Stop measuring yourself with full-length tests
The single most common mistake in SAT prep is over-reliance on full-length practice tests. Tests are diagnostic instruments — they reveal weaknesses, but they do not fix them. After your second or third complete practice test you already know your approximate math score and your approximate weak areas. Continuing to take more full-length tests at that point is like weighing yourself five times a day instead of changing your diet. The data you collect each time is real, but the activity does not change anything. Reserve full-length practice tests for once every two weeks, not once a week, and use the time you save for what actually moves the score: concentrated topic drilling.
Drill one topic per session, not a mixed set
Cognitive science research on motor and academic skill acquisition is unambiguous on this point: massed practice on a single skill produces faster initial learning than interleaved practice. The classic counter-argument is that interleaved practice produces better long-term retention, which is true — but only after you have built the skill in the first place. SAT prep with two months of lead time should be structured as topic-massed practice for the first six weeks, then a transition to interleaved mixed-topic practice for the final two weeks. ScoreReady's topic pages are designed for the first phase. Pick one topic per session, work all 25 questions, and then move on. Do not skip ahead, do not jump topics mid-session.
Review wrong answers like a forensic investigator
The most under-practiced part of test prep is reviewing the questions you got wrong. Most students glance at the worked solution, mutter "oh right, careless mistake," and move on. That review is worthless — it does not change anything that will happen on test day. Effective review takes about three minutes per missed question and looks like this. First, classify the error. Was it conceptual (you did not know the underlying skill), procedural (you knew the skill but executed a step wrong), or careless (you knew everything but lost focus)? Conceptual errors require revisiting the topic page and the underlying skill; procedural errors require finding three more questions of the same archetype and drilling them; careless errors require a checklist on your scratch paper, not more practice. Second, copy the worked solution onto fresh scratch paper line by line. The motor act of writing the steps cements them in a way that re-reading does not. Third, mark the question for revisiting in 48 hours. Spaced retrieval is the most reliably-supported memory technique in the cognitive science literature.
Build pacing in the last three weeks, not the first
Speed is the last skill to develop, not the first. If you are still building accuracy on a topic, timing yourself adds noise without signal. The right time to start strict timing is once your accuracy on a topic is at or above 80% in untimed conditions. At that point, set a target of 75 seconds per question and work in blocks of ten. The pacing skill that the SAT actually rewards is not "go fast on every question." It is the skill of recognizing within 30 seconds whether a question is going to take you 60 seconds or 180 seconds, and skipping the long ones for after you have collected the easy points. Practicing that triage decision is more valuable than practicing computation speed.
Sleep, then test
This is the most boring tip in any SAT advice document, and the most consistently ignored. The night before a practice test, do not study; the marginal value of one more hour of review on a single topic is negligible compared to the cognitive cost of a poor night of sleep. Sleep restriction degrades working memory capacity by measurable amounts in laboratory studies, and SAT math is essentially a working-memory task. Treat the night before like an athlete treats the night before a race. If you must do something, review your scratch-paper checklist for two minutes and then go to bed.