SAT Format
The SAT is a digitally administered test, taken on a computer at at test center.
It consists of two main sections: Reading & Writing, and Math. Each section is broken into two modules, for a total of four modules.
The graphic below gives you a visual overview of how the SAT is structured.
Reading & Writing
Module 1
27 questions
35 minutes
Module 2
27 questions
35 minutes
10 minute
break
Math
Module 1
22 questions
32 minutes
Module 2
22 questions
32 minutes
Timing
In total, the SAT takes 2 hours and 14 minutes (or 2 hours and 24 minutes including the break). The Reading & Writing section takes 70 minutes, while the Math section takes 64 minutes.
I almost don't even want to mention this, because it can encourage bad habits, but on average this breaks down to an average of 77 seconds per question on Reading & Writing, and 82 seconds per question on Math. This gives you a sense of how much you might spend on a typical question, but do not take this to mean this is how long you should be spending on each question! Keep in mind that some questions take longer to process and solve, while others can be solved very quickly. Don't get psyched out just because you had to spend 2 minutes on one of the problems.
Multiple Choice (mostly)
All of the Reading & Writing questions are multiple choice. The Math section is also mostly multiple choice, with a few "student-produced response" questions, meaning you type in the correct answer. Every multiple choice question will have 4 answer choices (A, B, C, D).
Question Order
The questions are ordered very differently in the Reading & Writing and Math sections. In Reading & Writing, the questions are grouped together by question type, while in Math, the questions are ordered by difficulty, going from easy to hard. We'll deeper into the structure of each section later.