These aren’t minor tweaks, these are fundamental shifts in how the College Board is testing certain concepts. Some old tricks still work, but new question templates are emerging that require deeper understanding and more careful reading. Whether you’re aiming for a 1400 or pushing for that perfect 1600, understanding these trends will give you a real advantage.
We’ve also created a free worksheet with practice questions covering these trends. You can download it at the bottom of this post.
Let’s dive in.
Trend #1: Verb Hacks Still Work, But New Templates Are Muddying the Waters
One of the most reliable shortcuts for verb questions has been the “3-1 rule”: when three answer choices are conjugated in third person singular and one in third person plural, the correct answer is almost always the plural option (and vice versa). This hack has been effective for years and continues to work, but with an important caveat.
Recent tests have introduced questions with uncommon blends of plural, singular, and non-conjugated verb forms. When all four options follow different patterns, the traditional hack becomes less useful.
This means you’ll actually need to parse the sentence structure to determine whether you’re dealing with a fragment or complete sentence, and then identify whether the subject is plural or singular. The shortcut still has value, but expect to encounter at least one or two verb questions per test where you’ll need to rely on grammatical analysis rather than pattern recognition.
Trend #2: New Sentence Structures with Superlists
Superlists (lists where each item is separated by a semicolon rather than a comma) have appeared on the digital SAT since its launch. However, recent tests have introduced more complex applications of this structure that challenge common assumptions about punctuation.
One recent question featured a superlist within a fronted modifier, followed by what appeared to be a run-on sentence. Students who reflexively treated periods and semicolons as interchangeable punctuation marks (since both can separate independent clauses) selected the wrong answer. The correct choice maintained the period to clearly mark the sentence boundary, avoiding the addition of yet another semicolon that would have created confusion within an already complex structure.
While this sentence structure feels awkward and even grammatically questionable, it represents the College Board’s willingness to test edge cases in punctuation rules. The official question bank contains at least one similar example, but the December test was the first to explicitly test the relationship between superlists and sentence boundaries.
Expect to see this type of question at least once in upcoming tests. When you encounter a superlist, pay close attention to where sentences begin and end, and don’t assume that different punctuation marks are always interchangeable.
Trend #3: Transition Words Are Becoming More Obscure
Traditionally, transition word questions have tested four main categories:
- Contrast: however, nevertheless, on the other hand
- Exemplification: for example, for instance
- Continuation: moreover, likewise, furthermore
- Causation: thus, therefore
Recent tests have moved away from these familiar options toward more obscure transition words and phrases. Instead of “however,” you might see “granted.” Instead of “therefore,” you might encounter “fittingly” or “in doing so.”
This shift means that simply recognizing the logical relationship between sentences is no longer sufficient. You also need to understand the nuances of less common transitional phrases. The December test even included options like “there” and “blurring these lines”: the latter being particularly unusual, as it doesn’t clearly fit into any traditional category.
The takeaway: expand your vocabulary of transition words beyond the standard list. Even if you correctly identify that two sentences have a contrast relationship, you may struggle to select the right answer if you’re unfamiliar with the specific transitional phrase being tested.
Trend #4: Bullet Point Questions Occasionally Require Reading the Bullets
The standard approach to “student notes” questions is to ignore the bullet points entirely and focus on the task described in the question stem. This strategy works about 90% of the time, as the answer can be determined solely by eliminating options that don’t fulfill the stated objective.
However, recent tests consistently include at least one bullet point question where this shortcut fails. When you can’t definitively eliminate options based on the task alone, you’ll need to reference the actual notes to determine which answer choice best represents the information provided.
Here’s a critical pattern to watch for: the College Board often creates trap answers that echo language from the question stem itself. In the December test, the correct answer used “sought” while a trap answer used “aim”—which appeared in the question. Students who rely on surface-level pattern matching rather than careful reading of the notes are likely to select the wrong answer.
Strategy: start by attempting to answer the question without reading the bullets. If you’re down to two or more viable options, then (and only then) read the student’s notes carefully to make your final selection. And don’t be seduced by answer choices that simply repeat words from the question.
Trend #5: Model-Based Inference Questions Remain the Hardest Reading Items
The most difficult Information and Ideas questions continue to focus on scientific reasoning, specifically, questions that ask you to make inferences about research findings or to identify evidence that strengthens or weakens a claim.
These questions are challenging for several reasons:
- The passages are dense and filled with specialized terminology
- The topics are often unfamiliar (obscure scientific studies, technical research)
- The question requires understanding research methodology, not just comprehension
The key to these questions is recognizing that they test your understanding of the scientific method: how independent variables affect dependent variables, how confounding factors complicate results, and how different types of evidence support or undermine a hypothesis.
While understanding this framework makes these questions more manageable, they remain among the hardest on the test. The College Board shows no signs of making them easier or less frequent, so developing comfort with scientific reasoning is essential for anyone aiming for a top score in the Reading and Writing section.
Trend #6: Advanced Factoring Skills Are Increasingly Important
Recent tests have featured challenging questions that require factoring quadratics, recognizing hidden quadratics, and manipulating higher-order polynomials. These questions go slightly beyond what’s typically found in the official practice tests and question bank.
For example, the December test included a problem requiring students to factor an expression by splitting the middle term: a technique that many students haven’t practiced extensively. While not conceptually difficult, these problems are challenging because:
- Questions that look different may use the same solution approach
- Questions that look similar may require completely different techniques
- Pattern recognition becomes less reliable
- Desmos can solve some but not all of these problems
- The specific trick is hard to identify if you haven’t seen it before
These characteristics make factoring questions ideal candidates for the hardest items at the end of Module 2. Expect to see continued emphasis on factoring skills throughout 2026, including techniques like:
- Splitting the middle term
- Recognizing perfect square trinomials
- Factoring by grouping
- Identifying hidden quadratics in complex expressions
Trend #7: The Right Triangle Altitude Theorem Appears Frequently
Similar triangles are tested on every SAT, and most students can recognize standard configurations. However, there’s one pattern that consistently trips up test-takers: the similar triangles created by drawing an altitude to the hypotenuse of a right triangle.
Here’s the setup: when you have a right triangle positioned with its hypotenuse as the base, and you draw an altitude creating a right angle with the hypotenuse, you create two smaller triangles that are similar to each other and to the original triangle.
This concept is straightforward once you understand it, but it’s extremely difficult to work out during the test if you’ve never encountered it before. The College Board has clearly recognized this knowledge gap and has been exploiting it strategically.
The December test featured this concept twice in the final questions of the hardest Module 2 version—appearing just a few questions apart. While it may not appear on every test, this pattern has been showing up with increasing frequency in recent administrations.
Why it’s effective as a hard question:
- The setup is easy to miss if you don’t know what to look for
- The solution becomes trivial once you recognize the pattern
- It creates a clear divide between prepared and unprepared students
This is a learnable pattern that provides significant value for minimal study time. Make sure you understand this theorem before your test date.
Trend #8: Complex Percentage Systems Problems Are Standard in Module 2
Multi-step percentage problems have become a fixture in the later questions of Module 2. These problems require you to combine multiple percentage operations (increases, decreases, and percentage-of calculations), often with deliberately awkward numbers.
The main challenges with these questions:
- Easy to make conversion errors between percentages and decimals
- Difficult to verify if your answer is off by a factor of 10 or 100
- Multiple steps increase the chance of computational errors
- Traditional algebraic approaches can be time-consuming
The Desmos solution: system of squiggles
There’s an efficient Desmos technique for these problems that many students don’t know about. When you have a system of equations involving percentages:
- Type an opening square bracket
[ - Enter all left-hand side expressions, separated by commas
- Type a tilde
~ - Type another opening square bracket
[ - Enter all right-hand side expressions, separated by commas
- Close both brackets
Desmos will solve the system instantly. This method is remarkably robust and works across most variations of percentage system problems.
Given that these questions appear on virtually every test, learning this Desmos shortcut is time well spent.
Trend #9: The “No Solutions vs. Infinite Solutions” Trap
This question type has become one of the most effective traps on the SAT, consistently catching students at all skill levels.
The Setup: you’re given a linear equation and asked to identify which of four options, when combined with the original equation, will produce a system with no solutions.
The Trap: students quickly check each answer choice, and when they find the option that creates identical equations (infinitely many solutions), they select it and move on.
The Problem: the question asked for NO solutions, not infinite solutions. The correct answer is typically the option where the lines are parallel but not identical—same slope, different y-intercept.
This question first appeared in the official question bank in spring 2025 and has been featured heavily in recent tests. Despite its conceptual simplicity, it has an unusually high error rate because students skim the question and fail to notice the specific wording.
How to avoid the trap:
- Read the question carefully (is it asking for no solutions or infinitely many solutions?)
- Before selecting your answer, reread the question stem one more time
- Remember: No solutions = parallel lines; Infinite solutions = identical lines
The College Board will continue using this trap because it effectively identifies students who rush through questions without careful reading.
Trend #10: Circle Equations Require Completing the Square
Circle equation questions have become increasingly common in the final questions of Module 2, and they consistently test one specific skill: completing the square.
The Challenge: you’re given a circle equation in general form (expanded), and you need to find information about its center or radius. Since the equation isn’t in standard form, you can’t directly identify these values.
The Desmos Problem: while you can graph the equation in Desmos, the result is often messy and difficult to interpret accurately. Unless you have unlimited time and exceptional patience, this approach is inefficient at best.
The Solution: completing the square allows you to convert the equation from general form to standard form, making it easy to identify the center coordinates and radius.
This skill is non-negotiable for students aiming for scores above 770. Circle questions requiring completing the square appear regularly, and there’s no efficient alternative method for solving them within test time constraints.
If you don’t already know how to complete the square, prioritize learning this technique. It’s a high-value skill that appears frequently enough to justify the practice time investment.
Key Takeaways for 2026
The College Board continues to evolve the digital SAT, introducing more complex question templates while maintaining many established patterns. Here’s a quick summary of the trends that will define test prep in 2026:
- Verb agreement shortcuts remain useful, but new question formats require stronger grammatical knowledge
- Superlist punctuation is being tested in increasingly complex ways
- Transition word vocabulary is expanding beyond traditional options
- Most bullet point questions don’t require reading the notes, but at least one per test will
- Scientific reasoning questions remain the hardest reading items
- Advanced factoring techniques are essential for high math scores
- The right triangle altitude theorem appears frequently in hard Module 2 questions
- Multi-step percentage problems are standard and benefit from the Desmos “system of squiggles” technique
- The no-solutions vs. infinite-solutions trap catches students who don’t read carefully
- Circle equations consistently require completing the square
The common thread across these trends is that surface-level pattern recognition is becoming less reliable. The College Board is rewarding genuine understanding over test-taking tricks, while still maintaining predictable question types that reward strategic preparation.
Free Practice Worksheet
We’ve created a practice worksheet featuring questions that exemplify each of these trends. Download it below to test your understanding and identify areas where you need additional practice.
YouTube Video
If you’d rather watch than read, this video covers the same ideas as the article.