SAT® · Math: Geometry and Trigonometry
The Math Reference Sheet: What It Gives You
The reference sheet at the start of each math module gives you area and volume formulas plus two special right triangles, but nothing about lines, slope, or circles — those you must know cold.
The sheet looks generous, and for shapes it is. It prints area formulas for circles, rectangles, triangles, and trapezoids, volume formulas for cylinders, cones, spheres, and more, plus the side ratios for 30-60-90 and 45-45-90 triangles. That covers most geometry questions directly, which is exactly why students who skip it still lose points: they waste time half-remembering a cone volume formula that was sitting in front of them the whole time, instead of spending that time on the algebra inside the problem.
But the sheet stops at shapes. It has nothing on coordinate geometry: no slope formula, no distance formula, no midpoint formula, no quadratic formula, no equation of a circle. That split is not random. Slope and the circle equation are treated as algebra skills you're expected to already own, the same way you're expected to know how to solve an equation without a printed step-by-step. The sheet hands you facts about shapes; it does not hand you methods for working with coordinates.
This changes how you prepare. Don't burn study time memorizing the cone, cylinder, or sphere volume formulas — they're printed, so drilling them is wasted effort. Instead drill slope = (y2-y1)/(x2-x1), the distance formula, and especially (x-h)2 + (y-k)2 = r2 for circles, since that one shows up constantly and trips people up under pressure. Knowing the boundary between what's given and what's not turns the sheet from a safety net into a map of where your real memory work needs to go.
Key terms
- Reference sheet
- The box of area, volume, and special right triangle formulas shown at the start of each math module.
- Special right triangles
- 30-60-90 and 45-45-90 triangles, whose side-length ratios are printed on the sheet.
- Circle equation
- (x-h)2 + (y-k)2 = r2, the coordinate form of a circle with center (h,k) and radius r, not printed on the sheet.
- Slope formula
- (y2-y1)/(x2-x1), used to find the steepness of a line between two points; must be memorized.
Watch it explained
- How it worksHow do the boxed formulas cover area, volume and the special right triangles, and where do they stop?
- Worked exampleFind the volume of a sphere of radius 3 using nothing but what the formula sheet supplies.
- Common mistakeWhy isn't slope printed on that sheet when half of the Math section leans on it?
- Going furtherWhat happens to your pacing once you realize the circle equation must be memorized instead?
- Ties togetherHow does knowing what the sheet leaves out change which formulas you drill before test day?
Check yourself
End of topic.