SAT after high school

[mom2three]

I was wondering if it is possible to take the SAT's after graduating from high school.

 

My nephew is a junior in high school, and he is not adequately prepared to take the SAT's (He has taken SAT prep courses.) His parents want to send him on a missions trip for a year after graduation and have him take the SAT when he applies to colleges at that time.

 

Can you take the SAT's after high school? Or is it just better to work hard now and somehow take the SAT while in high school even though he may not get a very good score.

 

TIA

[Maverick]

It is possible, because some people decide to go to college after they have already graduated from high school. Then they need to take the SAT if the college(s) they are applying to require it. However, in your nephew's case, it doesn't seem likely that a year-long mission trip will prepare him to do better on the test than he would do while still in school. If it were my kid, I would wait until he finished his final math & English classes (end of senior year?) and have him take the test then. That is when everyting will be fresh in his mind. If he gets his scores and finds he needs to study more and retake, then he can do that after graduation.

[Lizzie in Ma]

I had not planned to go to college at first and blew them off. I did pretty well as I recall and got into my college.

[gail]

to have my son take the SAT in his junior year which is NEXT year. He will be taking Algebra 2 and Geometry in the same year. (He got behind and we are catching up) I am concerned about him taking the test before he has even had all the math he needs.

 

Why are kids taking the test in their junior year before all their course work is even completed? I don't understand why the test would not normally be taken after high school anyway.

 

I am worried that I have not prepared him properly but I have always felt it better to move more slowly through math at his own pace --- he has always struggled in that subject. I could have moved on when he wasn't solid on the concepts but how would that have prepared him any better?

 

What a relief to know that the test can be taken after high school.

[Maverick]

I think the reasoning is that high school seniors are applying to colleges in the fall of the senior year, and they need to have a score to send in at that time. So, they would take the SAT or ACT in May or June of the junior year. In your ds's case, that would allow him to finish his geom & alg II. If you want to wait, though, he could take the test in Dec of his senior year after having a few more months of higher math, then send out his apps in Jan/Feb. If a student plans to take a gap year, as was discussed above, you can wait and take the test at the end of the senior year.