<p>Now that the 09-10 SAT testing year is complete, I would like to know, in your opinion and based upon actual test scores, which month did you score the highest in? I have been told that the curve varies from month to month and year to year. Which ones had the most generous curve this testing year? I have heard that in the past, May tended to be a good testing month because less of the top students were taking the SAT then (due to them being preoccupied with the AP exams). A local SAT tutor told me that December was a great testing month. Another tutor claims that June is the best month to obtain the highest SAT scores. So CC'er, based on what you have seen this past year, which month or months are the best? If you had to do it all again, how would you time your Junior year testing?</p>
<p>I took the May SATs for the first time a got a good score, so I’m not taking it again. I’m not exactly sure which month is “best” for taking the SAT if you’re simply trying to find the month where you’re most likely to score high. I CAN say, however, that it’s probably best to take it earlier in your junior year (December, January). That way you have time to take the test again and score higher, without having to worry about the huge interim period over the summer. </p>
<p>If I could do it again, I would have taken the SATs back in January and my subject tests in March before AP tests (May was a nightmare for me…). Now I have to take my subject tests in October, which is cutting it close for application deadlines.</p>
<p>Here’s my usual curve info (I’m copying this from what I’ve typed before because the “best month” question is so common):</p>
<p>1) First, read [this</a> College Board white paper](<a href=“http://professionals.collegeboard.com/profdownload/pdf/rn14_11427.pdf]this”>http://professionals.collegeboard.com/profdownload/pdf/rn14_11427.pdf) for the technical information about the curve, equating, and the standardization of the SAT.</p>
<p>2) Next, read [thread=760312]this thread[/thread] for a long but example-filled discussion of the curve.</p>
<p>3) Yes, I know, you skipped (1) and (2). OK, here is the executive summary:</p>
<p>The SAT curve (the chart that maps from your raw score to your scaled
score) adjusts solely for the difficulty of the test: a harder test will
have a nicer curve and an easier test will have a harsher curve. Someone
who gets a 45/54 raw math score on a harder test will receive a better
scaled score than a 45/54 on an easier test.</p>
<p>The curve is <em>not</em> adjusted so as to make the average score 500 or any
other particular number. Likewise, the number of people receiving 800s is
not fixed or predetermined.</p>
<p>The curve is <em>not</em> determined before the test is administered (although the
difficulty of each question independently is known beforehand).</p>
<p>The curve does not depend on or account for the quality (or lack thereof)
of the people taking the test in a given month. No one should worry about
who is taking the test with them: it doesn’t matter. Take the test when it
suits your schedule best and don’t worry about the other people taking the test.</p>
<p>In the end, the curve makes the test as fair as possible by making a 640
(say) mean the same thing no matter when you took the test.</p>
<p>So, predicting an upcoming curve based on previous history (see the sat
curves chart linked to in countless threads) or choosing to take the SAT in
a particular month due to a perceived pattern in the curves (I don’t know
of any pattern anyway) doesn’t make much sense.</p>
<p>So, the answer is that it dosen’t matter? Take the SAT whenever you are ready because the test is standardized so no month is “easier to score better in” than another?</p>
<p>^^Exactly. Otherwise there would be an uproar over the varying difficulties of the different SAT tests.</p>
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<p>This is correct.</p>