The Digital SAT is All About DESMOS

The Digital SAT was designed to be a more straightforward test-taking experience than the paper exam. The test is shorter, the reading passages are shorter, and students can now use their calculators for both math sections—a significant departure from the calculator-free section that used to haunt the dreams of more math averse test-takers. 

As it turns out though, the Digital SAT, while still challenging, is even more straightforward than some tutors and teachers thought! Why? The ability to use a calculator on both math modules! Though there’s still a time and place for scratchwork (as we’ll discuss in an upcoming post), the Digital SAT Math Modules are largely tests about DESMOS. 

While it’s important to learn the underlying math concepts on the exam, one of the major keys to success on the test is finding out how those concepts apply to DESMOS. For example, let’s take quadratic equations. A review book may show you how to solve a quadratic equation factoring by hand. That’s a useful skill! The truth is, though, that it’s one you won’t often need on the test. Rather than factoring by hand, you can simply enter the equation into DESMOS, and see where the graph intersects the x-axis. (If this isn’t familiar material, you can check out this Khan Academy page to get caught up.)

The same goes for systems of equations! Review books will rightly show you how to solve these by hand. Truth be told, though, you will rarely have to use those kinds of techniques. Instead, you can simply plug both equations into DESMOS and see where they intersect. 

Utilizing DESMOS this way is critical for success on the math portions of the test. It saves us time and energy, which allows us to devote more attention to harder questions, and reduces the odds that we make careless errors. It helps us answer questions more accurately, and reduces anxiety about time management. 

How do you actually get good at using DESMOS though? There are a few options! Khan Academy, which partners directly with the College Board, is always a reliable, free option for SAT prep, and they have a bevy of DESMOS resources that you can use. There are also a number of YouTube channels like LearnSATMath that have great DESMOS tutorials. For paid resources, we find that 1600.io is the créme de la creme of teaching DESMOS-oriented math principles and techniques. 

Of course, you can also work with a Tutoring Service of New York tutor, who can show you the ropes of how to use DESMOS (and how to do math problems that don’t involve DESMOS). To learn more about our services, check out our site or email us at info@tutoringserviceny.com!