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How Many Questions Can You Miss on SAT Math?

Pick the score you are aiming for and see your miss budget, or go the other way and turn a number of misses into a score. Forty-four questions, no penalty for a wrong answer.

I am aiming for
9
questions wrong is the most you can afford and still reach 700.
Or the other way round: I missed
of 44
700–720
estimated Math score with 9 wrong

These assume you were routed into the harder second module, which is the only realistic route to 700 and up. On the easier module the section caps out well below that no matter how few you miss.

The short answer

800all 44 right
780up to 1 wrong
750up to 4 wrong
700up to 9 wrong
650up to 14 wrong
600up to 19 wrong
550up to 24 wrong
500up to 29 wrong

These are estimates from the harder second module. Below roughly 600 the easier module is in play and the ceiling changes, which is why the top of this list is the part worth planning around.

Which ones you miss matters as much as how many

The digital SAT scores by question difficulty, not by a flat count, so two students with the same number wrong can land 20 points apart. That is also why the misses are not random. We graded 14,567 answers from 380 students on the same full-length practice test, and per-question miss rates ran from 4% on the friendliest question to 61% on the worst. Free-response questions are about a quarter of the test but half of the ten most-missed.

If you are budgeting misses, budget them on the questions everyone misses, not the ones you happen to dislike. Here is the full ranking.

Full table

Show all 45 outcomes
WrongRightEstimated score
044800
143780–790
242770–780
341760–780
440750–770
539740–760
638730–750
737720–740
836710–730
935700–720
1034690–710
1133680–700
1232670–690
1331660–680
1430650–670
1529640–660
1628630–650
1727620–640
1826610–630
1925600–620
2024590–610
2123580–600
2222570–590
2321560–580
2420550–570
2519540–560
2618530–550
2717520–540
2816510–530
2915500–520
3014490–510
3113480–500
3212470–490
3311460–480
3410450–470
359440–460
368430–450
377420–440
386410–430
395400–420
404390–410
413380–400
422370–390
431360–380
440350–370

Stop guessing at your miss count

A budget only helps if you know where your misses actually come from. A free full-length practice test is adaptive like the real one, scores the moment you finish, and lists the topics that cost you the points. No card needed.

Take a free full-length Math testRaw to scaled score calculator

Common Questions

How many questions can you miss on SAT Math and still get 700?

About 9 out of 44, assuming you were routed into the harder second module. The exact number moves a little from test to test because harder questions are worth more, so which ones you miss matters as well as how many.

How many can you get wrong and still score 800?

On most forms, none. An 800 usually needs all 44 correct, and on a few generous forms one slip still lands at 800. Plan for zero.

Do wrong answers cost you extra on the SAT?

No. There is no penalty for a wrong answer, so your raw score is simply the number you got right. Never leave a question blank.

Why is the answer a range instead of one number?

The digital SAT scores each question by its difficulty rather than counting them equally, so 40 right can be 740 for one student and 760 for another. Any site giving you one exact number is hiding that.

Does the second module change how many I can miss?

Yes, and it is the biggest factor. Your first module decides whether the second is the harder or easier set. The easier set caps the section well below 700 even with a perfect second module, so the miss budgets here assume the harder route.

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