Unique Prep

Bluebook & tech setup

For digital SAT testers. Do this before the night of your test, not the morning of — the one thing that cannot be fixed at 8:45 AM is a laptop that will not update.

What you need

  • A laptop you can bring to the test, fully charged, with its charging cable.
  • Bluebook installed and updated. Bluebook is the College Board's free digital testing app.
  • A phone with an active personal hotspot. Bluebook needs an internet connection, and you should not count on the building's Wi-Fi.

A tablet can work for the real SAT, but a laptop is strongly preferred for practice tests — it is closer to what most students end up using, and far easier to troubleshoot in the room.

Installing Bluebook

  1. Download Bluebook from the College Board at bluebook.app.collegeboard.org and install it like any other application.
  2. Open it once and sign in with your College Board account. If you do not have one, create it now rather than on test morning — account creation sometimes requires email verification.
  3. Let the app finish any first-run setup and updates before you close it.

Setting up your hotspot

  1. On your phone, turn on the personal hotspot and note the network name and password.
  2. On your laptop, connect to that hotspot once so the network is saved and you are not typing a password under pressure.
  3. Confirm your plan actually allows hotspot use. Some do not, and it is better to find out now.

The night before

  • Open Bluebook and let it run any updates. Updates can be large and slow. This is the whole reason this step exists.
  • Charge the laptop to full and pack the charging cable.
  • Turn off automatic operating system updates if you can, so your machine does not decide to restart and install something at 9 AM.

The morning of

  • Before you leave home, log into Bluebook and let it update again.
  • If you see a “Temporarily Unavailable” message, a practice test will not be possible — College Board may be running scheduled maintenance. Let your tutor know right away rather than driving over.
  • Confirm the laptop is charged and the cable is in your bag.

If something breaks on test morning, email admin@uniqueprep.com or text your tutor before the start time. A test that starts late is usually salvageable; a test that starts without a working app is not.