SAT Test Dates and Deadlines

There are seven official SAT test dates during the school year. Below, you’ll find charts for the 2018-2019 school year and the projected test dates for the 2019-2020 school year. You can see each SAT test date along with their registration deadlines and late registration deadline. It’s helpful knowing all of the deadlines in case you want to take the test right after you get your SAT score report and decide you need perform better.

2019-2020 SAT Test Dates

Test Date	Registration Deadline	Late Registration Deadline
August 24, 2019	July 24, 2019	August 11, 2019
October 5, 2019	September 5, 2019	September 23, 2019
November 2, 2019	October 2, 2019	October 20, 2019
December 7, 2019	November 7, 2019	November 25, 2019
March 14, 2020	February 13, 2020	February 24, 2020
May 2, 2020	April 2, 2020	April 20, 2020
June 6, 2020	May 6, 2020	May 23, 2020

2018-2019 SAT Test Dates

Test Date	Registration Deadline	Late Registration Deadline
August 25, 2018	July 27, 2018	August 15, 2018
October 6, 2018	September 7, 2018	September 26, 2018
November 3, 2018	October 5, 2018	October 24, 2018
December 1, 2018	November 2, 2018	November 20, 2018
March 9, 2019	February 8, 2019	February 27, 2019
May 4, 2019	April 5, 2019	April 24, 2019
June 1, 2019	May 3, 2019	May 22, 2019

When to Take the SAT

We recommend that most students first take the SAT by spring of junior year. This ensures that students will have addressed most of the test material in their courses and that they still have plenty of time for additional test prep and future test dates before they need to finalize their SAT scores for college applications. Look here for information about which tests to take when for college admissions.

There are some pros and cons to certain test dates:

Test Date	Pros	Cons
August	Rising seniors can finalize their test scores before school starts Still time to meet early application deadlines	Only worthwhile for students who do test prep during the summer months
October	Still early enough to meet some early application deadlines Early enough to retest if needed in order to meet regular application deadlines	For seniors in the midst of application season, this test date adds stress to an already stressful time
November	Early enough to retest if needed in order to meet regular application deadlines	For seniors in the midst of application season, this test date adds stress to an already stressful time
December	Typically last chance to meet regular application deadlines Good opportunity for juniors to start testing before AP exam prep season starts	For students with upcoming finals, this may not be the ideal time for testing
March	Good opportunity for juniors to take their first test or to check in on score progress before diving into AP exam prep Some juniors may be able to finalize scores, allowing them to focus on AP exams, schoolwork, and college essays without the stress of testing	Students taking a lot of APs may need to dedicate more time to AP exam prep, making this a less than ideal time for the SAT
May	Students with fully packed summers may want to try to finalize SAT scores before summer starts	AP exams likely make this test date less attractive for most students
June	With AP exams over, this may be a good time to take the SAT If students don’t hit their final scores on this test date, the scores can better inform their summer test prep	Students who just finished AP exams and finals may not have adequate time to prepare

 

Getting Ready for the SAT

We say it all the time – SAT prep is a marathon, not a sprint. To get the best score possible, early SAT test prep is vital. After you understand that getting an early start is the best course of action, coming up with a study plan is the next step. If you’re having trouble figuring out where to start, maybe some SAT tutoring is in order.