Many states today require high school juniors to take either an SAT or ACT (ACT & SAT Mandated States) for federal accountability, a fact that presents strategic standardized testing options for college bound students. In CT, for example, public school juniors will take an SAT on the state’s nickel in late March to early April 2026 (check with your school), historically around 10 days after the CollegeBoard’s national SAT in early March, this year on March 14, 2026. For students applying to competitive colleges, the best strategy to maximize scores and therefore admissions chances, especially for those who prepare, is to take both. Once on March 14, the regular CollegeBoard national test date, and again in school a week or 2️⃣later.
Students/Parents to whom this advice does NOT apply:
- Those in private schools, which do not administer state-mandated SATs
- Those who know based on prior exam results that they will be submitting ACT scores, not SAT scores
- Those applying ONLY to test optional colleges and are confident their scores will top out below the 25th percentile for incoming freshman for their colleges (research shows submitting scores at the 25th percentile or higher bolsters your candidacy)
- Those who already have an SAT score that is good enough to get into ALL the schools on their list (according to Naviance or colleges’ published stats or your college counselor)
For every other junior in CT and other states that offer an in-School SAT…
I strongly recommend you take TWO SATs in March: one on March 14 (for which you need to register) and the freebee later in March or April (for which you do not need to register since that’s your school’s responsibility).
I know what you’re thinking: “This guy is a little test happy, and this seems an extreme and torturous recommendation even in our ultra competitive college admissions culture. Doesn’t this guy realize standardized test are becoming less important in the post Covid era?” I get why you might think that, and I might’ve thought the same thing based on misleading information widespread in the media and wishful thinking of students and families who would just assume not bother with college entrance exams, but like you, I’d have been wrong. 😉
Before I get to my concrete reasons, let me offer an analogy that should make it intuitively obvious why this is good advice. Say one of your teachers marches into class next week and announces the following:
“I made a decision about your final exam. Instead of offering just one exam date at there end of the year, I’m going to offer two, a week or two apart, and while they won’t be the same test, they’ll be very similar. It’s your choice whether to take one or the other or both. If you take one or the other, whatever you get goes in the gradebook/PowerSchool/etc. If you take both, I’ll not only count just the higher of the two, but I’ll also mix and match your better individual Verbal (Reading & Writing) and Math scores on each exam to give you an overall “super score.”
Because final exams count so much toward your final grade in each course, only complete stoners or students who missed the announcement wouldn’t take both, right? The only real difference between this analogy and the two SATs in March is that your SAT score counts a lot more in college admissions than any one (or two or three) final exams. Personally, as an educator, I don’t like it, but that’s a cold hard fact.
If my analogy doesn’t work for you, here are five concrete reasons why I’m pushing two SATs in March for anyone applying to competitive college:
- If you’re preparing properly for the free state-administered SAT in late March, you absolutely should, a week or two beforehand, take a full-length practice test simulating the actual test experience as closely as possible. The 3/14 SAT is right on time and there’s no simulation like the real thing.
- If you happen to do better on 3/14 than on your In-School exam for whatever reason, it can count!
- If you’re investing in a private tutor or class or even just time on Kahn Academy, you get twice the bang for your buck since the two dates are so close together (the next SAT after those in March is in May, when some of your learning gains from prep in March will likely have worn off).
- In general, students score higher, and very rarely lower, on subsequent exams, than on their first time out.
- Since you don’t have to report any scores you don’t want to report (see CollegBoard’s Score Choice policy), there is no downside. Even in the rare case when a schools may ASK for all your scores, you are not obligated to share them all (their very question is dirty pool).
To help you get ready and give you the very best chance to significantly raise your score, CollegePrepExpress offers private tutoring as well as BRAND NEW, small design-your-own-test-prep-schedule courses for 2026 SATs and ACTs. Choose any FOUR 2-hr. classes for $600 from more than 20 choices, and add additional 2-hr classes for $130 each in advance or $150 up to last minute!
CONSIDER THIS
For your single sustained prep effort NOW THRU March, you get TWO, NOT JUST ONE, SAT darts to throw at the board!
Good luck, juniors. You have my unqualified sympathy. But look at the bright side: the hardest working year of high school is already around half over. Down the stretch don’t forget, we’re here to help with small remote classes and 1-on-1 sessions 🤓.