SK Marco, a test prep coach with 07 years experience and score of 1590, understands December SAT timing. The holiday season offers advantages—November provides insider intel on patterns. His team has helped hundreds of students combine disciplined prep with predictions, turning holiday pressure into powerful performance. Marco’s tutor approach powers success worldwide.
December isn’t about Santa’s lap wishes for higher scores—it’s using exclusive content and strategies that calculate confidence. Think academic reset before new year: free SAT content on grammar rules, math, approaches for self-paced learners who love to succeed beyond generic courses. Whether you’re a kid with dream goals or seeking English refinement, SAT predictions improve results. Skip Christmas distractions, Santa hat fun, songs—your gift this season is test mastery.
Prediction 1: Complementary Angles Rule
Taking AP course geometry requires hard work and dedication. Complementary angles add up to 90 degrees. This difference matters in advanced placement math. AP courses offer college-level courses that help you understand the concept better. The benefit is clear: earn college credits and graduate sooner than usual. Advanced-level students gain an advantage. Introductory lessons in AP credits are equivalent to college work. Advanced placements graduate you faster.
Prediction 2: Need to Pick the -ing Verb
Here’s what I’ve noticed: Module 2 has this sneaky way of making you second-guess when you need to pick the right -ing verb. The question appears twice, and that’s tricky by design. Grammar questions embed the -ing word within non-essential clauses or phrases, using commas to signal extra information describing the subject.
The Author ML—Maline Langel—uses this when she begins her novel A Wrinkle in Time. Notice how the verb works with descriptions of Wraith-like Shadows as a phrase describing the scene. The sentence construction creates a suspenseful tone that makes the reader lean in, demonstrating how subject and verb interact.
What’s thorough? Students who read aloud catch errors because sounds okay doesn’t mean correct. My recommendation: always read the entire sentence before making your selection. Cutting corners leads to the wrong answer. The clause separated by commas gives breathing room, but stop short of reading the full context and you’ll compete unsuccessfully on test day.
Prediction 3: Tricky Percentage Problem
You know what’s annoying about percentage problems on the SAT? They’re never as straightforward as they seem. I’ve seen countless students flag these questions to come back to later, only to realize they’ve burned through precious minutes. The SAT loves to make you grind through time-consuming calculations, especially when dealing with different scenarios that require tracking changes from a baseline position.
Here’s a classic setup: imagine a researcher investigated two distinct species of beetles—one acting as predator, the other as prey. At the start of the week, there’s an equal number of both species—let’s say 100 of each to keep things easy. Now here’s where it gets pretty interesting: the number of prey beetles increased by 200%, while the predators increased by 300%. Not exactly a fun problem to tackle.
When you see a 200% increases, you’re multiplying by 3. But wait—if prey increased 1200%, that’s a 1300% total as a decimal of 13. You multiply 100 by 13, giving you 1,300 prey at the end of the week. The predator situation uses different logic: a 300% increase means you multiply by 400% (or 4 as a decimal)—so 100 predators times four gives you 400 predators. Terrible for the prey, right?
Now the cute part: what is P%, where P% represents how much greater the number of prey is compared to predators at end of week? You need to employ the percent change formula: (new minus original) over original times 100. When comparing 1300 prey to 400 predators, the predators become your original reference point. This word choice matters enormously in percentage problems.
Plug into your Desmos or handheld calculator: (1300 minus 400) over 400 times 100 equals (900 over 400) times 100, which gives 225%. The answer needs to be in percent form, so you put 2.25 in the grid if asking for coefficient, or 225 if asking for P% in percent form. You divide by 100 to convert. These tricky questions never stop being time consuming!
Prediction 4: Punctuation Question Where Only One Separates Two Sentences
After taking jazillion practice tests, you’ll spot the pattern. The November test loves curveballs at the level of playing field, but punctuation remains their favorite trap. When you glance at answer choices and see answer choice C featuring a semicolon, your instincts should kick in.
Here’s what works: draw a line mentally after the first part and read each section independently. If both sides stand alone as complete sentences, you’ve spotted your question. The real challenge isn’t identifying two complete thought units—it’s checking whether a punctuation mark legitimately separates them right.
Most students practiced their grammar through a question bank, hammering through questions until their eyes glaze over. But the College Board keeps testing your ability to sense when two independent units need proper division. Maria Montessori, an Italian educator, developed the Montessori method based on guiding principles.
The Montessori philosophy emphasized fostering independence and self-directed learning in children. Her approach mirrors how you should tackle these grammar questions—with thorough, accurate observation. When a sentence contains a modifier or non-essential clause explaining context, students often failed to recognize it separates properly.
A complete sentence needs a subject and verb—you’ve been told this several times. But evolving test design means interesting structures appear. Consider how an -ing phrase describing action or an -ed phrase describing state can confuse boundaries. Answer B might look complete on the left, but check the right side carefully based on principles.
Prediction 5: Regression Problem with Vertex
When you’re working with a quadratic function that models real-world phenomena, the vertex becomes your anchor point. I’ve found that students struggle with regression problems because they fail to recognize what Desmos can handle. Consider an object launched from ground at 0 meters, reaches maximum height of 400 m at t= 10 seconds, then must come back down.
The creative problem-solving happens when Desmos does the heavy lifting for quadratic regression with three points. The launch at (0, 0), maximum at (10, 400), and by symmetry, return to ground at (20, 0). Pull up Desmos, type these into a table, throw the points in, hit the regression button on the left side, choose quadratic, and the platform runs the calculation to determine your equation.
What makes this accurate is recognizing 10 represents the axis of symmetry — the middle number between zeros at 0 and 20 using plus 10. The function describes height in meters above ground as a function of time t in seconds after launch. Need the height at t= 14 seconds? Type x=14 as a line, zoom to find intersection point: answer is 336 meters at 14 seconds.
You demonstrate understanding by recognizing which three points create wide versus narrow parabola geometry. The problem with just running any regression is garbage data produces garbage results. The vertex point and zero locations help you determine if your model makes sense. In quadrant 1, positive time and height confirm the object launches, follows a quadratic path from 0 to 20 seconds run, demonstrating wanted trajectory.
Prediction 6: Dash Separating a Non-Essential Clause
When students take English tests, they often fail at dashes because they use complex strategies. My recommendation? Just read the sentence aloud. Listen for where the text pauses. If you can pick out the non-essential clause and remove it, does the sentence still make complete sense? This specific method will save you time without overthinking.
Here’s an example about Simone Bolivar: “Bolivar, advocating for South American independence through two political documents—the Cartagena Manifesto and Letter from Jamaica—personally led armies against Spanish colonial rule.” Take away the words between the separating dashes. It still makes sense, right? That’s your prediction signal.
Two dashes work like additional notes. They frame extra information that helps but isn’t needed. The clause between dashes tells us specifically about three territories he was liberating. But without this non-essential part, we still know what Bolivar did. The subject and action are clear. That’s a great way to pick the right answer on tests.
Don’t run after fancy word rules or treaties of grammar. Just ask: does the sentence make complete sense without the clause? When you read aloud, you’ll hear what’s essential and what’s extra. If you’re still talking about the same thing after removing the dash section, it’s non-essential. This English prediction strategy works every time. Know this recommendation and you won’t fail.
Prediction 7: System of Equations with Binomials
The answer most students miss with a system of equations involving binomials is how quickly you can figure things out if you don’t waste time on formal steps. Here’s my hack: when you see something like x – 2 in one equation and 2 x in another, just add them together by hand. Watch the -2 cancel with additive inverses. Desmos can demonstrate this type of work, but on test day you need to cut to the chase.
Let’s say you multiply both sides by three, getting 6 as your coefficient. Then divide to isolate x. The numbers +4 and minus4 become equal when they cancel, leaving you with clean y values. Add 117 + 442 and you get 559 right away—no complex algebra needed. If six variables intersect at one point, that’s your answer 1677 easily. This prediction works every time because binomials follow patterns you can spot quickly once you know what to look for.
Prediction 8: Semicolons Separating Items in a List
Semicolons help separate items in a list when those items have commas inside them. This punctuation mark might look tricky, but the strategy is simple. Read the sentence and make a guess: are the list items super long and wordy? Then you need semicolons, not commas. This saves time on grammar questions. Just think about clarity.
Pura Belpré was an innovative librarian in New York City. During the Great Depression, she offered three things to serve local families: storytelling in English and Spanish (an uncommon practice at that time), she celebrated El Día de (Day of, accent off—sorry) as an important community holiday, and she put on puppet shows.
Each item in that list has commas in it. That’s similar to what text on tests will show you. When you see two or three semicolons in the answers, look for parallelism. This means each item should be worded the same way. The other items need the same kind of order. Be careful with this part. Funny mistakes happen here.
This prediction is about separating long-winded items that already have commas. Semicolons go between these items to make sure the sentence stays clear. Puerto Rican folktales she dramatizing—sorry, that’s just one example. The unique thing about semicolons: they serve as stronger punctuation than commas. Great practice helps. Don’t trace reos or de el second dash marks celebrated selection.
Prediction 9: Margin of Error
When you’re talking about a November test prediction, the concept of margin of error becomes tricky territory. Here’s what’s plausible and what’s not: if an estimated mean sits at 5.2 miles, and your margin of error is .6 miles, you need to set the record straight on what this actually means.
The range of plausible values runs from 4.6 to 5.8 miles (that’s 5.2 plus .6 and 5.2 minus .6). Anything that falls outside this range, like 4.3, isn’t impossible, it’s just not likely. Note that distinction: not likely doesn’t mean something can’t happen, it just means probability works against it.
Let me make sure you pick the right understanding with some right language. If all visitors hiked exactly the mean value, that goes against the whole notion of margin of error anyways. Switch perspectives and ask whether any visitor hiked less than 3.5 miles—be careful: it’s way outside, low beyond plausible, yet always possible.
Most test questions might offer choices where A says all fall within boundaries, B claims precision at one point, C says not possible for certain outcomes. Get rid of A, then get rid of B. Pick C or D when it acknowledges the plausible range between 4.6 and 5.8 while respecting what’s likely versus merely possible in this instance.
Prediction 10: Slant Height of a Cone
When students skip geometry problems during the test, they often save the slant height of a cone for last because it’s genuinely time consuming. The 2025 SAT has made this a trending favorite among tricky questions, particularly in module 2 where the hard problems cluster toward the end.
Here’s what most people miss: you need your math cheat sheet—that reference sheet they pop up in the upper right corner when you’re taking the test. Look at the bottom right, find the reference table in your Blue Book, or click that link in the description to access the concepts.
Let’s draw this out on scrap paper. Picture a beautiful right circular cone with a little circle at the base and a pointy top. When they share that the volume equals 1024 pi and the area of the base is 256, you substitute immediately. The area of a circle is pi r^ 2, so write 256i where you see pi r².
Now comb through the volume equation: V = 1/3 pi r 2h, which becomes 13 pi r 2h = 1024i. Substitute: 1/3 ***** 256i ***** h = 1024i. The important thing here is pi will cancel on both sides. Divide both sides by 85.3 repeating (that’s 256 ***** 1/3, or divide by 3), and the height becomes 12. Sweet progress!
But the question asks for slant height, not vertical height—this is where students end up wrong. Slant height makes a right triangle using Pythagorean theorem. Go back to find radius: pi r 2 = 256 pi, so R2 = 256, square root gives r = 16. Pop desmos, solve quick: a^2 + b^2 = c^2, so 12^2 + 16^2 equal c^2. Show the graph home button for zeros, but c^2 = 400 means c = 20. That’s your slant height—20 inches for this cone. Trying to get from volume to slant height requires figure out steps: solve vertical height, extract radius, then done with theorem. Figure drawn to scale or not, know the slant creates the four sides of that triangle. Amazing: slant height 20 while vertical height 12 shows why hypotenuse is always longer than other sides. Students who skip base calculations anyways get confused about which measurement they’re hunting. Look at this cone question—it tests whether you comb reference formulas, substitute correctly, multiply computations, and show understanding of geometry. The thing about slant height problems: they make you solve multiple layers. That X squ value requires both algebra and spatial reasoning—exactly why these appear near end of module as hard questions. Divide your time wisely, use cheat sheet concepts, and don’t let tricky setup throw you off. Moving right direction means no apologies for being real quick and efficient. Connect the dots, get the answer, done.
Closing: Good Luck, 2026 Cohort & How to Work with Us
December wraps up another cycle, and if you’re taking the test soon, good luck means understanding how Desmos graphs behave and knowing your goal score beforehand. The SAT predictions help, but your studying matters far more. Comment below and let us know where you are on this road—we’re here to support your prep plan.
We’re accepting new students for our 2026 cohort, getting ready for March and May test dates, though spots are limited. If you’re interested in working with us as your SAT tutor, head to calculateconfidence.com, fill the request consultation form, and meet us to discuss how we help you hit your target and come up with strategies.
To all you guys preparing: go crush those sections, enjoy the holidays, and see you right after for fine-tuning. Watch my reaction content analyzing real SAT patterns—the kind of focused work determines everything. Let us know how we can help support you through the curve challenges ahead.