Khan Academy SAT (2025): The Best Free Resource?

The Verdict: Can You Ace the SAT for Free?

In a world where test prep can cost thousands of dollars, Khan Academy stands out as a beacon of hope. As the official partner of the College Board (the organization that creates the SAT), Khan Academy offers a prep program that is not only free but also incredibly high quality.

Is it enough? For many students, yes. If you are a self-motivated learner who needs to brush up on content and get familiar with the test format, Khan Academy is all you need. However, if you are looking for “hacks,” test-taking strategies, or significant hand-holding to jump 200+ points, you might find it lacking compared to premium services like Princeton Review or PrepScholar.

Official Partnership: The “Secret Weapon”

The biggest advantage of Khan Academy is its partnership with the College Board.

• Real Questions: You aren’t practicing with “simulated” questions written by a third party. You are practicing with questions that are written by the same people who write the actual exam.
• Bluebook Integration: With the shift to the Digital SAT, Khan Academy has updated its content to mirror the new format. While the actual practice tests are taken in the College Board’s Bluebook app, Khan Academy provides the drill-down practice to support it.

The Experience: Gamified Learning

Khan Academy does an excellent job of making studying feel less like a chore.

• Mastery Points: You earn points for mastering skills, leveling up from “Foundation” to “Advanced.”
• Streaks: The platform tracks your daily activity, encouraging you to keep a streak alive.
• Personalization: If you link your College Board account (and have PSAT scores), Khan Academy will automatically pinpoint your weak areas and serve you practice problems to address them.

Content vs. Strategy

This is the main dividing line between Khan Academy and paid courses.

• Khan Academy teaches Content: They will teach you the math concepts (e.g., “Heart of Algebra”) and the grammar rules. They explain how to solve the problem mathematically.
• Paid Courses teach Strategy: A course like Princeton Review might teach you how to guess correctly, how to use the answers to solve the problem backwards, or how to spot “trap” answers without doing the full math.

If you are struggling with the concepts, Khan Academy is superior. If you know the math but keep running out of time or falling for traps, a paid strategy course might be better.

Final Thoughts

There is absolutely no reason not to use Khan Academy. Even if you buy a $1,000 course from Kaplan, you should still use Khan Academy for extra practice. It is the baseline against which all other courses should be measured.

Our Recommendation: Start here. Take a diagnostic test. Use the platform for 2-3 weeks. If you see your score plateauing or if you need more structure, then consider investing in a paid course. But for $0, it is the best value in the industry, period.