The best free SAT practice comes from the makers of the test. College Board offers full-length practice tests in the Bluebook app, a Student Question Bank with thousands of real SAT and PSAT questions, and free lessons and quizzes through Official SAT Prep on Khan Academy. Because the SAT is now digital and taken in Bluebook, practising in the same app is the closest a student can get to test day. For students in China, these official tools cover almost everything a paid course would, at no cost.
This guide from Qingdao No. 1 International School of Shandong Province (QISS) explains each free resource, how to combine them into a study plan, and how students at QISS fit practice around testing on our own campus.
The Free Official SAT Practice Resources
College Board lists its free resources on its official SAT practice page. They work best together rather than on their own.
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Bluebook is the app students use to take the digital SAT, and College Board offers free, full-length practice tests in it. Taking a practice test in Bluebook lets a student get used to the exact screens, timer, tools and question layout they will see on test day. Bluebook also has a short test preview with a few sample questions, which is useful for a first look.
The Student Question Bank
The Student Question Bank contains thousands of real SAT and PSAT questions written by the makers of the tests. Students can filter questions by section, skill and difficulty, which makes it ideal for working on one weak area at a time rather than repeating whole tests.
My Practice and Tailored Practice
College Board’s My Practice area brings practice results together in one place. Its Tailored Practice option lets students choose from 80 questions across each knowledge and skill domain, so practice can follow the results of a full test.
Official SAT Prep on Khan Academy
Official SAT Prep on Khan Academy offers free lessons and quizzes and builds a study plan for each student. It is especially helpful for reteaching a concept, such as linear equations or a grammar rule, before practising more questions on it.
Question of the Day and Free Tutoring
College Board’s Question of the Day offers a quick daily question from official SAT content, a good habit for busy weeks. College Board also points students to Schoolhouse.world, which runs free, live, small-group tutoring sessions led by trained peer tutors.
How to Build a Free SAT Practice Plan
Free resources only help if they are used in the right order. A simple plan that works for most students looks like this:
- Start with a full practice test in Bluebook. Treat it like the real thing: one sitting, timed, no phone.
- Review every mistake. Sort errors into content gaps, careless errors and timing problems, because each needs a different fix.
- Fix content gaps on Khan Academy. Use the lessons to relearn the concept behind each missed question type.
- Practise by skill in the Student Question Bank. Work through targeted sets until the skill feels routine.
- Take another full Bluebook test a few weeks later to measure progress and check pacing.
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Talk to admissions →Repeat the cycle as many times as your timeline allows before the official test. Our SAT, ACT, PSAT and AP testing timeline by grade shows when to start and when most students sit their first SAT.
Practising for the Digital Format
The digital SAT is adaptive: each section has two modules, and the second module’s difficulty depends on performance in the first. That makes steady accuracy in the first module especially valuable. It also changes how students should practise:
- Use the built-in tools. Bluebook includes a graphing calculator for the math section, and practising with it saves time on test day.
- Practise reading on screen. Reading and Writing passages are short, but reading carefully on a screen is a skill in itself.
- Pace by module, not by section. Each module has its own timer, so practice should train pacing within a module.
Our guide to SAT vs ACT compares the two tests if your child is still choosing between them.
Free SAT Practice for Students in China
What Is China's Version of the SAT?
Students in China sometimes ask how the SAT compares with the gaokao (高考), China’s national college entrance examination. The two serve different systems: the gaokao is used for admission to universities in China, while the SAT is used by many universities in the United States and some elsewhere. Students aiming for US universities usually prepare for the SAT alongside a US-style curriculum such as AP courses.
Do Families in China Need Paid SAT Practice?
Because official practice is free, families in China do not need to pay for practice materials. Where paid help adds value is in coaching and accountability, and a school’s college counseling team can often provide much of that. Our guide to SAT preparation in China covers preparation in more depth, and once the test is done, our guide on how to send SAT scores to colleges explains the next step.
SAT Practice and Testing at QISS
Can You Take the SAT at QISS?
Yes. QISS is an authorized SAT and AP testing site, and our SAT and AP test center offers the SAT on campus three to four times a year. That lets students plan a first sitting and a retake around their practice cycle without travelling to another city. Across our graduating classes, students average 1300 on the SAT.
Our college counseling team helps students plan testing alongside their college list and application deadlines. If your family would like to see how QISS prepares students for US university admissions, you are welcome to visit our campus.
Apply to QISS
Start your application in about 10 minutes. Once enrolled, your child has access to our college counseling team from Grade 9 onward.
Start your application →Frequently Asked Questions
Does Khan Academy have free SAT practice tests?
Khan Academy offers free Official SAT Prep lessons and quizzes with a personal study plan. Full-length digital practice tests are taken in College Board’s Bluebook app, which is also free.
How many practice tests should I take before the SAT?
There is no fixed number. A useful rhythm is one full Bluebook test to start, targeted practice on weak skills, and another full test a few weeks later to check progress and pacing.
What is China's version of the SAT?
The closest equivalent is the gaokao (高考), China’s national college entrance examination, which is used for admission to universities in China. The SAT serves admission to many US universities.
Are paper SAT practice tests still useful?
College Board describes its paper practice tests as nonadaptive, so they do not match the digital test experience. They can still help with content practice, but full practice tests are best taken in Bluebook.
Can I take the SAT at QISS?
Yes. QISS is an authorized SAT and AP testing site and offers the SAT on campus three to four times a year.
