Neither of my kids took the SAT before March. The oldest then retook in May, and took subject tests in June. Youngest took subject tests in May, retook subject tests in June (he needed three for one school and stupidly took one in a subject he’s not very good at, sigh), and then retook the SAT in the fall. They test well and are not into stressing about testing. We had a pretty good idea of how they’d do as they had PSAT scores and had taken the SAT in middle school, where they did well for their ages.
I did ask my oldest to apply to our alma mater because I thought he’d be better off there than his two safety schools. He’d been on campus for a reunion or two and thought he didn’t like it. I promised him I would never force him to attend, but I did want him to apply. When he attended the accepted students weekend he liked it much more than he expected to - and he agonized about it and his ultimate top choice until the last day possible.