their own response.

Adaptive Testing Format of SAT Exam Pattern 2025

As the SAT test is adaptive, the difficulty level of questions changes to medium, easy, hard, etc., depending on the performance of the candidate.

How Does Adaptive Testing Work in SAT?

Each section consists of 2 modules.

Module 1: Consists of a mix of easy, hard and difficult questions

Module 2: Consists of a mix of varying difficulty-based questions depending on the candidate's performance in Module 1.

SAT Exam Duration 2025

Students can refer to the table below to learn about the SAT exam duration for the new test. Here is the SAT exam pattern in India for aspirants:

How is the Digital SAT Exam Scored?

It is important to understand the SAT marking scheme per question. The questions in the SAT exam are scored as either right or wrong. If you were wondering, is there negative marking in SAT exam, then the answer is no. There is no negative marking in the test. So students can attempt every question. The total SAT score ranges from 400 to 1600. So, what is the lowest SAT score? The lowest possible SAT score is 400, and the highest is 1600. The SAT scores are a sum of the scores in each section.

• Math Section: 200 - 800 point scale

• Reading and Writing Section: 200 - 800 point scale.

How To Prepare For SAT 2025?

Once you are totally aware of the SAT exam pattern and syllabus, start the preparation for the SAT. Candidates can take the help of best exam preparation books and practice tests as resources. Here are some of the SAT preparation tips that guide your SAT preparation.

• Use the College Board SAT preparation material: These resources provide the appropriate SAT exam portion and give subject knowledge and concepts required for preparation.
• SAT Practice Test: Practicing a decent number of practice tests helps the candidate to get comfortable with the pattern of the SAT exam and format.
• Keep a Target Score: Check the minimum required SAT qualifying scores of the universities and set a target score ahead of it. Now, plan the preparation and ways to achieve the required target score.

SAT Preparation Books 2025

Here is the list of the best SAT preparation materials. These books include all the concepts of the SAT exam pattern and syllabus and provide sample questions for practice. Check them below.

• Official Digital SAT Study Guide

• Barron SAT Study Guide

• Kaplan’s Digital SAT Total Prep 2025

• Critical Reading: A Complete Guide to SAT Reading by Erics L. Metzer

• SAT Prep Black Book by Mike Barret

• SAT Math Orange Book Volume I & II

SAT Sample Papers

Know more about SAT:

• How to send SAT scores to colleges?

• SAT Re-design