I mentioned in my last post that the SAT has undergone many changes in my dozen years’ experience prepping students to dramatically raise their scores on the test. And as I explained last time, each change in the SAT has ALSO changed the calculus of how to CHOOSE between the SAT and the ACT in the first place!
But guess what? All the changes to the tests have ALSO changed the calculus of when to take your first SAT! So THAT’s what I’m going to cover in THIS post.
Before we get there, though, let’s talk about those changes, shall we? Specifically, here are the SAT changes over the years that alter how you should be thinking about your Testing Timeline…which, in turn, determines when you should register for and take your very first SAT.
Which Months Can You Take the SAT?
Just a few years ago, the SAT used to be offered in January, March, May, June, October, November and December. NOW, however, there is no more January test date, and instead, there is a late August test date.
Thus, the SAT is now offered in March, May, June, August, October, November and December.
Additionally, many high schools in the U.S. also offer free administrations of the SAT during a school day to all its Juniors…usually in March or April.
SAT 2 Subject Tests Have Been Discontinued
It used to be that many colleges would require their applicants to take two or three SAT 2 Subject Tests in single subjects like “Math Level 2,” “Literature,” or “Chemistry.” That meant that if a student needed to take those tests, she’d need to reserve some of those above SAT test dates for that purpose…AND make sure that she had enough SAT test dates to achieve her Target Score for the regular SAT 1.
Now, however, Subject Tests have been discontinued. The only SAT to take IS the “SAT 1”…and that also means that we have MUCH more flexibility with which test dates we get to use.
Which Colleges Accept Superscoring for the SAT?
Many Colleges now Superscore for the SAT. The beauty of Superscoring is that, if a college allows for it, you don’t have to get that 1500 (or whatever your Target Score is) all in one go: you can instead take the SAT multiple times and pluck your highest Evidence-Based Reading Writing score and add it to your highest Math Test score, and present THAT combined total as your final score—even if those two scores occurred on different test dates.
That said, you can’t Superscore if you only took the SAT once! This trend has encouraged students to take the SAT at LEAST twice, because ANY variation in either verbal or math score means they get a higher Superscore…which is what we’re aiming for!
Score Choice for the SAT
It used to be that when you sent your SAT scores to a college, that college received ALL the SAT test scores you ever earned! Now, however, thanks to something called Score Choice, you only have to submit SAT scores from test dates that you want your colleges to see. Obviously, you have to make sure your colleges allow for Score Choice in their standardized testing policies if you want to take advantage of this option.
How does this affect YOU and when you should take your first SAT? Well, if your colleges permit Score Choice, you can take the SAT as many times as you need and don’t have to worry about bombing one of your test dates. Basically, Score Choice gives you the freedom to take and retake the SAT as many times as necessary to get your Target Score or Target Superscore.
No More SAT Essay
It used to be that certain colleges would require you to take the SAT WITH the optional Essay component as part of their application requirements…while other colleges didn’t require the Essay at all. Compounded with that was the interesting issue that when a student took the SAT during a (free) school day administration, that SAT was usually the four multiple-choices sections ONLY…and didn’t include the Essay.
Thus, if you were applying to a college that required the SAT Essay, you couldn’t just take the free SAT your high school gave you…you’d have to make sure you ALSO registered for one of the several national SAT test dates to make sure you got to complete the Essay as well.
Now, however, there IS no Essay…so this is a moot point. If your high school offers you a free schoolday administration of the SAT, that sitting can completely fulfill your testing needs.
What Month in 2022 Should I Schedule My First SAT for?
So now that we’ve cleared up all the SAT changes that affect when YOU should take your first SAT in 2022, there are four factors remaining that you need to consider. In fact, these are pretty much the only things you need to think about these days in order to choose your first SAT attempt.
1. Get a Higher SAT Score By Signing up for Two Tests in a Row
Here’s why: preparing for the SAT is like running a marathon of sorts. You have to figure out what gaps in your knowledge you need to fill. You need to refresh content or learn new content. You need to learn strategies to answer certain question types. You need to learn the choreography of how to tackle whole sections or passages that comprise sections. Then you need to synthesize all of this knowledge and prowess and make sure that you’re firing on all cylinders and have built up your stamina for your actual test day.
And once you’ve put in so much time and effort, it’s kind of a waste to take a complete break and risk losing that momentum! Once you find out your test scores a couple weeks later, you’ll more than likely have to take the SAT again (unless you’re one of my rockstars who surpassed their Target Score or got a perfect score on their first try and then canceled their next sitting!). And after taking said break, you likely won’t have very long to get BACK into study mode and make the improvements you need for your next SAT test sitting.
Instead, try this: register for TWO consecutive SAT test dates, and keep the ball rolling. Sure, maybe you take ONE week off after taking your first test, but start studying again and stay in the “zone” immediately afterwards. Just assume you’re going to take the SAT twice.
The worst (best?) case scenario is that you keep studying and THEN find out you surpassed your Target Score and get to cancel the next SAT test date. And if—like most students—you DO need that second sitting, you’ll make considerably more improvements by (almost) continuously studying than if you stopped and restarted your test prep.
2. When Should You Take Your First Two SATs by?
The answer is Junior year. Yes, this is likely your hardest year academically in your life thus far, and the prospect of also having to take two consecutive SAT attempts by the end of the year might seem daunting. But you know what’s even MORE daunting? Not having ANY SAT test score by the end of Junior year and putting all the pressure on yourself to perform during Senior summer or fall…when you SHOULD be writing your college application essays!
At the absolute VERY latest, you should have taken the May and June SATs in the spring of Junior year.
3. Finish Algebra 2 before you take the SAT
OK, so if you’re a Junior who’s only in Algebra 2 this year, then you’ll want to take your first SAT as late in the year as you can so that you can learn all the math gold in Algebra 2—which is heavily tested in the SAT. So you might not be able to have “completed the entire year of Algebra 2” before your first (and second!) SATs. That’s ok.
If, however, you took Algebra 2 as as Sophomore and are taking Pre-Calculus (or its equivalent) now, you have more flexibility. Yes, there’s some Pre-Calculus (advanced Trigonometry and certain tricky Functions questions) on the SAT, so having a firm grasp of it from your classwork WILL help you prepare naturally, but you can consider making your first SAT attempt earlier in your Junior year.
And if you’re currently a Sophomore who’s already taken Algebra 2 as a Freshman and is currently in Pre-Calculus, you can consider taking YOUR first attempts at the end of your Sophomore year or beginning of Junior year. Keep in mind that if you wait until Junior year, your adeptness at reading comprehension, grammar, and overall mathematical ability will only improve (and help you nab a higher score)…but if you HAD to take your first SAT now, you technically could.
Finally, are you a Junior who’s in Calculus right now? Great! You can take the SAT anytime this year that works for you…once you take into consideration Factors 1, 2 and 4.
4. How to Balance Your SAT Schedule with Extracurriculars and Classes
If you know that you have certain “blackout” dates in your schedule—maybe you have volleyball championships in the spring, will be starring in the school musical in the fall, or have 6 AP tests to study for in May—then don’t plan to take your first SAT then!
You have seven national SAT test dates plus a possible SAT school day administration in the spring. You do NOT have to take them all. You’re allowed to take the ones that fit with your schedule, that allow you to take two consecutive SATs back-to-back to maximize your study time, and that allow you to learn as much Math as you can before you take the test.
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Once you’ve determined when you should take your FIRST (and therefore, second!) SAT attempt, you can then work backwards to figure out how long it’ll take you to study for the SAT, weighing the factors I’ve discussed in this blog post.
And then, you can work backwards even further to make sure you determine that the SAT truly is the correct test for you in the first place BEFORE you start studying for it!
Obviously, there are still a lot of moving parts here, even if there are fewer moving parts than there used to be several years ago. And I acknowledge how overwhelming this whole ten-dimensional puzzle can be for someone who is new to the standardized testing process or college admissions! So, if you’d like to have an expert take care of all these details—which test, how long to study, first test date, testing timeline, target scores, etc.—FOR you, consider booking an Ace The Test: Game Plan™ with me, to take all the chaos off your plate…and to make your testing experience as fruitful and painless as possible!
