WHAT IS A GRID-IN?
Both of the Math sections on your SAT will contain a group of problems without multiple-choice answers.
There will be 5 of these in the No Calculator section and 8 in the Calculator section. ETS and the College
Board call these problems “student-produced responses.” We call them Grid-Ins because you have to
mark your answers on a grid printed on your answer sheet. The grid looks like this:
Despite their format, Grid-Ins are just like any other Math questions on the SAT, and many of the
techniques that you’ve learned so far still apply. You can still use Plugging In and other great techniques,
such as the Ratio Box and Average Pie. Your calculator will still help you out on many problems as well.
So grid-ins are nothing to be scared of. In fact, many of these are simply regular SAT multiple-choice
math problems with the answer choices lopped off. The only difference is that you have to arrive at your
answer from scratch rather than choose from four possibilities.
You will need to be extra careful with answering Grid-In questions, however, because the grid format
increases the likelihood of careless errors. It is vitally important that you understand how the Grid-In
format works before you take the test. In particular, you’ll need to memorize ETS’s rules about which
kinds of answers count and which do not. The instructions may look complicated, but we’ve boiled them
down to a few rules for you to memorize and practice.
Take a look at the grid again. Because of the way it’s arranged, the test writers can use only certain types
of problems for Grid-Ins. For example, you’ll never see variables in your answer (though there can be
variables in the question) because the grids can accommodate only numbers. You will also never have a
π, square root, or negative number in your answer. Most answers for Grid-Ins are integers.
Order of Difficulty:
Grid-Ins
As with the multiple-choice
questions, Grid-Ins
will be in a loose order
of difficulty.