ScoreReady SAT
Drill by score band: 400–500 500–600 600–700 700–800

Score band 600-700 · Problem Solving & Data Analysis

Percentages and Percent Change drills for 600-700

400500600700800

Targeted practice for students currently scoring in the 600-700 range, drilling exclusively on percentages and percent change.

What a 600-700 scorer needs from this topic

The 600 to 700 band is the largest plateau on the SAT Math section. Students stuck here are usually accurate on every easy question and most medium questions, but they lose four to six points to harder algebra and to one or two arithmetic slips per section. Breaking out of this band requires both a deeper toolbox and a faster execution speed on the questions you already know how to do. Strengthening-band drills target the harder question patterns: quadratic systems, exponential and rational manipulation, function composition, conditional probability, and the geometry questions that require an extra construction line you must add to the figure yourself.

For Percentages and Percent Change specifically, students in the 600-700 band need to focus on the question patterns the College Board uses at this difficulty level. Compute percent of, percent change, and successive percent operations. The questions below are pulled from the ScoreReady question bank and filtered to the 600-700 band based on difficulty calibration that matches publicly released College Board practice materials.

Drill these untimed first. Once you can produce a clean worked solution on paper for every question without notes, switch to timed mode and aim for under 75 seconds per question. That pace is roughly the average time per question on the actual SAT Math section, and it leaves time for the harder questions you will see at the end of each module.

Practice set

  1. 600-700 medium Percent of a Quantity

    A laptop originally priced at $125 is increased by 20%. What is the new price?

    1. A 150.00
    2. B 145.00
    3. C 155.00
    4. D 125.00
    Worked solution

    Answer: A — 150.00

    Increase = 125 × (20/100) = 25.00. New price = 125 + 25.00 = $150.00.

  2. 600-700 medium Percent Increase and Decrease

    A jacket originally priced at $825 is marked down by 15%. What is the sale price?

    1. A 696.25
    2. B 825.00
    3. C 706.25
    4. D 701.25
    Worked solution

    Answer: D — 701.25

    Discount = 825 × (15/100) = 123.75. Sale price = 825 - 123.75 = $701.25.

  3. 600-700 medium Successive Percent Changes

    A stock priced at $180 rises by 15% in one week, then falls by 15% the next week. What is the final price?

    1. A 180.95
    2. B 175.95
    3. C 180.00
    4. D 170.95
    Worked solution

    Answer: B — 175.95

    After the first week: 180 × (1 + 15/100). After the second week: multiply by (1 - 15/100). The result is 180 × (1 - 225/10000) = $175.95. Note: this is less than the original, even though the percentages are equal — a common SAT trap.

  4. 600-700 medium Percent in Word Problems

    A laptop originally priced at $795 is increased by 35%. What is the new price?

    1. A 795.00
    2. B 1,073.25
    3. C 1,068.25
    4. D 1,078.25
    Worked solution

    Answer: B — 1,073.25

    Increase = 795 × (35/100) = 278.25. New price = 795 + 278.25 = $1,073.25.

  5. 600-700 medium Percent of a Quantity

    A jacket originally priced at $665 is marked down by 25%. What is the sale price?

    1. A 503.75
    2. B 498.75
    3. C 493.75
    4. D 665.00
    Worked solution

    Answer: B — 498.75

    Discount = 665 × (25/100) = 166.25. Sale price = 665 - 166.25 = $498.75.

  6. 600-700 medium Percent Increase and Decrease

    A stock priced at $425 rises by 25% in one week, then falls by 25% the next week. What is the final price?

    1. A 403.44
    2. B 393.44
    3. C 398.44
    4. D 425.00
    Worked solution

    Answer: C — 398.44

    After the first week: 425 × (1 + 25/100). After the second week: multiply by (1 - 25/100). The result is 425 × (1 - 625/10000) = $398.44. Note: this is less than the original, even though the percentages are equal — a common SAT trap.

  7. 600-700 hard Successive Percent Changes

    A laptop originally priced at $910 is increased by 15%. What is the new price?

    1. A 1,051.50
    2. B 1,046.50
    3. C 910.00
    4. D 1,041.50
    Worked solution

    Answer: B — 1,046.50

    Increase = 910 × (15/100) = 136.50. New price = 910 + 136.50 = $1,046.50.

How to use these drills to climb a band

Climbing from one score band to the next requires a different study mix than climbing within a band. Within a band, you are mostly fixing careless errors and pattern-recognizing the question types you already understand. Climbing to the next band means adding new question types to your toolbox — patterns you currently recognize but cannot solve fluently. The 700–800 set in this drill is exactly that toolbox for students currently in the 600–700 range.

The single most reliable indicator that you are ready to move up a band is being able to explain a worked solution to someone else, in your own words, without referring to notes. Practice this with one classmate or one parent per week. The act of teaching exposes the gaps your timed solves did not.

Other 600-700 drills