Why Doing Math on Paper (Not in Your Head) Is the Key to SAT and ACT Success

When students set out to improve their SAT or ACT math scores, one of the most common assumptions is that speed is everything. It’s true that both tests are timed, and working efficiently matters—but the fixation on racing through problems is often exactly what undermines top-tier performance on either exam.

The reality is that most of the points students lose on the math sections don’t come from the hardest questions. They come from simple, avoidable errors on questions of easy to medium difficulty. And those mistakes almost always have the same cause: doing too much math mentally instead of writing it out in the interest of going faster.

In my nearly 25 years of experience tutoring students for these exams, I see this pattern repeat itself over and over:

• Students believe that solving problems quickly, often in their heads, will “save time.”

• They skip steps, combine multiple operations mentally, or rush to jot down only the final answer.

• Small calculation mistakes—adding when they meant to subtract, dropping a negative sign, misreading a decimal—creep in unnoticed.

• Those small mistakes cost far more points over the course of a test than taking an extra few seconds to work out each step on paper ever would.

In fact, the most successful test-takers—the ones who reliably score in the upper percentiles—are not the ones working at a breakneck pace. They are methodical and consistent. They solve problems step by step, laying out their work clearly ON PAPER. They check that each piece makes sense and is free of errors before moving on.

This approach accomplishes several things:

✅ It keeps your place in multi-step word problems.

✅ It makes it easier to spot calculation errors before they become final answers.

✅ It builds confidence and prevents the panic that comes from realizing, too late, that you made a mistake several steps ago.

While it can feel counterintuitive, this steady, deliberate pace often means finishing the section with fewer careless errors and a higher overall score. The “time saved” by trying to shortcut the process usually evaporates when you have to re-check your work—or worse, when you miss questions entirely because of rushed mental math.

A big part of my work with students preparing for the SAT and ACT is helping them build this discipline:

• Learning to solve one step at a time, on paper.

• Developing patience and calm focus rather than rushing.

• Building a habit of attention to detail that carries throughout the entire test.

If your goal is a high score, this is the approach that works. Careful, clear, stepwise problem-solving isn’t just good practice; it’s the most reliable way to avoid the small errors that cost points on test day.

If you’re preparing for the SAT or ACT and want to learn more about how to strengthen these skills, I’m always here to help. Consistent guidance and accountability in applying these methods can make the difference between an average score and the results you’re truly capable of achieving.