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Hope everyone is doing well and staying safe during this time. A lot of students are wondering when the next SAT exam will be. According to College Board (https://pages.collegeboard.org/sat-covid-19-updates), the June exam is still on schedule although I think they are taking a wait-and-see approach.

After the June test date, the next schedule test date is late August. My expectation is that College Board will add several additional test dates to make up for the canceled exams during March and May.

In addition, it appears that the Fall exams will be administered regardless if schools reopen by then. Per College Board’s website, “If, unfortunately, schools cannot reopen this fall, we’re pursuing innovative ways to ensure all students can still take the SAT this fall. We’ll provide updates about those plans if they become necessary.”

Rising seniors, if you are looking to make one last push for a better score on the SAT, you really only have the August and October SAT test dates.

The November and December test dates put you really close to college application deadlines. In fact, if you are applying for early decision, chances are the schools may not receive your scores in time.

August is an excellent test date as it is administered before schools reconvene so you can really focus on studying before school and after-school activities start back up. Deadline for the August 24th exam registration is July 26th.

Last year, Montgomery County started offering 11th graders a free SAT exam each spring as part of the SAT School Day initiative.  The goal is to provide access to more students to reach higher education.

SAT School Day this year is April 9, 2019.

Note, there are differences in how this test is administered than other SAT exams.

• Exam is free of charge
• Exam is only offered to 11th graders
• Exam occurs on a school day (Tuesday this year)
• Exam takes place at the student’s high school

For more information, please go to: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/careercenter/testing/sat-school-day.aspx

Students, this is the last week to prepare for the March 2019 SAT.

My advice for this week is to do the following:

• Review the important math formulas that you should KNOW. Here is a good resource for some formulas you should memorize: https://blog.prepscholar.com/critical-sat-math-formulas-you-must-know
• Go over recent practice tests that you have taken and review questions that you missed. Recall the mistakes that were made, especially frequently occurring careless mistakes that can be avoided.
• Prepare yourself mentally for the timing of the test. Ideally, through practice tests, you have a good idea on the pace of the exam.
• If you are unfamiliar with the SAT math grid-in questions (questions that are NOT multiple choice), you need to review the following on how to properly submit answers for these questions: https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/pdf/official-sat-study-guide-sample-math-questions-student-produced-response.pdf
• There is no penalty for incorrect answers so be sure to produce an answer for each question, even if it is a guess.

Good luck next Saturday!

SAT Subject Tests are typically optional for most colleges and universities. However, achieving and submitting a great score in a particular subject test improves chances of getting accepted.

For SAT Math Subject Tests in particular, if a student is looking to study in a science, engineering, or math based major, I would recommend preparing for and taking one of the two Math Subject Tests.

There are two Math Subject Tests to choose from. First is the Math Level 1 Test which  assesses proficiency in algebra and geometry. Second is the Math Level 2 Test which assesses proficiency in algebra, geometry, as well as trigonometry. Both tests are 60-minutes in length and contain 50 multiple choice questions.

Choosing between the two comes down to the student’s own preference and proficiency. Students who are taking Pre-Calculus or Calculus and are comfortable with trigonometry concepts more often than not should take Math Level 2. Students who favor algebra and geometry concepts or have not been exposed to trigonometry should take Math Level 1.