Khan Academy Just Added Its Hardest SAT Questions

Khan Academy has added new challenging SAT Reading and Writing questions to its Official Digital SAT prep course. You can find them in Unit 11, Challenge: Highest-difficulty practice, with new questions spanning every Reading and Writing skill — Words in Context, Text Structure and Purpose, Cross-Text Connections, Central Ideas and Details, Command of Evidence, Inferences, Boundaries, Form Structure and Sense, Transitions, and Rhetorical Synthesis.

I've worked through a good portion of these questions myself, and they're challenging (in a good way). Students aiming for a top score will benefit from spending time in Unit 11.

Khan Academy is explicit that this unit is meant for students who have already completed the Advanced units (8–10), which leads directly to my first bit of advice.

Don't skip ahead

I know the temptation. If the hardest questions are the ones on the test you're worried about, why not go straight there?

Because you should strengthen your foundation before you jump to the hardest questions. A student who jumps into Unit 11 before working through the earlier units usually comes away thinking they're bad at reading and writing, when what actually happened is they attempted an advanced problem without fully mastering the skills it was built to test.

Spend time in the earlier units first, which progress from foundation, to medium, to advanced. There are around 30 questions within each lesson, given to you 4–5 at a time. By working up to the challenge unit, you will master strategies such as reading each question carefully, simplifying the claim, predicting before you peek, and eliminating bad answers BEFORE you encounter the hardest versions of each question type.

Hard is the point

Once you get there, expect it to feel uncomfortable.

Studying that feels smooth and easy tends to teach us less than studying that makes us work. Researchers call these desirable difficulties: the effort of struggling with a problem, retrieving what you know, and getting it wrong is what actually builds lasting skill. Rereading an explanation and nodding along feels productive. Wrestling with a question you can't crack feels frustrating. Yet the second option fosters more learning and growth. If you feel momentarily overwhelmed by a Unit 11 question, take a deep breath, remind yourself that being challenged is the point, and dig in! You've got this.

Build an error log

On Khan Academy, students can't move backward through a lesson. If you miss a question and keep working, that question will resurface at some point but you don't get to choose when. You can't return to the one that stumped you and try it again tonight.

That's exactly why an error log matters. When a question is genuinely hard, capture it by taking a screenshot before you move on. Drop it into a slide deck or a doc, and answer these three questions:

What I didn't understand or what I did wrong. Be specific. "The whole thing" is a start, but "I didn't understand what 'qualifies' meant in the context of the passage" is more useful. Also, maybe you understood the text but you lost track of what the question was asking or fell for a common answer trap.

What I found out from the answer. Read the explanation, then note what clicked. Perhaps you missed an important transition or misinterpreted data in a table. What information in the answer explanations or strategy tips helped unlock this question for you?

Insight — next time I should… What do you need to do to avoid this mistake on similar questions in the future? Memorize a grammar rule? Interact with the text more? Slow down? Make sure to read the entire answer before making a decision to slash it or keep it? Record what you've learned, so you become more likely to apply that lesson in the future.

Then go back and re-solve

A week or so later, review your recent log entries and retry them. Do you still understand them? Can you answer the question without your notes? If you just reread your notes you will likely feel as if you know it, but by re-solving the problem or re-answering the question, you will know for sure. Remind yourself: desirable difficulties enhance learning.

Two more things

Khan Academy says more updates are coming, including challenge units for SAT Math, and new worked-example videos for Reading and Writing that walk through strategies for the hardest questions.

Also, make sure to use error logging when reviewing any type of SAT question, including your Bluebook practice tests. You can even use it for school related tasks. Error logging will help you build the skills and self-awareness you need to reach your goals.

Krista Irish is an independent educational consultant in the D.C. area who works with high school students on academics, test preparation, and college planning.