When Is the Best Time to Take the SAT? — Socratic Summer Academy (2024)

FAQs

When Is the Best Time to Take the SAT? — Socratic Summer Academy? ›

As a general rule, you should try to take the SAT at least once before the end of your Junior Year. That way, you are not scrambling during your senior year to take the test just so that you can send a score to the colleges, regardless of whether that score is high or low.

There are a lot of misconceptions about “easy” and “hard” tests - maybe you've heard that the August test is easier than other months, or the May test is exceptionally hard every year. Luckily, that's one thing you DON'T need to worry about when studying for the SAT exam.

It's generally best to take the SAT in the fall or spring of your junior year and then again in the fall of your senior year.

Myth: The March SAT is the easiest SAT test date. Fact: There's no such thing as “the easiest SAT test date.” While it's true that some versions of the SAT are easier than others, it's false that some test dates are predictably easier than others.

In general, we recommend creating and following a schedule that allows you to complete the entire course before test day, breaking it down into a few lessons per week. However, you don't need to go through the units in order: in fact, you should begin your prep with the areas in which you need the most improvement.

Is the SAT given in one month really harder or easier than one administered in another month, and does it matter if your fellow test takers that month are a group of geniuses? The answer is easy and reassuring: there is NO statistical advantage in selecting one test date over another.

The two dates that are the best for this are the September ACT® because you've had the entire summer to hone your skills, and the February ACT® because you can fit in at least 2 weeks of intense studying over winter break.

The average PSAT 10 score is around 920. A score between 1210 and 1520 places you in the top 10% of test takers. The PSAT 10 and the SAT are very similar tests, and your score on the PSAT 10 can give you an idea of how you'll do when you take the SAT.

Students can take the SAT as many times as they want. We recommend that they take it at least twice—in the spring of their junior year and the fall of their senior year. Most students get a higher score the second time, and most colleges consider a student's highest SAT score when making admission decisions.

You will not be allowed to eat or drink during the test.

You'll be allowed to eat and drink outside of your testing room during the scheduled breaks. Don't eat or drink while taking practice tests (exception: you can eat and drink during the break). This may sound silly, but it is important.

How to get 1600 on SAT in one month? ›

The notion that the June SAT is easier than other test dates is a myth. The College Board designs each SAT test to have a consistent level of difficulty across all administrations throughout the year.

It's common to come across rumors about the difficulty of certain SAT test dates, but in reality, the College Board ensures that every SAT test is standardized and consistent in difficulty across all test dates. So, the August SAT should not be inherently more difficult than the tests on other dates.

2 days before the test date – It's time to take a step back and slow your pace down. Keep just an hour or two to revise and practice but do not overdo it. Avoid burnout. 1 day before the test date – How you spend the last day before your actual test can make a big difference in how you perform on the test.

Most experts agree that students should spend approximately 5 to 20 hours each week for about three months studying for the SAT.

While this means the Official SAT Prep product from Khan Academy has been deprecated, Khan Academy is still the official partner of College Board and is here to provide you with redesigned tools to prepare students for success on the digital SAT.

No SAT or ACT administration is ever predictably easier or more generously scored than any other. For as long as the College Board has been administering the SAT, people have been trying to game the system by figuring out if one administration might be easier than another.

It's common to come across rumors about the difficulty of certain SAT test dates, but in reality, the College Board ensures that every SAT test is standardized and consistent in difficulty across all test dates. So, the August SAT should not be inherently more difficult than the tests on other dates.

To sum it all up: the digital SAT is not designed to be easier than the pencil-and-paper SAT. However, some of the changes to the digital SAT make accessing the exam, taking the exam, and receiving scores easier for students.

SAT or ACT summer preparation gives students a head start so that when they pick back up on test prep in the later fall or winter, they will have a distinct advantage over those who wait until right before the test dates to begin preparing.