The complete map

Every Digital SAT question type, explained

The Digital SAT isn't a mystery box. It draws from a fixed list: 11 Reading & Writing skills and 4 Math domains, repeated on every test. Learn the list and each question stops being a surprise and starts being a category you've seen before. Here's the whole map, with a plain-English guide to each — what it measures, and the move that turns its medium questions into its hard ones.

The skills and domains below are the College Board's own, taken from the Assessment Framework for the Digital SAT Suite. The plain-English guidance under each one is ours.

Your guides for the map below

Flint, a red fox blacksmith, the Forge host — **Flint**your host

Corvus, a crow in a suit — **Corvus**evidence

Judge Strix, an owl in a robe — **Judge Strix**inference

Priya, a peacock — **Priya**words in context

Coach Bramble, a badger — **Coach Bramble**transitions

Bucky, a deer in a jersey — **Bucky**the student

Reading & Writing

Two of the four modules. Every R&W question belongs to one of these eleven skills — and the test tells you nothing about which. Learning to name the type on sight is half the battle.

Central Ideas & Details Pin down the main point a passage is built to make, and the details that serve it. Read the guide Command of Evidence: Text Match a claim to the one quote that actually proves it. Read the guide Command of Evidence: Data Find the figure in a graph or table that supports the passage’s point. Read the guide Words in Context Choose the word the sentence’s own logic demands, not the one you like. Read the guide Cross-Text Connections Put two authors in a room and say exactly how one would answer the other — agreeing, qualifying or disputing. Read the guide Rhetorical Synthesis Pick the sentence that hits a stated goal using the given notes. Read the guide Transitions Read the logical turn between two sentences, then name it. Read the guide Inferences Supply the one conclusion the passage has already earned. Read the guide Text Structure & Purpose Name the job a sentence does, not the fact it states. Read the guide Boundaries Punctuate by clause structure, not by where you would pause. Read the guide Form, Structure & Sense Make the underlined word agree with the partner the sentence hides. Read the guide

Math

The other two modules. Four domains, tested with multiple-choice and student-produced (grid-in) responses. A calculator is allowed throughout.

Algebra Linear equations, functions, systems and inequalities — build the model out of the words, solve it, then say what the answer means back in the situation. Read the guide Advanced Math Nonlinear equations and functions — quadratic, exponential, polynomial, radical: solve them, rewrite them into equivalent forms, and use the form that shows the feature you need. Read the guide Problem-Solving & Data Analysis Ratios, rates, percentages and units; data, models and probability — and what a sample can and cannot prove about a population. Read the guide Geometry & Trigonometry Area and volume; lines, angles and triangles; right-triangle trigonometry; circles — including whether the figure gives you enough to determine the answer at all. Read the guide

Find out which of these types is actually costing you points.

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