How to Use Desmos to Your Advantage on the Digital SAT

Desmos is a tool that the College Board has implemented in the Digital SAT, beginning in March, 2024. While it’s a great tool, it can also be daunting. For students who are already nervous about a digital test, a digital graphing calculator is probably not the most helpful–unless you know how to use it best!

Tony Kim, Dean of Studies at MEK Review, answers questions about Desmos, and advises students of the best way to utilize Desmos in their test prep process, as well as during their official SAT test.

What made the March 2024 SAT test so difficult?

The March 2024 SAT was the first Digital SAT administered. Up until that point, the only resource we had was Bluebook tests 1 through 4, and the Digital SAT wasn’t even similar. Students were surprised to see that they implemented the built-in graphing calculator, Desmos, into the Bluebook app that students are required to use.

As far as I’ve gathered, there were quite a few open-ended questions that even Desmos couldn’t help students solve easily. I’m sure that’s why it was shocking to them.

What is Desmos?

Desmos is a free online math tool. You can use it for a variety of graphing functions, and it’s widely used throughout the math world. In fact, many colleges, universities, and high schools are using it currently. This year, the College Board has decided to implement it as well. Therefore, the Bluebook app that students need in order to take the test will now have Desmos built into it.

While Desmos has a lot of cool features, this isn’t necessarily the best news for some students. The main concern is that some students don’t know how to use it wisely. Still, it’s an excellent tool, so we should learn more about it. To see some examples of how to use it, check out this video!

Approximately 2:00 into the video, Mr. Tony Kim shows you where Desmos can be helpful…

Approximately 3:00 in the video, Mr. Tony Kim shares another problem. This one shows the slider.

About 4:05 into the video, Mr. Tony Kim shares a third example using Desmos to solve a problem.

Afterward, Mr. Kim shows an example where Desmos won’t be as useful. Be sure to click on the video to see his explanations in action!

How should you utilize Desmos?

Good question…It depends what stage you’re on. Are you Preparing for the SAT? Are you taking the official test? If you’re preparing for the SAT, you should learn how to use all these tools, because they will be helpful.

I’m not saying, “Don’t use Desmos, ever.” However, whenever you are preparing for the SAT, I highly recommend that you prepare with the mindset, “The College Board is not letting me use Desmos. It does not exist. I will just use my TI-84 calculator.”

As mentioned before, that was the main reason that the March SAT felt extremely difficult for a lot of students. They were so used to relying on Desmos while they were preparing for the test. When the College Board started to throw in some weird, open-ended questions where Desmos wasn’t going to help them much, it threw students off. So, my recommendation is for all students to prepare for the test in a way that allows them to solve every problem without having to rely on any special tools.

How should you utilize Desmos on the official test?

Now, this is a different story. Even though I asked you to prepare as if it doesn’t exist, you should still learn all the tools and their functions. When you’re taking the official test, all the students should use their best way. Often that will be Desmos, but it could be the algebraic way, playing with numbers or ratios, you name it.

You should always try to get your answer first using your most confident, effective, and efficient way. Then, when you double-check your answer, you should be using your second-best way. If you’re using two different ways to solve a problem, it’s almost impossible to get the same wrong answer both times. That’s why I highly recommend that you use whatever your best way is. If you can use Desmos and feel confident about it, go for it. That’s a good test-taking strategy.

In conclusion…

The main message that I want to get across is that you are the one taking the test, not Desmos. So, use Desmos wisely. Use that tool to fight with you, not fight for you. As long as you can find the fine line of understanding the topic and visualizing it with the weapon of Desmos, I think it’s a very useful tool for you to achieve great success in SAT Math. Good luck!

Watch the Video!

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