<p>It seems that the standard advice on the best time to take SAT is spring of junior year. WHY???? With Algebra 2 completed in 10th grade, why not study over the summer and take sat in the fall of junior year. </p>
<p>Pros to this approach: more time to prepare without stress of intense ap classes, sat 2 tests etc. great to feel like you have chance of being "done" by end of first half of junior year. (obviously leaving plenty of time to re-take if desired) Also, it gives you an early indication of how necessary it might be for you to take ACT as well. If you get great score on SAT, you can pass on ACT altogether.</p>
<p>I have heard people talk intellectual growth over junior year leading to higher scores. Any evidence to back this up?</p>
<p>My daughter did very well (approx 98-99 percentile) on language portion of psat. (no prep) and not so well on the math (maybe high 70th percentile). It seems like math is very teachable and not sure how 6-9 more months of school would make a difference.</p>
<p>Thoughts anyone? Any first hand experiences? Thanks</p>
<p>I can only speak from personal experience...</p>
<p>I decided to prep for the SATs over the summer before junior year because I realized how busy junior year would be (AP classes, driver's ed, clubs, etc). So, I had private tutors in English and math (thankfully, my parents were willing to pay) for the summer into the early fall. I ended up taking the SAT in December. I did very well on the December SAT, so I was stress-free for the rest of junior year. Another added bonus was that my early prep had me ready for the PSAT, so I'm a national merit semi-finalist.</p>
<p>I could not recommend taking it early enough.</p>
<p>improvement. like if you take it once and score in the 500s and then again and score in the 600s, low 700s a college may like that you have shown improvement</p>
<p>I took it early junior year (october)...if anything, I'm sure it will help because 1) I'm confident 2) I'm not stressed-I did well enough that I could never take it again-anything now is icing</p>
<p>I took SAT in October; retook in November... yes, I did study over the summer, and yes it is a great feeling to be done with SAT's forever! But taking the test early should not be at the expense of being the least bit unprepared. If waiting until spring will help by even 5 percent, then wait.</p>
<p>The down-side would occur if you under-prepare. But if you are confident with your skills and what you learned over the summer, then take it to get it over with. If you don't like your score, simply take it again. However, I wouldn't recommend taking the SAT more than 3 times (which you probably don't, as 1 SAT is bad enough)</p>