When should a high school student take SAT? There is no standard answer for this question. But you can work on college application deadlines and PSAT test date at the Junior year as the critical milestones. Then you and your student can work together to get her/his most optimized SAT plan based on their college application plans and target/expected SAT score.
First all, students almost always improve their scores when they retake the SAT. Taking the official test is valuable experience that you can learn from. Plus you can study your score report and prep to improve the next time. To give yourself opportunities to retake the SAT or ACT, you want to take it for the first time long before your college deadline. But when should you take your first time SAT test and when will be your last opportunities to take SAT? Let’s look at the critical milestones listed below so we can use the reverse schedule method to find out.
- EA/ED Deadline: November 1 of the senior year
- RD Deadline: January 1 of the senior year
- PSAT test date: October of the junior year
- SAT score to be release: three to four weeks after the testing day
Notes: There are thousands of colleges in the U.S., all of which may offer one or more of the following options for applying: regular decision (RD), early action (EA), early decision (ED), and/or rolling admissions (RA). The first three options have set deadlines, while rolling admissions is the odd one out with a range of time within which a student must apply EA and ED push your deadline and notification earlier by a few months.
If you're applying early admissions, then August or (maybe) October would be your last chance to take the SAT. It'd be pretty nerve-wracking to put so much pressure on this last-minute test date. Ideally, you'd have your scores all set by the end of junior year. You could even push the schedule mentioned above back, so that you take your first test in the spring of sophomore year.
If you're only applying regular decision, then you might take the SAT for the first time in the fall of junior year and again in the spring. Since it takes about three weeks for scores to be released, you might have two more opportunities to take in the fall of 12th grade, like in August and November or (maybe) December.
The Juniors will take the PSAT in October. The PSAT is a very important test since it is used for selecting National Merit Scholarship semifinalist/finalist and cannot be retaken.
By knowing your deadlines, you can plan out your testing dates and study schedule to ensure you've achieved your SAT target scores in time to apply.
We all know that high school students have very heavy workload during the school semesters. It is impossible for them to take a chuck of time off for studying SAT. Therefore, the summer is the best time for SAT prep.
- The rising freshman. Most students took the Duke TIP SAT test at 7th grader. Based on the Duke TIP SAT score and your target SAT score, you could decide if you should start your SAT warmup phase to achieve your target SAT score in two and half years. ACES offers SAT Foundations course this summer which is designed for middle school and early high school students.
- The rising sophomore. Taking PSAT (practice) in October. Although, the PSAT is just a practice for sophomore and will not be used for National Merit Scholarship evaluation, it is very critical for getting your baseline of your PSAT performance and understanding your position in the official PSAT in your junior year. After your PSAT score report comes back in December time, you may take an official SAT test in the spring if the score is not satisfied. ACES summer SAT Intensive Workshops is designed to improve your SAT performance in both reading/writing and math.
- The rising Junior. Two major tasks for the junior year. 1. Taking the official PSAT in October ; and 2. Do your best to have your SAT scores all set by the end of junior year. For those juniors whose PSAT scores are close or in boundary of the National Merit Semifinalist cutoff score, the summer SAT study and training are critical to ensure not missing your finalist award. ACES summer SAT Intensive Workshops will be a right choice.
- The rising Senior.If you are not satisfied with your current SAT score or attain a yet higher goal, you have one or two more opportunities to take the SAT in the fall of your senior year. ACES summer SAT Intensive Workshops would be your accelerated camp.