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should I take my SAT now or wait till next year?

I'm going to be in 10th grade and I was wondering if I should take my SAT yet or wait a little longer.

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Doc’s Answer

Pieces the SAT may be taken at any time beginning with your freshman year; however, most students take it for the first time in the spring of their junior year, because the content of the Math test includes questions not covered until then.

With the College Board's Score Choice policy, it may be tempting to take the SAT early and often because you will be allowed to choose which scores you send to colleges. That's not always the best approach. As many colleges ask you to send all of your score reports and it can reflect poorly upon you if it looks like you've taken the test a half dozen times in the hopes of lucking into a better score. Also, it could be hundreds of dollars or more to take the exam over and over.

Truth be told, there is no right answer to when is the best time to take the SAT. Your decision should ideally depend on:

• How much time do you need to prepare
• Is the test available on your preferred date
• College application deadlines
• Opportunities for re-testing

The more you plan, the better your chances at success. Remember, SATs are a high-octane, full-focus affair. Once you have a date on lock, you’ll have no time to dawdle. Keep these factors in mind before you settle on when to take the SATs.

Hope this was helpful Pieces
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Paul’s Answer

Hi Pieces --

It depends...okay, that's not a good answer, but it's somewhat true...

Overall, if you feel prepared, that's Fantastic! If you are concerned and feel it's going to stress you out, then be mindful of your feelings.
A few things you can do immediately to help determine your path...
1) Speak to your High School Counselor. More than likely, you will be able to take the PSAT at the end of the 10th grade. This will give you some good insight into how you may score on the "real SAT," but it means waiting many months, possibly.
2) Sign up for KHAN ACADEMY! It's FREE! https://www.khanacademy.org --> They are the "official" partner of the College Board (folks who develop the SAT). As per Khan Academy's website, "For the first time ever, the creators of the SAT have given Khan Academy exclusive access and advice to build a personalized practice program for anyone..." (We'll come back to Khan Academy in a minute)
3) Sign up for a "College Board" account --> https://www.collegeboard.org/ --> There's a LOT of information out there including what's on the exam, how many questions, how long is it, what's it cost, how it's scored (perfect score is 800 + 800 = 1600 btw) etc...
4) Once you have the above accounts, then you'll want to sign up for the SAT Prep (FREE, FREE, FREE) course in Khan Academy. You can then proceed at your own pace of learning the material...but, self-study is tough and can be daunting...
5) So, sign-up for https://www.schoolhouse.world --> It's (you guessed it...) FREE, FREE, FREE! It's an offshoot from the founder of Khan Academy (Sal Khan) and is a FREE Tutoring service on many different subjects. It has numerous options for SAT Prep, SAT Bootcamps (for when you are getting closer to an exam), etc. Most of the sessions are led by other high schoolers (there's some very caring/giving/smart folks out there).
6) As part of the items above, you can take a "practice SAT." (Eventually, you may take several during your journey) You can see your score and figure out your strengths/weaknesses. If you are happy with your score (awesome) then I'd say you've objectively determined "you are ready" for the "real SAT." If not, then put in some more effort via the resources above. The SAT is a marathon, not a sprint. Just 10 minutes a day for 2 months (basically one less YouTube video a day) adds up to 8-10 hours of "studying" (which is almost a full school day or two, but in bite-size chunks).

A couple overall items to note:
a) Studying for the SAT Exam can help you in your overall High School classes. If nothing else, it should give you confidence that you are able to tackle some pretty hard questions. Although, there will be some areas you probably find challenging and will need to spend time to learn/re-learn the material. For instance, if you haven't taken Geometry/Algebra 2, then there will be several questions you haven't learned, yet. Give yourself a break and don't stress over them. Try to learn what you can but realize that you will get better with practice and having taken the classes.
b) KHAN ACADEMY and SCHOOLHOUSE.WORLD are FREE! Most of your high school classes (Algebra/Biology/Chemistry/History/English/Pre-calc/Calc/AP classes, etc.) all have courses on Khan Academy! There's even sections on College Admissions/Advice, Personal Finance and Careers! Most of these also have tutoring sessions available on Schoolhouse.world as well! So, while you asked about SAT Prep (which is on both), one thing you want to do is to have more fun in High School and get good grades. Putting in some "extra effort" by using these sites will help you with the grades and hopefully reduce your concerns/stress so you'll have time for more fun.

Hope this helps!
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T.J.’s Answer

Hello Pieces!

Your decision to take the SAT depends on your personal college goals.

If you feel prepared, you can take it.
If you don't feel ready yet, you can always take the Practice SAT (PSAT) to prepare for the actual exam next year!

Here's a link to the PSAT: https://satsuite.collegeboard.org/psat-nmsqt
Also, here's a link to colleges that are test-optional, where sending SAT scores isn't required: https://tinyurl.com/oklahomatestoptional

Sending you encouragement as you prepare for testing :)
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