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​March and May SAT Administrations

In response to the rapidly evolving situation around the coronavirus (COVID-19), College Board canceled the May 2, 2020, SAT and SAT Subject Test administration. Makeup exams for the March 14 administration (scheduled for March 28) were also canceled.

Students who already registered for May, whose March test centers were closed, or who do not receive March scores because of any irregularities will receive refunds.

Future Testing Opportunities

​We know students are anxious about how the coronavirus crisis will affect their college application process, including taking the SAT. We’re committed to being flexible and innovative to give all students opportunities to test as soon as the situation allows. We’ll share more details as soon as possible, but right now we can tell you the following:

• Currently, the next SAT is scheduled for the first weekend of June. We’re working with test centers and we’ll decide whether we can safely hold that administration as soon as it’s feasible, given the evolving public health situation.

• We’ll add U.S. and international test administrations in response to canceled administrations. We’ll be flexible in making the SAT available in school and out of school as soon as the public health situation allows. We’re looking at a range of creative solutions to address increased demand and are in direct conversations with states and districts about School Day administrations. Throughout, we’ll continue to place a special focus on students with fee waivers and those with accommodations.

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.

Resources and Support

To help students keep their college readiness skills sharp when many schools are closed, College Board and Khan Academy® will continue to provide free resources online, including full-length practice tests and personalized learning tools.

Together with our member schools and colleges, we will be flexible, thoughtful, and collaborative in exploring ways to continue to support student learning and provide opportunities to test during this challenging time.

Our focus will remain on student safety and ensuring students have the tools they need and opportunities to succeed on their path to college.

Please check this page regularly for updates.

If you have questions or concerns about your scheduled testing with College Board programs, please contact us as soon as possible. Given the high volume of inquiries, wait times may be longer than normal.

Educators
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +1-212-520-8600

Students
Email: [email protected]
Phone (domestic): 866-756-7346
Phone (international): +1-212-713-7789

Updated Customer Service Hours

To better support you throughout this crisis, and in compliance with local, state, and federal safety regulations, College Board's phone support hours are now 9 a.m.—6 p.m. ET, Monday—Friday.

College Board released a giant 211-page specification for the redesigned SAT, first coming out in Spring of 2016. ​

The College Board has promised that the new SAT test will test skills that are more predictive of success in college and beyond. We find generally that the SAT changes in 2016 accomplish this goal.

Greater Emphasis on Reasoning Skills and Context, Not Skills in Isolation
Historically the SAT has tested skills in isolation. Vocabulary-based questions would basically evaluate whether the student knew the common definition of that word (like "expropriate"). Writing questions would often test a single grammatical rule in a single sentence. Math questions would test a single math concept for a question of limited scope.
Instead, the new SAT emphasizes higher-level logical and reasoning skills. The Reading and Writing questions are now entirely passage-based, giving more opportunities to test a deeper understanding of how the passage is logically constructed and to draw connections between different parts of the passage. The Math section emphasizes more practical, realistic scenarios and introduces multi-step problems.

Fewer Learnable "Tricks"
The SAT has often been criticized for asking deceptive questions and for using tricks to complicate questions. This meant that students who performed well in school may do poorly on the SAT simply because they were unaccustomed to the presentation of questions.
As a result of emphasizing higher-level reasoning, the new SAT features fewer tricks, particularly in the Math and Writing sections. The skills tested are more difficult, but the presentation is more straightforward.

Format Changes

• The SAT is now scored out of 1600.
• The Reading and Writing sections on the current SAT have been combined into a single section in the new SAT, with a maximum score of 800. Writing is now known as "Writing and Language."
• The Math section is still scored out of 800.
• The Essay is optional and has changed dramatically.
• Instead of 5 answer choices for each question, there will be only 4. This doesn't necessarily make the test easier since the SAT will just remove the most unlikely answer.

Overall Gist of Changes to the Reading Section 

• All questions are now based on passages.
• The subject matter of passages are pre-determined. There's 1 passage concerning US and World Literature, 2 for History/Social Studies, and 2 for Science.
• Some passages will now contain data and require interpretation of data.

Greater emphasis on: 
vocabulary in context; command of evidence; constructing logical arguments; scientific reasoning.
Lesser emphasis on:
difficult vocabulary and vocabulary in isolation.

Reading Questions You'll Never See Again
Sentence Completions: 
These questions often tested more difficult vocabulary, and it was difficult to answer correctly without knowing the definition of the word. 

New Reading Question Types
Evidence Support Questions: 
For the first time, the SAT Reading section will have questions that build on each other. The student will be prompted to answer a question about the passage - for example, the author's tone or stance on a topic - and in the next question be asked to cite evidence for the answer in the previous question. Here's an example:

​The actual passage can be found on page 88 of the SAT specifications. This type of question builds on the SAT's desire to move toward higher-level reasoning skills. The student will need to support his or her answer with evidence from the passage.

Data Reasoning Questions: 
For the first time, the SAT Reading section will include figures that show data. The student will need to interpret the data in the figure and place it in the context of the overall passage - for example, how does this figure support the author's argument?

This type of data analysis and graph reading has never before been tested on the Reading section of the SAT. Especially tricky questions will likely be inference questions - for example, "the author is least likely to support which interpretation of the data in this figure?"
​
Student Study Tips for the New Reading Section:

• Because the passages now test higher-level reasoning and ask you to analyze arguments, reading real-world examples will be helpful like never before. Understanding and deconstructing pieces from well-written publications like the New York Times will help your understanding of how effective arguments are made.
• The new science passages will not be heavily focused on science. You won't need to know any formulas. You will have to know how to read graphs and understand their relevance.
• Evidence Support questions are double-edged swords. Because they’re intertwined, they can be an opportunity to check your thinking - if you can't find evidence that supports your answer to the first question, you can catch your mistake. However you can bet that the SAT will also try to lead you astray - if you pick a wrong answer to the first question, they'll give you a corresponding wrong answer on the second question.
• Personal biases have always been a common cause of mistakes on the SAT. Your job isn't to interpret the passages, it's to find the answer within the passage. But because the passages are now more relevant to real life and will draw from recent examples, you now need to be in greater control of your personal biases. The SAT will always try not to be controversial but you'll be more at risk for personal bias. 

Know the order of difficulty
SAT questions can be divided into three levels of difficulty: easy, medium and hard. The questions in the first third of each section are easy, those in the second third are medium and those in the last third are hard. (The only exception is the Reading Comprehension passages, which do not follow this order.)

Every question on the SAT is worth an equal amount. So spend your time making sure you get the easy and medium questions correct and tackle the hard questions if time remains. Rushing through the test to get to the hardest questions will only drag your score down.

Look for wrong answers instead of right answers
Don't know the right answer? It happens. But if you know which choices are definitely wrong, you will significantly improve your chances of getting the question right. This is called process of elimination.

Each question has 5 possible answer choices. Eliminate one or more possibilities, and your chances of guessing correctly are 25% or better. An incorrect guess will cost you only a quarter of a point. A correct guess will add an entire point.

Let's say there are 8 questions where you eliminate 1 choice and guess among the remaining 4 choices. Statistically, you will guess correctly 2 times and incorrectly 6 times. You are rewarded 2 points and penalized 1.5 points. You just earned .5 points by guessing 8 times.

Own your test booklet
You paid for that test booklet, personalize it. Scratch work is extremely important on the SAT. Don't be embarrassed about it—writing in your test booklet will help you keep your mind focused.

• Mark up geometry diagrams. Keeping track of your work directly on the page will help you avoid careless mistakes.
• For sentence completion, you will need to come up with your own word or two to help you answer a question. Write these down! Trying to keep track of information in your head can lead to confusion and errors.
• When you use process of elimination to eliminate a wrong answer, cross it out! Don't leave it there to confuse you if you have to choose between two remaining answer choices.
• When you answer a question but aren't entirely confident in your choice, circle the question or put a big question mark next to it. That way, if you have time to go back at the end of the section, you can find the question easily and quickly.
• When you answer a question but aren't entirely confident in your choice, circle the question or put a big question mark next to it. That way, if you have time to go back at the end of the section, you can find the question easily and quickly.