Guide/06 SAT & ACT Prep
Desmos for SAT Math
The built-in graphing calculator tricks that turn many SAT math questions into 20-second questions, when to use them, and when solving by hand is faster.
Chapter 63 of 865 min readUpdated October 1, 2026 Preview
The digital SAT gives every student a full Desmos graphing calculator on every math question. Most students use it like a basic calculator. Students who score 750+ use it to skip the algebra entirely on a large share of questions.
This chapter teaches the specific Desmos moves that matter on the SAT, with video walkthroughs, and the question types where Desmos won't save you...
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What’s in this chapter
- 1Set up before you start
- 2Trick 1: Solve any equation by graphing
- 3Trick 2: Systems of equations
- 4Trick 3: Quadratics and other functions
- 5Trick 4: Sliders for unknown constants
- 6Trick 5: Check equivalent expressions
- 7Trick 6: Define functions and evaluate them
- 8Trick 7: Statistics in one line
- 9Trick 8: Regression from a table
- 10Trick 9: Inequalities and points
- 11Trick 10: Circles
- 12When not to use Desmos
- 13Going deeper