when should a student start prepping for SAT

Mine was never able to squeeze it in but he did alright. I really liked the way his JHS prepared interested kids. Every spring they offered a free PSAT testing to anyone who wanted to take it. It was a very low pressure, let’s see how you do. All 3 years, our S had the highest score of his grade but showed that his math splits weren’t nearly in line w/ his verbals.

That was such key info for us!! And for that alone, I always rec’d sitting a test as early as possible. We were able to get him some very quick tutoring before he even got to HS. He was able to successfully complete HS in a subject he saw a merely a means to an end. And while his math splits never reached his verbals, he got them to the point that he felt good about them.
Since he sat the PSAT at such a young age, and knew how valuable it could be, he went ahead and sat the first real SAT and ACT in the spring of his Freshman year. Now, he didn’t do all that great, but that wasn’t the point. It was just having the experience of knowing what to expect for later down the road as well as showing a few areas that could use some attention.
He took the SAT one more time the following year, and then concentrated on the ACT thereafter. I believe he took the ACT a total of 4 times, but once was a free sitting mandated by the high school in the spring of his Junior year. Fall senior year he finally reached his goal without any additional test prep.

The only prep my kid did for the SAT was the PSAT tests that were done at school in the 8th, 9th and 10th grades. The oldest took the ACT once and the SAT once. It wasn’t something that either I nor my husband did, so we didn’t know to tell our kid to do it. In hindsight, I’m glad we didn’t put that extra pressure on.

His one ACT was a 34, I don’t remember his exact SAT (somewhere between 1380 and 1420 - he’s not here to ask). He didn’t bother to take either one again to try to improve it.

My kids didn’t prep. I think we went over the test-taking issues like whether you are penalized for guessing, how to proceed while not taking too much time on one question etc.

Again, really depends on your kid. We had my son take a practice test that we paid for at a site like in 9th grade. His school doesn’t test early like some schools. We found out he had a pretty bad reading comp issue. Got him help and always suspected this.

He didn’t want to prep summer after sophomore year. Lots of his friends did and took the Act in the fall of Junior year. Most were one and done. He took his later Junior year. He took it 3 times to get his final score. One was a practice test but did need a tutor for ACT timing. It was really fast for him and why the retakes. But on practice tests he scored really well.