<p>I've tried searching but to no avail...my 3rd will take the SAT next year and my kids have all attended a small school that really encourages the kids to take their first SAT March of junior year. Now that I've been through it twice, I actually think November or January of junior year is a far superior time to take it and would love to read any threads that discuss the merit of one over the other (Nov vs Jan). Can't imagine there aren't already threads on this...if anyone could help me find them, I'd appreciate it.</p>
<p>I’m not sure you need to overanalyze this. My kids have taken/will take it twice the spring semester of their junior year. I pretty much left the timing up to them. (I think DS#1 wanted a lot of separation, so it might have been January and May; DS#2 wanted “as late as possible”, so took them May and June, I think. DS#3 will probably take it in January and then again after a prep class his school offers, likely May or June.)</p>
<p>My kids took the SAT October and June of junior year. Marked improvement on the second test date. I think the kids get a lot under their belt during junior year.</p>
<p>Did you look in the SAT/ACT forum?</p>
<p>DS1 took it in January and May of junior year and took a subject test that June.</p>
<p>"I think the kids get a lot under their belt during junior year. "
I totally agree. DS took the SAT twice- in Jan of Jr year and again in Oct of Sr year, just to see if he could improve his math score[ he did] . Subject tests were taken in May [ 2] and June[2] of Jr year -close to the end of the year to piggy back on AP test preparation and to have as much learning under his belt as possible before those tests.</p>
<p>I think Jan junior year is good for a first stab at the SAT so that you have enough time to study for May or June if you don’t like the scores. My oldest took the SAT for the first time in March and there really was very little time to improve the score by May. So I had my youngest take the SAT in January. However he wanted to take the subject tests in May while the material was fresher from the AP tests. (Older son had waited till June because he had to study some physics that wasn’t covered in class.) When he didn’t like one of his scores (and needed a third one for the only college in the country that requires three) - he ended up retaking subject tests in June and took the SAT for a second time in October. At any rate starting the process in January gives you more flexibility even if you end up having take something in the fall.</p>
<p>By the way, he only took the second SAT because he had set a number goal for himself and missed it by 10 points the first time. Thankfully, the second time he blew it out of the water. If he’d made his goal in January, he wouldn’t have taken it again.</p>
<p>“Now that I’ve been through it twice, I actually think November or January of junior year is a far superior time to take it . . .”</p>
<p>You are correct. Have 'em take it in November or January, especially if we are talking about kids with heavy spring EC commitments and APs.</p>
<p>My kids’ very academic private HS recommends 1st sitting in March junior year (like OP) and 2nd sitting in Oct senior year. GCs at this school are very professional and savvy and feel the kids with more school under their belt (lots take APs in jr & sr years) do markedly better. Of course, lots of parents like to get the whole thing over with before summer of junior year, but my 2 S’s raised their SATs an amazing amount in their fall senior year sitting. YMMV.</p>
<p>There is a REALLY easy answer to that question: take it when YOU are most ready – and not before. For some students, that will be Sophomore year. For others, fall in Junior year after spending the summer prepping for the psat. For others, it may be Dec of senior year…</p>
<p>Don’t forget, that the timing also depends on the student’s math sequence. The SAT contains a handful of Alg II problems (which require knowledge of Alg II). Otherwise, a 700 is not possible. </p>
<p>But do NOT take it ‘just for practice’. There is no such thing as a dry run.</p>
<p>^Yes. Determining the best time to take it is really an individual decision; I don’t understand why a school would insist that everyone take it in a particular month. I think few people should wait until December of the senior year, but who knows, for a few people that might be the best.</p>
<p>After seeing two kids through the process, I think the best plan is to start early, by doing SAT review the summer before junior year, when there is plenty of time. Take the SAT in the fall (Oct or Nov) get those scores early to see where your child stands. Plenty of time to decide whether to do more prep, take SAT a second time, or take ACT. If you wait until March of Junior year, you have fewer options.</p>
<p>I agree with pamom. If your child does some prep in the summer before junior year for both PSAT and SAT, it can be helpful to take the first SAT in the fall. In the past the October date has the question and answer service available. There is plenty of time to do additional prep before taking it again in January or March. We left the May and June dates for SAT subject tests right after the corresponding AP tests.</p>
<p>Both of my kids took the ACT in December of junior year and the SAT in June of junior year. (Subject tests were taken in June of sophomore year) Neither needed to test again. I was thankful that our guidance counselor suggested the earlier ACT test date as one of my kids applied for competitive summer programs and scholarships that required test scores for admission. Now that it is senior year, I am thankful that we don’t have the hassle of needing to retake the SAT or ACT while dealing with college applications, a heavy courseload and time-intensive extracurriculars.</p>
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<p>That makes absolutely no sense to me. There are literally dozens of test prep companies out there who will give your kid a free test to “see where they stand”. Or, pick up CB’s “blue” book for $15 and take a test at home, under timed conditions. Why spend the money and hassle to take a real test which ends up on a permanent record? There is no need.</p>
<p>My dd started private tutoring the summer after her sophomore year (rising Junior).
She took her first SAT in January of Junior Year and her second one the March of Junior Year. She took her subject tests I think in May of her Junior Year.
She had asked me to have it done this way since she didn’t want to focus on the SAT studying during her Junior/Senior year when she still has hard classes, activities.
Her college advisor pushed us for her to take the ACT and another round of SATs but her scroes were very good and high enough for where she wanted to go and that was it.
I thought her plan worked very well for her academic years in Junior and Senior Year.
She submitted ED last week to her first choice and hopefully, we will get a great answer, around Thanksgiving.</p>
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Our high school had a low cost Kaplan course. Their results showed my son scoring much lower than he had on the PSAT or on the actual SAT. They gave him a writing score of 2 (his actual scores were 9 and 10.) I place no trust whatsoever in the scores the prep companies give, I’m pretty convinced that they artificially lower their first test score so that it looks like you are learning something.</p>
<p>After going through the entire process with my 2 D’s and all of the students at our HS, I think it is a little different depending on where you are academically & what level colleges you may want to apply to. We don’t give the SAT at our school, so all the practice tests in the world can’t really prepare you for getting up early on a Saturday, travelling to an unfamiliar school, & taking the test with unfamiliar peers. Because our second D was in the top ten of her class & showed interest in top colleges, we had her begin taking the SAT in the Spring of her Soph. year. She found out that although her scores were in the ballpark, she needed approx. 100 pts. more on her CR + M to be a serious canidate at the school of her choice. She took the SAT two more times & the ACT once. Getting her score early really motivated her to improve. I’ve seen a number of kids for both admission & scholarships who waited until spring of junior year & then just didn’t have enough time to raise their scores significanlty. My D had no improvement from Spring soph. to fall junior on SAT, but had a big jump spring of junior year. Also scored very well her only time taking ACT in spring of junior year. I don’t really know if taking it early helped getting her to the scores she ended up with, but it surely didn’t hurt her. Don’t worry about getting a bad score on “a permanent record”…this is why colleges “superscore” the SAT.</p>
<p>csdad – agreed as to where the student is academically and what level of schools/scholarships are under consideration. However, had my kids needed a retake, the only way they could have or would have been able to devote the time to studying would have been the summer between junior and senior years. Although it’s too late for most people on this thread, my kids took the ACT in 7th grade and the SAT in 8th grade through CTD, and that conditioned them to getting up early on a Saturday and taking the test at an unfamiliar school with unfamiliar peers.</p>
<p>“There is a REALLY easy answer to that question: take it when YOU are most ready – and not before. For some students, that will be Sophomore year. For others, fall in Junior year after spending the summer prepping for the psat. For others, it may be Dec of senior year…” - bluebayou.</p>
<p>Of course, this is the only best answer.</p>
<p>highly professional GC should know that every child is different. There are many variables that go into the calculation of when might be the best time for any particular child to sit for the actual SAT.</p>
<p>Some are: Math level - If your child is very advanced in Math, he/she will take the SAT level math between the 8th and 10th grade; therefore, to wait until junior year or senior to sit for the SAT will require the time commitment and discipline for math review. If your child has the time and discipline, then waiting for the end of the junior year for the first SAT sitting is a sound option. Just be aware that all kids are different.</p>
<pre><code> Disposition re stress - the SAT is a high stakes test. Some kids handle that stress better than others. If you choose to wait until the end of junior year to sit for the SAT for the first time, you may increase the stress level for some kids because there are fewer opportunities to remedy shortcommings. Most kids do better on the second sitting than the first. If you don’t do as well as you would like on the first test (and that is the end of Junior year), then you have added a lot of stress to your second sitting in the fall of senior year. For some kids, a better strategy is to build in a “fudge factor” merely to minimize stress. Stress can lead to poor results.
</code></pre>
<p>AP</p>