Resources · a guide

The resources I used to get a 1490

All of it free, none of it an affiliate link. This is the list, and how to use each thing on it: what it is for, when to start it, and when to move on.

1490Total
790Math
700Reading & Writing

The short version

Use them in this order.

Not everyone needs every step. Start where you are, and skip what is already solid.

  1. Join the community. DSATuz before anything else. It is where the rest of this list surfaces.
  2. Fix the foundation. If the basics are shaky, The SAT Gamified before anything hard.
  3. Learn the Math. Ottocento's course end to end, with James Lu's Desmos videos alongside it.
  4. Drill. This site's bank, skill by skill, then College Board's Student Question Bank for more.
  5. Test. The practice tests here first, then Bluebook's last, as live runs.

Stuck at any point? Ask on r/screwthesat.

Free, and worth your time

The list, and how to use it.

Ordered by how much difference each one actually made. Every one of these is free, and every one of these is where my own preparation actually came from.

01

DSATuz · TopTierPrep

A Telegram channel of more than thirty-five thousand people preparing for the same exam you are. This is where I found most of the free material I used — not one resource but the place the resources surface, along with people who will actually answer you.

If you take one thing from this page, take this one. Join it before you do anything else.

How to use it

  1. Join on day one, before you start anything else on this list.
  2. Search the channel before you ask. Most questions have already been asked and answered there.
  3. Save material as you find it. Good links scroll past quickly in a channel that size.
Join
02

Ottocento · Digital SAT Math

The course behind my 790. It teaches the Math section from the ground up rather than drilling you on questions you do not yet understand, and it is complete — work through it end to end and there is no topic left that can surprise you.

How to use it

  1. Go through it in order. Each part builds on the one before, and skipping around is how gaps appear.
  2. After each topic, drill the matching skill here: open Practice, filter to that one skill, and do ten.
  3. When a question beats you, go back to that topic's video rather than on to the next one.
Watch
03

James Lu

For Desmos, in depth, plus the tricks that save you minutes you did not know you were losing. My whole Desmos foundation came from his videos — and then Ottocento filled in the conceptual gaps underneath it. Those two together are the entire Math story for me.

Half of what looks like algebra on this test is faster as a graph. He is the one who taught me which half.

How to use it

  1. Watch his Desmos videos alongside Ottocento, not after it.
  2. Try every trick on a real question straight away. The calculator in this site's practice and tests is Desmos, the same one the real test gives you.
  3. Whenever you solve something the long way, ask whether a graph would have been faster.
Watch
04

The SAT Gamified

If you are at the beginning and the basics are not solid yet, start here rather than throwing yourself at hard questions. It makes building the foundation feel like a game instead of a chore, which matters more than people admit when you have months of this ahead of you.

How to use it

  1. Start here if the basics are not solid yet, before anything hard.
  2. Pair it with the Easy band here: in Practice, filter by difficulty and build up from there.
  3. Move on when easy questions feel routine. That is your cue for the courses above.
Watch
05

Bluebook

College Board's own app, and the only place you can sit a full-length adaptive practice test under real conditions — real timing, real interface, real scoring. Do these last, and treat every one as a live run.

How to use it

  1. Save these for the end. Sit the practice tests here first.
  2. Sit each one in a single go, timed, as if it counts.
  3. Afterwards, drill every skill you missed before you sit the next one.
Open
06

Student Question Bank

College Board's own released questions with answer rationales, free, no account needed. Practice them on their site — their licence does not permit anyone, this site included, to republish them.

How to use it

  1. Use it once this site's questions in a skill start to feel easy, especially the Hard band.
  2. Filter it the same way you filter here: one domain, one skill, one difficulty at a time.
  3. Note the skills you miss there, and drill those here.
Open
07

r/screwthesat

This site's subreddit. Post a question you can't get past, argue with an answer you think is wrong, or say what the bank is still missing. Everything on this list is something you read alone; this is the one place you can ask.

How to use it

  1. Post a question you can't get past, along with what you tried.
  2. If you think an answer here is wrong, say which question and why. That is how mistakes in the bank get found and fixed.
Open