Short & Sweet Recommendation
From a purely math perspective, we recommend taking the SAT for practice in May of the year that you complete Algebra 2. Then, during the summer, study and practice and go for your maximum score in August, as you enter Precalculus. Although your Language Arts skills may not be fully developed by the time you complete Algebra 2, the “Super Scoring” option – where you can mix and match your best scores – allows you to get your best math score now and then take the test later and focus on Language Arts. Make sure to pay extra for the Question and Answer Service “QAS” on the May test. The QAS will allow you to see every question of the test, so you can pinpoint your mistakes. The QAS is only available on the October, March and May tests, so it is important to take the May test as your practice test if you are planning on studying over the summer.
This timeline works well because Precalculus is NOT required for the SAT, so once you have completed Algebra 2, you know everything you need to know to succeed on the SAT! However, if you wait a year or two to take the test, you might forget everything you need to know to succeed on the SAT! Also, studying during the summer after Algebra 2 will help you get off to a great start in Precalculus!
7th Grade – SAT (Atypical)
Duke TIP and Johns Hopkins CTY are talented youth programs that used to require the SAT. The College Board no longer allows students under 13 to take the SAT, so these programs no longer use the SAT or ACT. Duke TIP canceled its program during COVID and has not restarted it as of 2022. Johns Hopkins is doing a reboot in 2022, but the SAT is no longer part of the acceptance criteria.
8th & 9th Grade
PSAT 8/9 – Some schools now administer the PSAT 8/9 to students in middle school or 9th grade. This test is free and given during the school day. This is just a practice test to help students get used to the exam and question format. It is also a great checkpoint to see how your child might do in the future. If your school offers it, great, if not, I would not seek it out.
9th & 10th Grade
PSAT – Depending on the high school, your student might take the PSAT in 9th and 10th grade. This test is free and given during the school day. These are also practice tests that give insight into possible future scores. Although we recommend doing a little informal review around the house before the test, these scores do NOT count for anything.
SAT – I chose to have my son, Carter, take the SAT in 9th grade because his middle school math skills were still fresh in his mind, and he was in AP Calculus BC. It seemed like he was ready for anything, and sure enough, he scored a perfect 800! Generally, taking the full SAT in 9th grade is NOT recommended, the only exception being if you are the child of a math tutor! Taking the SAT at the end of 10th grade is recommended for very high achieving students. Because the 11th grade PSAT (in October) is used for qualifying for the National Merit Scholarship program, students that can score in the top 1% should take the SAT as a 10th grader. Scoring in the top 1% takes practice, and the spring SAT tests can provide some of that practice.
11th Grade (Fall)
PSAT – All schools administer the PSAT to most students in 11th grade. This test is free and given during the school day. This test is NOT part of the formal college application process, but a great score can potentially earn your child a National Merit Scholarship, and will kick start the college recruiting process. Very few students, about 1%, earn the $2,500 one time National Merit Scholarship. In Florida, being a National Merit Scholar may also qualify you for the Benacquisto Scholarship, which is very valuable (covers all tuition, board and cost of living for 4 years!). Although college recruiting departments will receive the 11th grade PSAT score, and may start to reach out to your child to get them interested in their school this score is NOT part of the college admissions process. Except in rare cases, we do NOT recommend seeking tutoring solely for this test, but we do recommend studying for this test. Studying for the PSAT will help your child get used to studying for, and seeing the benefits of that studying, the real SAT test.
11th & 12th Grade
SAT – Many students start to take the SAT in 11th grade in hopes of getting a high enough score that they will not have to stress about it in their senior year. We recommend the October test date because this will align well with the PSAT (also given in October). From a math perspective, taking the SAT in 11th grade is generally a great idea because once a student has completed Algebra 2, they have learned everything they need to know to get a great SAT score. We strongly recommend studying for a minimum of four weeks leading up to the test. We recommend doing official SAT sample tests 1-5 for section 3 the first week, then section 4 tests 1-5 the second week, then section 3 tests 6-10 the third week, and lastly section 4 tests 6-10 in the fourth week. Schedule tutoring as often as needed in order to cover the questions that you do not understand. Because the SAT covers topics from middle school (fractions, probability, mean, median, percents, distance), Algebra 1 (lines, equations, systems), Geometry (circles, triangles, angles, polygons, volume, area, perimeter) and Algebra 2 (parabolas, FOIL, factoring, exponents) students are often rusty on many of the details of these topics that they have not thought about for several years. It takes a few weeks for these skills to come back before the typical student starts to fire on all cylinders. Most schools allow for “superscoring,” which means they will allow you to submit your best score for each part of the test, even if you got the best scores on different test dates. Many student plan to take the SAT many times and rarely study for the first test. Perhaps there have been studies done to prove this is an effective approach, but it makes absolutely no sense to us. The SAT released eight free practice tests. If you need practice, do some free practice tests! Also, when students expect to retake the test, they usually fail to step up their game and put in their best effort to prepare properly. Plan on taking the SAT once. Plan on working hard once. Plan to succeed.
Generally, colleges want your final SAT score by December of your senior year, so if you don’t have the score you want by the end of your junior year, we strongly recommend studying hard over the summer (when there are fewer distractions) and crushing the August test in your junior or senior year. Generally, seniors that do not have a great score in August get very stressed out, very busy, and sometimes apathetic, so we really recommend having a great score your junior year, and no later than the August test of your senior year.