The traditional academic year spanning from around Labor Day to well past Memorial Day feels like a marathon designed to test the endurance and focus of any participant (students and teachers alike!) Today’s high schoolers juggle so many academic, extracurricular, volunteer, family, social, and even work commitments that every hour in a week becomes scheduled far in advance. Adding insult to injury, college bound teens have to carve out time during the school year to take–and hopefully also prep–for SAT exams that are only administered from October through June…
…unless you take advantage of the August SAT.
Based on the hectic nature of high school life, the August SAT is the best option for many students for two compelling reasons:
1. You can test before school starts, or at least really starts.
2. You can prep before school starts.
While schools in the warmer regions of the United States convene in August, many northern state schools open around the beginning of September. How exciting is the prospect of getting a big test out of the way before classes even start? If you aren’t sure, the answer is very exciting.
Even better, though, is the option to connect summer prep to a summer test. The months of July and August have always been among the best times for test prep, with the one downside that the first SAT of the academic year didn’t arrive until October, at least until 2017. Today’s students can prepare and practice right up to the exam without the distraction of school. Fall athletes may struggle to focus, but everyone else can enjoy a clear path to test readiness.
The case for the August SAT becomes even more persuasive when you consider that both juniors and seniors have reason to sit for this test:
- 12th graders who haven’t yet earned their target scores, especially those planning Early Action/Early Decision applications
- 11th graders who have completed Algebra 2 and expect to be busy during the school year (HINT: This describes most 11th graders!)
Any high school student entering junior or senior year who has at least some time to study this summer should strongly consider prepping, registering (ASAP), and sitting for the August SAT. Play your cards right and you could be done with this big test before your first little quiz of the new school year!
Mike Bergin