Dear Sallie,
I am from Brazil and am currently in my first year of the IB program. I wish to take the SAT as soon as I can while I'm still not overloaded with work. I plan on taking the 30 hour program and would like your opinion on when to take it. The available dates for me to take the SAT here would be November, December and January. I would find that December would be the ideal time, but I found out that I will have important exams around that time. Would January be too late (even thought I would have a month of holidays during which I could prepare)?
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Hello!
Great question, and your inclination to take the SAT before you are overloaded with academic responsibilities is good intuition. When creating a test preparation schedule for 11th graders, 1st year IB students, and A-Level Year 12 students, I guide students through the following list:
- 1. What test dates are offered in your city? List them.
- 2. Of those dates, consider your academic calendar. When are exams scheduled, and when will you be studying for them?
- 3. When are academic holidays? Do you have time to study during these holidays or will you be unavailable?
- 4. What sports and/or academic extra-curricular activities are you involved in? When is the “season,” when do practices happen, and when are championships?
Based on your year and involvement with IB, I recommend that you target the January SAT. It is my experience that if you are studying for exams in December, it is not ideal to pressure yourself to study for the SAT as well. My rule of thumb is to study for one important exam at a time – so, save December to prepare for your academic examinations and either prep intensively for the SAT after those tests pass OR, what some students do: begin prep now for the SAT and take a small hiatus while you are prepping for school exams so you can start to build a foundation that you can continue in December for a less “crammed” January prep experience. In general, my motto is “start early!”
-Sallie
