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Our mission at Star Tutors is to positively impact and influence academic learning by being available to students anytime, anywhere. Each member of the Star Tutors team has demonstrated a desire to help students succeed in all aspects of their lives. We hire tutors that not only have significant tutoring and teaching experience, but also have had successful careers in other fields including architecture, medicine, accounting, and much more!

Star Tutors Blog

SAT and ACT Test Scheduling

Erik Klass

Planning when to take official SAT and ACT tests can be a bit of a science. Should you take an official test in the middle of an SAT or ACT program? Or should you wait until a program is completed before taking your first official test? I’ll answer these questions below.

First, as I’ve discussed in a separate article, I recommend taking the SAT or ACT test two or three times. I generally consider the first official test a “dress rehearsal,” and the second test the “target test.” For a number of reasons (mostly the intensity of the environment and the stress of knowing that the test is for real—both extremely difficult to mimic in practice settings), students often struggle on their first official SAT or ACT test compared to recent practice tests, so it’s important to plan for at least two, and sometimes three.

So when to schedule these official tests? Generally speaking, you have two options:

Option 1: Take your first official test during the program.

Plan to take the first test (the “dress rehearsal”) during your SAT or ACT tutoring program, and the second test (the “target test”) soon after your program’s completion. This option has two advantages: First, tutoring will continue naturally after the first test, and there will likely (hopefully) be no need for additional SAT or ACT prep after the target test. This is definitely the better option if additional tutoring, beyond your scheduled SAT or ACT tutoring program, is not an option. The second advantage to this option is that in some cases your SAT or ACT tutor can go over the first official test with the student before the target test (see this article for more about the Question-and-Answer Service for the SAT test and the Test Information Release for the ACT test). There are two important rules for Option 1:

  1. Make sure the first test (“dress rehearsal”) is scheduled after about 20 hours of SAT or ACT preparation. Most students will take their second scheduled practice test at around the 20-hour mark of their SAT or ACT program. We think it’s important to have this practice test under your belt before taking the first official test.

  2. Make sure the target test is scheduled within a few weeks of the completion of your SAT or ACT tutoring program. Obviously, if you take a longer layoff, you’ll risk getting rusty without additional tutoring or self-prep.

Option 2: Take your first official test after the program.

The advantage to taking the first test after you’ve completed your SAT or ACT tutoring program (as above, without more than a few weeks’ delay) is that you’ll almost certainly score higher on this first test than you would with Option 1. (Read this article about SAT and ACT “score choice,” and why it’s probably important to take every official test seriously, and not bomb any of them.) The major downside of this option, however, is that tutoring won’t naturally continue between the first SAT or ACT test (the dress rehearsal) and the next one (the target test) because technically we’re done with the scheduled program. So here are the rules for Option 2:

  1. You must plan to continue working—either on your own or with your SAT or ACT tutor—between the first test and the target test. This typically includes taking practice SAT or ACT tests, at least a couple a month, and once a week as the test approaches. The biggest risk of Option 2 is getting rusty between tests.

  2. As with Option 1, make sure the first official test is scheduled within a few weeks of the completion of the SAT or ACT tutoring program.

Summary:

So which option is better for you? If you have a hard stop (as is the case with seniors in November or December), or if budget or time restricts the amount of SAT or ACT tutoring possible, go with Option 1: take an official test any time after the 20-hour point of your SAT or ACT prep, and take your target test soon after completion. If you don’t have significant time or budget constraints, go with Option 2: you’re dress rehearsal score will likely be higher, so you won’t be sharing a lower score to a college that doesn’t offer Score Choice, and you’ll likely see higher overall scores, especially if you are able to continue working with your SAT or ACT tutor beyond the schedule program (between tests).

One final, and important, thing to consider: Since the SAT canceled the January test a few years ago, there is now a lengthy break between the December SAT test and the next one in March. This adds some weight to Option 1 for students whose SAT prep will finish before the December test.

Any questions, let us know. And good luck with your SAT or ACT prep!