When is the best time for a student to take the ACT or SAT knowing that he will probably have to take it more than once. My son does not want to take any standardized test until the end of his junior year. He feels like he won’t be ready until then. I don’t want to push him but I want to make sure he has options in case he doesn’t get the score that can get him into a good college. Any suggestions? When is the best time to have him take the standardized test?
Taking the SAT and/or ACT of end of Junior year is fine. Once he has a baseline, he can concentrate on one of the tests and prep during the summer. Make sure he retakes in September/October to meet any early deadlines. I had my son’s take their first exams in the Winter/Early Spring of their Junior year so they would have time for SAT 2 subject tests and retakes in the Fall Senior year if needed.
My junior is taking his first ACT / SAT this month, and we are calling them both “practice” tests. Then we’ll see where he needs help and plan accordingly. I agree, though, that they don’t need to take them yet. If your son really doesn’t want to take them yet he probably won’t do well if you make him.
Our kids both took the SAT in March, then the needed Subject Tests in June after the finishing the related AP courses. That gives them time to take something again in the fall if needed.
Will he have to take SAT II subject tests?
If I could do one thing over again, it would have been to get all of the standardized tests done by June of junior year. Having them hang over the summer like a cloud of doom was just not fun.
For me, ideal schedule is as follows: 1. take practice SAT and/or ACT at home in fall of junior year to get a baseline. 2. Have your child focus on the test which offers the best result. Have him do some study/prep at home to take a test in the preferred format for real some time early in spring of Junior year. Leave time for one additional attempt before school lets out. If subject tests are required, take them in early June when the content is still fresh in your child’s mind.
I have seen many students on this forum getting anxious about when their fall test date scores will be released and if the scores will be sent on time. Especially if your child plans to apply ED or EA, having everything in place by the time senior year begins should reduce stress.
CB will be adding an August test date for the SAT as of summer 2017, if that helps in your planning.
I’m not sure I understand your problem. My kids both took the SAT at the end of their junior year…and they retook very early their senior years. No problem.
ETA…he SHOULD take the PSAT at the beginning of his junior year. So…his “no standardized tests until the end of junior year” should not apply to the PSAT which is on,y given on the early fall.
My son’s (private, very elite, very rigorous, with excellent college placement stats) school recommends taking the SAT in 12th grade. Apparently kids do much better if they take it in 12th grade.
My kids school recommends PSAT in October Jr. year, SAT/ACT in Nov/Dec Jr. year as long as student has had the right math (my sons were in precalc or calc). The thinking is that most of our juniors have done extensive preparation for the PSAT so it make sense to take SAT/ACT shortly afterwards.
Kids who need the SAT Subject tests are encouraged to take them in May or June of the year they take the AP class to minimize extra studying. My son took APUSH during the week and then the SAT Subject test on Saturday. He took the SAT in Chemistry on Saturday and the AP exam the following week.
The kids are encouraged to take the SAT or ACT (whichever was higher) in May or June if they aren’t taking AP Exams/Subject Exams and fall of senior year if they are taking AP/Subject exams.
My youngest did:
PSAT: Oct junior year
ACT: Nov junior year
SAT Subject US History/Chemistry: May junior year
SAT: October senior year (for NMSF)
At our school, the GC strongly recommends that you take it at least once in the fall of your senior year, as that’s when you tend to get the best scores.
It was definitely true for my daughter (currently a senior). She did SAT in March, then Subject test, then SAT again in June. This fall, she took the ACT, and did much better. I suspect she would have done better on the SAT as well.
DS took first ACT in April of junior year. Finished standardized testing by September of senior year.
In a very doo-fus move I did not have him take PSAT (homeschooler).
I really like @mamaedefamilia’s suggested time-frame above. ^^
Why do you assume he’ll have to take it more than once? With good preparation, he will do fine, and the later he takes it, the better he’ll do.
Both of my kids planned to take it only one time, in June of their junior year, and they both got a study guide to help them know what was on the test. It worked out fine.
They took their subject tests in fall of senior year. Many kids do this. Having to take the test multiple times because you inadequately prepared for the first one seems wasteful.
My junior son took the ACT in September and won’t take it again until June when school is out. But the one score has been enough to start a rough college list. We are planning a couple of campus visits over spring break.
He’ll take the PSAT on Saturday. If it looks like he’ll need an SAT confirming score for NMF, he’ll take advantage of the new August test date for the SAT next summer. Lastly, I’m trying to convince him to add two SAT subject tests in May (right after the AP tests), and maybe one more in June.
This plan leaves room for one more ACT/SAT sitting in the fall.
My senior daughter, who had a nice score on her June ACT, took it on a whim in September and raised her composite by 1.5 because there was no pressure.
Alternatively, spending a lot of time (and if you take a formal course, money) preparing for the test could be wasteful for some students. Some kids take the tests with little or no preparation the first time around with the understanding that if their scores are high enough, they’re finished. And if their scores aren’t high enough, then they prepare intensively and take the test a second time. In some instances, this means preparing intensively only for the one section of a mult-section test in which they had a disappointing score.
If you’re going to try this strategy, you need to schedule the first test during your junior year so you have time to prepare for the second one if preparation proves to be necessary.
IMy son was actually sick the day of this first scheduled SAT in Nov 2014 (fall of junior year) after taking an SAT prep class in Sept and Oct. He couldn’t take the Dec 2014 test because of an existing commitment to a school music trip so we rescheduled to Jan 2015. That date got snowed out and was moved to Feb 2015 which is when he ended up taking it for the first time. He was also scheduled to take it in March 2015 but that ended up being the day of my father’s funeral so he missed that one too. Fortunately his first score was good enough that we decided he really didn’t need ot take it again…
So I am now a firm believer of planning for two SATs - fall and spring of junior year. That way you have plenty of room to move things around if anything unforeseen happens. And if the fall one goes well, then your kid is free and clear to focus on AP and SAT Subject tests if applicable at the end of junior year. If you wait until the end of Junior year and something comes up, like your son is sick on the day of the test, you are now testing in the fall of senior year when he’s also busy completing applications.
Students who may have a chance at National Merit should take the PSAT in fall of 11th grade.
Some time in 11th grade is typically the best time to take the SAT and ACT. For the SAT, if the student intends to take SAT subject tests at the last test day in 11th grade (as s/he is completing the associated courses), a different day needs to be chosen for the SAT reasoning.
It is best not to wait until 12th grade to take the SAT and ACT, since not having any scores will hinder the summer college research in making it more difficult to determine what colleges and scholarships are realistic.
@Marian, I wasn’t talking about taking a course, but about opening the book and familiarizing oneself with the material. This is never a waste of time, no matter how brilliant the student is.
End of junior year is fine. Four of my kids took the SAT during 2nd semester junior year. They had enough time for a re-take if necessary, but none of them needed it. My current senior wasn’t able to take the test during junior year due to activities schedule. She wanted to take the ACT in June, but travel plans eliminated that option. So her first test (besides PSAT) was ACT in Sept. of senior year. Fortunately she beat her goal and won’t retake. They all prepped at home with a book, and that saved $ on retakes. Still, it is smart to leave time for one-- just in case.
Does the high school have the students take practice ACT? to get a feel for the format/timing etc. That might make a difference on being comfortable with test.
I agree that taking it in spring of Junior year to get a baseline is helpful. It takes about 2 weeks to get scores posted in online account. Longer to get paper copy. So if the student waits and takes ACT on 10 Jun 2017, won’t get the scores until 20-24 June or later. If the writing portion is needed, that score could take another 2-3 weeks. The official website says the scores would be posted between 21 Jun- 4 Aug.
If you can find a Princeton Review location near you, they give tests for free. We sent our S19 to an ACT and an SAT this summer as baselines. He’s already taken Trig so he’s had enough math even though he’s now only a current sophomore. SAT went better so he will focus on that this next summer (2017) after sophomore year. He will study in the summer and take the test fall of junior year. No reason to wait.
If a student has SAT II tests and AP tests to take in May/June of junior year, it doesn’t make sense to add the SAT to that madness. After taking the test early junior year, our S19 can retake in the winter once or twice if he needs to do that. It really seems risky to me to take the test for the first time at the end of junior year. Our plan is a little ahead of the game, but right for our son. Our school suggests spring of junior year for ACT/SAT but only after you’ve taken a baseline test somehow - whether it’s the PSAT, a free test at a test center, or even taking a test on your own out of a book and timing yourself.
ime, waiting until the end of junior year is VERY stressful–i would plan to take it over the winter to gauge scores and use the late spring to retake if necessary.
mine gave it one last shot at the (sr year) Oct 1 sitting and we are on pins and needles waiting for those scores to be released on Oct 20-it puts us on a ridiculously tight time line.
ED/EA dates come early–its *a lot *of pressure to wait on college board. i would have preferred to be d-o-n-e much earlier (lol, i thought we WERE–this was sort of an afterthought).
i also strongly believe that the SAT is best taken whatever year they are in some form of algebra so their skills are fresh. i regret not forcing a course sequence change–it would have been preferable (to US) to have had back to back alg’s and save geometry for last for testing purposes.