Our SAT Hub includes what we call cheat codes: quick methods for the types of questions that take students the most time. People sometimes hear that phrase and worry that we are teaching tricks instead of thinking. It is a fair concern, and we want to answer it properly.
The first thing to say is that a shortcut is only as good as the understanding behind it. A real shortcut is compressed reasoning. Somebody understood a pattern deeply, noticed that the same steps always work, and boiled them down so you do not have to rediscover them under time pressure. If you understand why it works, the shortcut is a tool. If you do not, it is a gamble that fails the moment the question changes shape.
That is why each cheat code in the Hub sits beside the lesson that explains the skill. The sequence we recommend is simple. Learn the skill first, so that you know why an answer is right. Practice the long way until it feels natural. Then use the shortcut to save time, and check it against the long method until you trust it.
The second thing to say is that time is a real part of this test. The digital SAT is not only a test of whether you can solve a problem. It is a test of whether you can solve it in the time you have. A student who understands everything but runs out of minutes is penalized just the same. Good shortcuts exist to protect that time so your understanding can actually show.
The third is a warning. If a method promises to beat the test without understanding anything, be careful. The test is built to notice that. Methods that work are almost always methods that rest on how the question is constructed and what skill it targets.
So we would put it this way: understand first, then compress. Shortcuts are what an expert does after they have done the work. We want every student to get there, and to enjoy the feeling when a hard question suddenly looks small.