what is the best time to take SAT? This question is being asked by a lot of students who are on the verge of graduating from high school and proceed to college. If you’ve ever heard a prepackaged response to the question, “When should I take the SAT?” walk from such an advise immediately. Preset testing schedules that don’t take into account your unique academic priorities and hobbies are more damaging than helpful. If your preparation is solid, choosing the right schedule will only require a small amount of work and careful evaluation of your particular restrictions.
It takes some effort to accomplish this effectively, but some forethought in your timetable planning can greatly lessen the stress associated with testing and accelerate the testing process.
Brainer.
You will understand by the end of this post when you should take your first SAT on a date that has been carefully selected for great success. Shall we begin?
The purpose of taking the SAT test is to find the quickest test preparation route possible in order to obtain the SAT scores required for admission to the colleges of your choice and the scholarship money you desire, allowing you to continue your daily routine activities.
You must: in order to accomplish this objective.
Although the two exams test the same academic concepts, they do so in different ways, and colleges will accept either the ACT or SAT scores.
Different students consider to appeal in each test for various reasons. In addition, because of the significant differences in timing and strategy between the two, preparation for one may not necessarily help you with the other.
As a result, I advise students to choose the test that best matches their strengths and focus solely on preparing for it. Your very first decision should be whether to go for the ACT or SAT.
The Golden Rule Of Testing states that “Students should prepare for and take two official exams no later than June of their junior year, ideally on back-to-back test dates.”
You should follow the Golden Rule of Testing after you’ve chosen the test that fits you.
The Golden Rule contains three essential success factors:
2. a sufficient number of testing occasions, and
3. compressed timetable.
The SAT preparation process should be intense and laser-focused. There is simply too much to learn to dally through it. And it’s crucial that you make the most of your effort once you’ve put in the time, effort, and focus.
As a result, I advise my students to schedule back-to-back test dates after they prepare so they will have two opportunities to submit their best work.
Students can fully prepare for their first SAT by signing up for back-to-back test dates (for instance, the August and October dates or the March and May dates), take a brief break to reenergize their motivation and help them see the test more clearly the second time around, and then start the test before they forget a lot of what they learned in preparation.
Later on, students may choose to retake the test three or four times. That’s wonderful, but for busy high school students, the prospect of achieving the majority of their score improvement over a brief 3–4 month period rather than a longer 6–12 month period is much more appealing.
The March SAT test date is a big favorite of many college counselors, and the majority of high school students are advised to take the SAT in the spring of their junior year.
The issue with this advice is that many students are very busy in the spring when it is given without taking a few particulars into consideration.
Is it wise to assign an additional exam to the AP student who participates in a spring sport? Definitely not.
You might also need to take the SAT Subject Tests in your junior year, depending on the admission requirements at your preferred colleges. We must keep this in mind as we plan our SAT journey because scheduling too much testing in one season can be overwhelming. The ideal test dates for the SAT Subject Tests are May and June.
Although spring testing might be the best option for you, we need to look further to see if that’s really the case.
After defining the “Golden Rule of Testing,” it is now clear how many exams students should take (two after preparing), as well as when they need to complete both of these exams (June of their Junior year).
But how do you choose the right time to begin taking the SAT?
Your ideal, low-stress testing timeline can be determined by answering three questions.
What math level are you taking?
What does your schedule look like for activities?
What class do you attend?
The SAT’s math sections cover topics from arithmetic to precalculus, but the majority of the questions come from Algebra I and 2. I prefer that students finish all of Algebra 2 before starting their SAT prep, if at all possible.But keep in mind the Golden Rule.
The most crucial requirement is that juniors take two exams by June of that year. You should still take the SAT before the end of the school year even if you won’t be enrolled in or finished with Algebra 2 by June of your junior year.
If you took Algebra 2 as a freshman or junior, you can consider taking any tests that are scheduled after your course is finished.
Take your first SAT in December or March of your junior year if you plan to take Algebra 2 in your junior year or later.
Play any fall sports?
Are you a part of the upcoming musical?
Do you perform seasonal volunteer work for your preferred charity?
In the spring, will you be sitting for AP or IB exams?
Most families are unaware of how flexible testing and test preparation can be, which is one of the reasons why they have such a bad reputation.
Seven times a year, in the months of August, October, November, December, March, May, and June, the SAT is made available. There are many opportunities for you to pick a test date that works best for you.
But remember that the test date marks the end of the race. Ideally, the marathon began when SAT preparation started, about two to three months earlier. By carefully choosing your test dates, you can avoid taking exams during your busy season. You should make good preparation plans to avoid taking exams during your busy season as well.
Planning your testing window during a time when your schedule is empty is ideal.
Do your test preparation! When choosing which SAT test date to take your first exam on, think ahead 8–12 weeks from the actual test date and take into account how busy that period will be for you. This is because preparation requires more time and effort than the actual test.
You could start taking the SAT as early as 11th grade because scores are valid for two years.
There are 14 test dates available to you since there are 7 SAT test dates per year spread over 2 years.
The best time to take the SAT is in the spring of your sophomore year and closes in the summer after your junior year.
You should plan to take the SAT as soon as you can within this range after preparing, keeping in mind your level of math and your schedule of activities, to ensure that you experience the least amount of stress possible during this journey.
Your junior year’s spring test may make you a strong candidate. Or perhaps you should wait until the fall of your junior year because of your obligations in the winter and spring. Or perhaps—just perhaps—you can begin the summer following your sophomore year, which is a fantastic option for many students.
Can you take the test in your senior year as well? Absolutely! However, testing in the senior year is ideally for raising an already high SAT score a few points. By having SAT scores you’re proud of by the end of your junior year, you can finalize your college list the summer before your senior year using actual exam results—not results based on wishful thinking—as a solid foundation for discerning choices.
One of the ways to improve your score in SAT in general, is to seek proffesional assistance from an experienced SAT tutor or from a well-established educational institute. We at Apostrophe Educational Center will help to not only pass the SAT exam, but also to get a high score.
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As an SAT Examinee, you must have knowledge about SAT Exam dates, so you can plan your schedule based on the date you intend to set for the SAT exam. Planning will help in managing time for studying and preparing properly for the SAT Exam. Down below is a link that shows the SAT Exam Dates for the Acadmic year of 2022/2023.