Many states now require high school juniors to take either the SAT or ACT (see, for example, ACT & SAT Mandated States) for federal accountability, a fact that presents new strategic standardized testing options for college bound students. Here in the Nutmeg state of Connecticut, public school juniors will take an SAT on the state’s nickel in March or April 2024 (West Hartford public schools Hall & Conard slated for Thurs 4/21/24), with various makeup dates (check with your school). For students applying to competitive colleges, the best strategy to maximize scores and therefore admissions chances, especially for those who do some form of preparation, is to take the exam twice in March. Once on March 9, a regular CollegeBoard national testing date, and then again in school in late March/early April 2024. This blog post explains why.
Students/Parents to whom this post does NOT apply:
- Those in private schools, which do not administer the free CT state SAT
- Those who know based on prior exam results that they will be sending ACT scores, not SAT scores, to colleges
- Those applying ONLY to test optional colleges and are confident their scores will top out below the 25th percentile for incoming freshman to their desired colleges
- 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’ profile stats or guidance counselor)
For every other junior in CT and other states that have contracted with the CollegeBoard for an SAT in School…
I strongly recommend you take TWO SATs in March: one on March 9 (for which you need to register) and the freebee in late 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 is an extreme and torturous recommendation even in our competitive, test-happy culture. Doesn’t this guy realize the CollegeBoard just deep-sixed Subject Tests and the SAT optional Essay, indicating the beginning of the end for all college standardized tests?” I get that, and I might’ve thought the same thing back in the day, 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 you one exam date in June, 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 the higher of the two scores, but I’ll also mix and match your better individual sections 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 those whose highest career aspiration is to ask people whether they want fries with that 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 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:
- If you’re preparing properly for the free 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 3/11 SAT is right on time and there’s no simulation like the real thing.
- If you happen to do better on 3/11 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 March is in May, when some of your learning gains from prep in March will have worn off).
- In general and within reason, the more SATs students take, the higher their scores go.
- There is no downside since you don’t have to report any scores you don’t want to report. And just because one or two stodgy 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 has several programs from which to choose. In addition to private and semi-private tutoring, we offer three classes to help student prep for March SATs: our most popular 6-Session Prep Class, a 9-Session class for those who want extra practice and learning or those who are positioning for maximal score gains, and a 3-Session Crash Course for second-timers, last-minute Charlies, and those whose schedules don’t allow for either of the others. For all the dates, times, materials, and other details, visit our Classes & Registration page and for complete course descriptions for each of the three classes, visit our SAT Classes page.
CONSIDER THIS
For your single prep effort NOW THRU March/early April 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 classes and 1-on-1’s sessions 🤓.
