<p>I'm not talking about taking it for talent search purposes. When do most people first take the SAT in preparation for college apps? Junior year? Sophomore year? Earlier? What were your experiences and would you do anything differently?</p>
<p>Most people? Probably junior or senior year. Or not at all, if they're not planning to go to college. And CollegeConfidential is certainly not a good place to get an impression of what "most people" do.</p>
<p>But I'd advise you start taking it freshman year, because
(1) if you do well, you don't have to worry about taking it again in junior year when you'll be busier and less motivated
(2) if you don't do well, you'll have more time to prepare for taking it later.</p>
<p>I personally took the SAT twice in middle school (which was when I did most of my preparation), then once in sophomore year (had to because I'm going to college a year early). I don't think I'd do anything differently because I ended up with a good score anyway.</p>
<p>Dont listen to fizix. Wait untill junior year. U will be smarter when ur a junior than when u are a freshman and will probably naturally go up about 300 points. PLus remember that collegs will see all scores so if u take it as a freshman and do poorly colleges will see it.</p>
<p>Of course, most colleges say they only pay attention to the highest score from each section. Not to mention the SAT score report includes the dates on which you took the test.</p>
<p>Plus, you could always just take the SAT freshman year and not prepare for it. In which case taking it is only a small investment of time and money, so I'd say "why not?"</p>
<p>taking it junior year is probably best - if you want to get it done early, a lot of juniors take the January one</p>
<p>Um, EVERYONE in my school takes it May of Junior Year...a lot of people try to get a feel and take it January of Junior. Most then retake fall of Senior Year. I am hoping to take it October of Junior Year so it's combined with the PSAT. If I do bad, I still have a whole year!</p>
<p>I did it may of junior year.
I wish I'd done it earlier though. I could have used a better idea of what to expect.</p>
<p>I took it in June of my junior year, then again in October of my senior year... and I did better the first time.</p>
<p>I would recommend studying your butt off over the summer between sophomore and junior years and taking it October of your junior year. If you want to do better, you have plenty of test dates to choose from. Most people I know took it during their second semester of junior year and had to juggle SAT prep with prom, AP exams, and school.</p>
<p>of all the advice i got going into junior year, the suggestion to take the SAT in january was the best. then you have the option to retake in the spring, and you also have plenty of time to take SATIIs. i set a goal to do all the testing i needed by the end of junior year, and so far i'm getting it all done. i want senior year to be as unstressful as possible...</p>
<p>Most people I know took it in January of Junior year and then retake in June or October of Senior year. Myself, I'm going to take in June (Sophomore year)...If all goes well with the Math 2 I took yesterday, the SAT in June, and Chem in October, then I'll be done in October of Junior year with everything! Sweetness...unless I decide to take US History or Lit. D:</p>
<p>I took it ONCE in my entire lifetime. It was in October of my senior year (=last year).</p>
<p>Took it twice as a sophomore, but cancelled my May scores because I had a painful headache all through the test.</p>