Updated September 1, 2026

Master Desmos for the SAT: 7 Skills to Boost Your Math Score

Bonus Material: DESMOS Quick Reference Guide

The DESMOS calculator built into the SAT can be a game-changer if you know how to use it correctly. Most students barely scratch the surface of Desmos’s capabilities, costing them valuable time and lost points on test day.

Mastering Desmos could be the key in helping you achieve your goal score. 

One of our SAT students raised their math score by over 100 points just by learning how to use Desmos strategically. With the right techniques, you can do the same. That’s a huge boost.

To optimize your SAT math score, download this reference guide to help you turn Desmos into your biggest test-day advantage. 

Then, read on to learn the 7 fundamental skills you need to unlock the power of Desmos and the 7 common SAT questions that you can use Desmos to solve, helping you maximize your SAT math score and stay ahead of the curve.

Jump to section:
What is DESMOS?
7 Desmos Skills Every Student Should Master for the SAT
How to Use Desmos to Solve 7 Common SAT Questions
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What is DESMOS?

Desmos is the official graphing calculator built into the College Board’s SAT. It’s accessible on every math question by clicking the “Calculator” icon in the Bluebook app.

Approximately half of SAT math questions can be solved using Desmos alone! For instance, you can use Desmos to:

  • Plot equations and instantly identify intercepts
  • Solve linear and quadratic equations
  • Graph and solve inequalities with visual shading
  • Analyze systems of equations
  • Find minimums, maximums, and parabola vertices

For other problems, Desmos can help you visualize and gut-check your answer. In this post, we’ll explain the most effective ways to use Desmos to give you the best strategic advantage.

If used correctly, Desmos isn’t just a calculator. It’s a tool to spot answers faster, check your work, and maximize your potential score. If you would like 1-1 support from an expert tutor, get in touch with our team to find the right match.

7 Desmos Skills Every Student Should Master for the SAT

To get the most out of Desmos on the SAT, it’s important to use the tool strategically. 

These 7 fundamental skills will help you move faster, catch mistakes, and solve harder questions with confidence.

To see a fuller list of the most important Desmos skills to master by test day, download our Desmos cheatsheet here:

Skill 1: Using the Desmos Keyboard

Speed matters on the SAT. Mastering the Desmos keyboard saves time and prevents input errors.

Keyboard Tips:

  • Exponents: Use ^ (Shift + 6), e.g., x^2
  • Subscripts: Use _ (Shift + -), e.g., x_1
  • Inequalities: Use <, >, <=, >=
  • Absolute Value: Use |x| by typing Shift + \
  • Tilde (~): Use Shift + ` (for regressions)

Let’s learn how to input some of the trickier math symbols using your keyboard, which looks like this on Mac and Windows: 

To input an exponent, you’ll need to use the caret (“^”) symbol on your keyboard. For instance, xy is written as x^y. To produce this sign, press SHIFT + 6 on your keyboard. 

To input a subscript, use the underscore (“_”) symbol on your keyboard. For instance, xy is written as x_y. The underscore symbol is written by using SHIFT + the dash button.

You’ll also want to know how to input the tilde (“~”) symbol, which will instruct Desmos to fit a table of values to an equation. The symbol is produced by using SHIFT + the mark button.  

Another symbol that can be tricky to input is the absolute value sign. The absolute value bars are written by using SHIFT + forward slash.

It’s also important to know how to type the inequality symbols. For the less than symbol (“<”), use SHIFT+ the comma button. For the greater than symbol (“>”), use SHIFT+ the period button. To write greater than or equal to, type “>” and then “=” into Desmos. For writing less than or equal to, type “<” and then “=”.

Exercise: recreate these expressions in Desmos and find the intersection points:

Hint: To plot these expressions on the graph, click the circle on the left-hand side of each expression.

Answer: (6, 42) and (23, 161).

Skill 2: Inputting and Plotting Points

It’s also useful to know how to plot individual points using Desmos. This can help you quickly visualize things like the vertex of a graph or check solutions to inequalities.

To plot a point (5, 4), simply type that into Desmos:

If you click the circle on the left, Desmos will plot that point on the graph.

If you check the “Label” button, Desmos will label that point with its coordinates. You can also give the point a more meaningful label, like “vertex” for a parabola or “center” for the center of a circle, to help you keep track of a plotted point.

Plotting points is especially useful to quickly find things like radius and diameter of a circle. 

If you set the point as a variable and click the circle on the left, you can also move the point around on the graph. This can be helpful for solving questions like finding a point (A, B) on a parabola when you’re only given one of the coordinates. 

Exercise: recreate the following in Desmos:

Skill 3: Calculating Mean and Median

For SAT statistics questions, you can also use Desmos to quickly find the mean and median of a list. For instance, input this list, A, into Desmos. Note the importance of using square brackets.

You can quickly find the mean and median by writing out the following in the next sections:

The circle option on the left allows you to represent the mean and median as a fraction rather than a decimal.

Skill 4: Creating Tables and Finding Regressions

We can also use Desmos to create a table of values and produce a regression. This is particularly useful for finding the equation of functions when given two or more points. 

Exercise: click on the ‘+’ button and fill in this table.

After creating the table, you can determine the slope and y-intercept for the resulting line. We can do this in line 2 by asking Desmos to produce a linear regression in slope-intercept form: 

Note: make sure to correctly input the tilde (“~”) and subscripts.

Using Desmos in this way is crucial to solving questions quickly and saving precious time on the SAT. If you want to hone your Desmos skills even further, reach out to one of our tutors for one-on-one personalized guidance.

Skill 5: Working with Circles 

We can also use Desmos to plot the equation of a circle. The graph will show the diameter’s endpoints at the top and bottom of the circle, as well as where the circle crosses the x and y axes. 

Exercise: graph the following equation of a circle:

Label the top point ‘a’ and the bottom point ‘b’. Then, we can find the diameter by calculating the distance between the two endpoints. We can also find the center of the circle by finding the midpoint between them.

Skill 6: Using Sliders

With Desmos, you can use “sliders” to adjust variables of an equation and visualize how this impacts the resulting graph. This can help you tackle questions on topics like graph transformations, where you can instantly understand how changing a certain variable alters the resulting graph. 

Here’s an example of how to use the slider. For the following parabola, we see that Desmos allows us to add a slider for the variable ‘a’. 

If we click that button, a sliding scale pops up. Moving the slider helps us understand how the value of ‘a’ impacts the resulting graph. In this case, the larger ‘a’ is, the greater the y-intercept of the resulting parabola.

Skill 7: Navigating the Graph

It’s also important to know how to adjust the graph on Desmos to quickly identify things like x- and y-intercepts.

To adjust the frame on the Desmos graph, you can use your touchpad to zoom in and out. You can also use the “+” and “-” buttons on the side to zoom. If you want to view a more precise range, click the “wrench” icon on the side of the graph to manually set a minimum and maximum window for your axis.

If you create a table of points, you can use the “Zoom Fit” icon (a magnifying glass with a “+” symbol) on the side of the table to automatically fit the points to the screen.

Example: recreate these expressions in Desmos and find the intersection points

For a list of the important Desmos skills, download our cheatsheet here:

How to Use Desmos to Solve 7 Common SAT Questions

Now that we’ve covered 7 of the most fundamental skills needed for using the Desmos calculator, let’s put these skills to action. 

Here are 7 common SAT math questions that Desmos can solve for you on test day. 

If you want more in-depth guidance about how to best use Desmos to your advantage, reach out to our experienced math tutors for personalized, one-on-one support!

Question Type 1: Solving Equations

Desmos is extremely helpful in solving equations, helping you instantly determine things like x- and y-intercepts.

Example 1: 

If we simply type this equation into Desmos, it provides both points where the parabola crosses the x-axis. Thus, we can see that the answer is 2.25, or 9/4. (You can also use Desmos to figure out that 9/4 = 2.25!)

Example 2: 

Again, to solve this question, simply type in the equation to Desmos. The resulting graph shows that the positive solution is x = 9.

Question Type 2: Solving Systems of Equations

Desmos is also exceptionally useful in solving systems of equations.

Example:

To solve this, simply type in the two equations into Desmos. The resulting graph instantly tells you that the two equations intersect at (2,0).

Question Type 3: Finding Minimums and Maximums

We can also use Desmos to quickly find the minimum and maximum of a function.

Here’s an example of a question about a parabola:

If we type this equation into Desmos, we can see that the minimum of this parabola is at its vertex. In this case, the x-value of the vertex is 6.25.

Question Type 4: Graphing Inequalities

Graphing inequalities is another common question type where Desmos comes in handy. We can use Desmos to graph the inequalities, and the resulting graph is already shaded in with the values that satisfy the inequalities.

Example:

If we input this into Desmos, we get:

From there, we can figure out the missing coordinate in (x, 53). One method is by simply testing each x-coordinate by plotting it on the graph: (-9, 53), (-5, 53), (5, 53), (9, 53), and seeing if any of them falls in the region where the green and red shaded areas overlap.

However, a much more efficient way is to recognize that we know that y=53, so we can plot that onto the graph:

This helps us see that, when y=53, any value of x that falls inside the shaded region must be less than -8.75. The only answer choice that satisfies this condition is answer choice A, -9.

We can even plot (-9, 53) on the graph using Desmos to be certain that it’s the correct answer. It’s a little difficult to see, but the point does indeed fall in the shaded region.

It’s possible to use Desmos in a variety of ways to solve, visualize, and check our answers. By practicing using Desmos, you can turn this calculator into the key for maximizing your score.

To get a list of the most important skills to master, download our Desmos cheatsheet here:

Question Type 5: Finding Numbers of Solutions

Another question type that Desmos is great at solving is finding the number of solutions to a system of equations.

Example:

To solve this problem, plot the equations and use a slider for h to figure out the value for which the two lines are parallel — in other words, they do not intersect, and thus have no solution.

Question Type 6: Regressions

One of the most powerful ways that Desmos can help you save time on the SAT Math exam is by running a regression on a list of points. This just means that Desmos finds the equation that fits a list of points. 

To do this in Desmos, first create a list of points in a table format. Then, input the format of the equation you want to fit the points to.

Example:

To approach this problem, plot the two points (0,10) and (-2, 325/36) as a table in Desmos. Recall that we can insert a table in Desmos by clicking on the “+” button on the side of the screen.

Next, use a regression to determine the equation that fits the plotted points. Recall that we do this in Desmos by using a tilde sign in place of the “=”. Don’t forget to add the proper subscripts to your variables, writing them as y_1 and x_1.   

This question dealt with an exponential function, but this strategy works with other types of regressions as well. For instance, if you want to fit the points to a line, you would input y_1 ~ mx_1 + b. If you’re looking to fit them to a quadratic equation, you would input y_1 ~ ax_1 + bx_1 + c. 

Question Type 7: Solving Functions

Desmos can also help you quickly solve questions about functions on the SAT. 

Example:

To solve this question, you can just plug everything into Desmos and it will output the answer:

With these examples, hopefully it’s clear how Desmos can be a superpower tool to help you ace the Math SAT. To make sure that you can use these skills in the most effective way on test day, make sure to practice these 7 key skills on the 7 types of SAT Math questions that we covered in this post.

Next Steps

Mastering these 7 fundamental Desmos skills and knowing the 7 common SAT Math questions to use them in will save you precious time on the SAT Math exam. Once you’re fluent in using Desmos, you’ll be able to tackle the questions with even more speed and confidence.

Want expert help? Our SAT tutors can show you exactly how to use Desmos efficiently and combine it with test strategy to hit your goal score.

Our SAT Prep tutors specialize in helping students master the exam with tailored strategies and a proven curriculum designed by test experts. Reach out to us if you’d like personalized 1-1 support.

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