jollybjolly

Is winter of Junior year to late or should you take your first SAT earlier??
I am currently a soph. in algebra II, when should I take it?

DMOC

There is no best time to take the SAT, as long as you take them at least once by your junior year. Winter of junior year is fine. Earlier is fine. It's up to whether or not you're ready.

Islander4

You should probably wait until the spring of your junior year. I would start learning material from now, though. There's quite a bit of stuff; and you're better off adapting yourself earlier rather than later for that test of trickery.

sportslapdes

before senior year whenever you don't have finals or extracurriculars like sports

shahdin

I would say January of Junior Year.

RAlec114

It depends on how many points you need to increase. If I were you.. I'd take a diagnostic SAT test now, find your score, and see how far it is from your target score. If you don't have that much school work, I'd suggest doing lots of practice tests and studying NOW and take it in march/may/june to see how you do after practice. Then take that new score, and see how far it is from your target score, and study a LOT over the summer, then take it out once and for all in junior year OCTober.

Thispakistanigir

If you take your first SAT in the earlier months of your junior year (January or earlier) you have more time to prepare for a test further down the line if you get a score that didn't meet your goal. However, if you decided to take it let's say in either May or June you would possibly have to differ taking another test until your senior year, because you'd obviously need more time for preparation.

Kean

It depends on whether or not you want to get a good score on your first try or if you're planning on retaking.

I wanted to get a 2400 on my first try. I chose January because I had started studying the summer of sophomore year, and I felt that I was ready to take it in January when I started getting consistent 2380's, 2390's, and 2400's on my practice tests. And I got a 2400, so I'm happy.

jollybjolly

I am about 400 points off of my target score if that helps determine when I should take it..
I am most busy during the winter.

I am just starting to work my way through the first Direct Hits book.

mifune

It is most typical - and usually best - to take your first SAT in the second semester of your junior year. I, however, did not take it until the fall of my senior year but I have a bit of a unique situation since I am a third-year senior. Last year, I was not yet positive if I was going to be forgoing a fourth year of high school. I ultimately decided to graduate after three years so the fall tests were the options that I had.

Z.Exodus2008

I was in Algebra II last year as well, and to be honest, SAT math doesn't really require more than some basic logic and arithmetic. Waiting until you've taken Pre-Cal doesn't really make a difference.

I'd say the best time to take it the first time (assuming that you will almost *definitely* take it another time at least...if your hoping to take it just once, I'd say just after winter break of junior year, since you can use the break to study) is in late sophomore year--say, April. Preferably not June, since that's the best time to take SAT II tests for subjects you've studied during sophomore year.

If you take it before summer starts, you'll know what you can do already. Then, it's just a matter of preparation over the summer.

Of course, I wouldn't suggest walking in with no studying whatsoever. I think it's better to pick you best section to focus on. Hopefully, you'll get the score you want there, and then you won't have to waste time over the summer reviewing that section. (I say this because I made an 800 CR June of sophomore year, which really freed my study time up to focus on math, my weakest section. If I had had to review CR over the summer, I doubt I would be as happy with my superscore right now.)

Schokolade

I recommend taking your first SAT in October, January or May, because those are the only test dates for which you can receive the test booklet and your answers through the SAT score verification services in order to see exactly what you missed and prepare for the next time. If you take the SAT on other test dates and request score verification, you won't receive the test booklet.

silverturtle

I agree. I was able to pull off 790 before even finishing Algebra 2.