Anonymous
Post 01/03/2026 14:11     Subject: How early to start SAT prep?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:If your kid is smart and pays attention in school, they shouldn’t need any additional prep.


If your kid is smart, they are probably taking Calculus when they are taking the SAT. They absolutely need to review algebra concepts that feature heavily on the SAT since they might have last done it in 8th or 9th grade.


If your child is in calculus and needs to review 8th grade algebra, they shouldn’t be in calculus…
Anonymous
Post 01/03/2026 13:58     Subject: How early to start SAT prep?
Anonymous wrote:If your kid is smart and pays attention in school, they shouldn’t need any additional prep.


If your kid is smart, they are probably taking Calculus when they are taking the SAT. They absolutely need to review algebra concepts that feature heavily on the SAT since they might have last done it in 8th or 9th grade.
Anonymous
Post 01/03/2026 13:56     Subject: Re:How early to start SAT prep?
Do the prep summer before junior year & fall of junior year. Take the SAT that is close to the fall PSAT date so your student is effectively prepping for both. Still plenty of time to retake in spring if the fall score isn't where it needs to be.

Prior to that, just read a lot of books. The math is easy to prep for. The verbal isn't -- but reading is the key to a good score.
Anonymous
Post 01/03/2026 13:45     Subject: How early to start SAT prep?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My current sophomore will study over the summer and take it August before his senior year. Is there any reason for him to take it cold this June?


I wouldn’t do it cold. I would do a few timed practice tests then take it in June. This was helpful for my kid, as he got exactly the same score on all three practice tests and the real test; based on that, he took a practice ACT cold, where he did significantly better. Did six weeks of tutoring over the summer, then took the ACT in September of junior year. Got the score he was looking for, so that was it.

Probably could have accomplished this without the official SAT—three practice tests with same score was probably enough to see the trend lol—so if we had it to do all over again, I’d start with timed SAT and ACT practice tests to see if one is obviously better, then go from there.



I also wouldn't take it cold, but I think taking it in sophomore June is a bad idea period. The score will naturally go up some as the kid gets older. Your kid will take it enough, don't prolong the process for no reason. Also, it's not common but there are schools (Georgetown) that make you report all scores.
Anonymous
Post 01/03/2026 13:42     Subject: How early to start SAT prep?
Prepping in middle school?? What?!

No. Assuming kid takes Algebra 2 by sophomore year, you prep summer between 10th and 11th grade and then take the test end of summer/early fall. Ideally you’re one and done and then you know what schools are in range and can focus on other things. If not, there’s plenty of time to take again later in the year.
Anonymous
Post 01/03/2026 13:38     Subject: How early to start SAT prep?
Anonymous wrote:Starting to prep in middle school is absolutely ridiculous. End of 10th grade would be the absolute earliest anyone needs to start. The PSAT-10 is a good first test, and once you they get the results from that test, they can start preparing as needed if they want to do better on the junior year PSAT.

I agree with reading advice above. A kid who is aiming for top schools should enjoy reading anyway.


Naw. You can be a top student shooting for top schools and not enjoy reading. Obviously helps if you do enjoy it as there is and will be a lot of it in school, but I disagree that they "should" enjoy it.
Anonymous
Post 01/03/2026 13:29     Subject: How early to start SAT prep?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:If the student has had Algebra 2 by sophomore year, then prepping summer before Jr is what my kids have done. One took the test in August, Dec, and then Sr year August and the 2nd kid took August and March of Jr year. The hope is to be done by December of Jr year, but as you can see neither of my kids hit that target. Jr year APs can be a lot and exams are in May so kids should consider pacing themselves.

That said, we weren’t chasing NMF. Those kids do probably start prepping much earlier.


And if the kid is taking algebra 2 and trigonometry in junior year, when do you start?



My understanding is that SAT math goes through Algebra 2 so having a kid test before finishing that class might not be the best strategy. How did they perform in the math section of the fall PSAT? That info should help your decision making.
Anonymous
Post 01/03/2026 13:12     Subject: How early to start SAT prep?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:If your kid is smart and pays attention in school, they shouldn’t need any additional prep.


Not true. That’s like saying your kid needs nothing more than PE class to do well at a swim meet.


Nope. It’s like saying if your kid is a decent athlete and goes to practice and works hard while there they shouldn’t need any additional prep for the swim meet.

You should have paid more attention in English.

Anonymous
Post 01/03/2026 12:54     Subject: How early to start SAT prep?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:If your kid is smart and pays attention in school, they shouldn’t need any additional prep.


Not true. That’s like saying your kid needs nothing more than PE class to do well at a swim meet.


Another poster, but I agree with the poster above. Lots of kids do not need extensive prep and still do extremely well. If the student is academically strong, the only thing I would recommend is taking at least 1 or 2 practice tests to get used to pacing, and to find out obvious weaknesses.
Anonymous
Post 01/03/2026 12:50     Subject: How early to start SAT prep?
Starting to prep in middle school is absolutely ridiculous. End of 10th grade would be the absolute earliest anyone needs to start. The PSAT-10 is a good first test, and once you they get the results from that test, they can start preparing as needed if they want to do better on the junior year PSAT.

I agree with reading advice above. A kid who is aiming for top schools should enjoy reading anyway.
Anonymous
Post 01/03/2026 12:44     Subject: How early to start SAT prep?
I would recommend not starting prepping in earnest until Algebra 2 is complete.

Until then, CONSTANT reading. All genres. All sources. Every day.
Anonymous
Post 01/03/2026 11:23     Subject: How early to start SAT prep?
Anonymous wrote:My current sophomore will study over the summer and take it August before his senior year. Is there any reason for him to take it cold this June?


Why would a rising junior study over the summer and then wait a year to take the test? Most kids at DC’s private prep during summer before junior year and test during late summer through late fall of junior year. DC followed this schedule and prepped some 1:1 during summer, took SAT in Sept and PSAT in October. Likely will be a NMSF.
Anonymous
Post 01/03/2026 09:47     Subject: How early to start SAT prep?
Anonymous wrote:My current sophomore will study over the summer and take it August before his senior year. Is there any reason for him to take it cold this June?


I wouldn’t do it cold. I would do a few timed practice tests then take it in June. This was helpful for my kid, as he got exactly the same score on all three practice tests and the real test; based on that, he took a practice ACT cold, where he did significantly better. Did six weeks of tutoring over the summer, then took the ACT in September of junior year. Got the score he was looking for, so that was it.

Probably could have accomplished this without the official SAT—three practice tests with same score was probably enough to see the trend lol—so if we had it to do all over again, I’d start with timed SAT and ACT practice tests to see if one is obviously better, then go from there.

Anonymous
Post 01/03/2026 09:23     Subject: How early to start SAT prep?
Anonymous wrote:If your kid is smart and pays attention in school, they shouldn’t need any additional prep.


Not true. That’s like saying your kid needs nothing more than PE class to do well at a swim meet.
Anonymous
Post 01/03/2026 09:19     Subject: How early to start SAT prep?
If your kid is smart and pays attention in school, they shouldn’t need any additional prep.