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Course: College admissions > Unit 2
Lesson 4: Standardized tests- Official SAT Practice on Khan Academy
- Facing the standardized tests
- Official SAT Practice on Khan Academy
- How to register for the SAT
- Deciding whether to retake the SAT
- Overview of the ACT
- Deciding whether to retake the ACT
- Preparing yourself for success on the tests
- Student story: Standardized tests
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How to register for the SAT
Taking the SAT is an essential part of the college application process, and it’s accepted by all colleges in the U.S. as well as select universities around the world. The SAT is offered seven Saturdays throughout the year.
Some schools offer in-school testing during a school day. If you’re not sure if SAT school day is offered at your school, check with your counselor or administrator.
The College Board recommends that students take their first SAT in the spring of their junior year and again in the fall of their senior year. Keep registration deadlines in mind to avoid paying late fees. Fee waivers are available for low-income students. If you’re eligible for a fee waiver, you can take the SAT or SAT Subject Tests™ for free and take advantage of other benefits to apply to college.
Learn more about fee waivers here. Speak to your school counselor if you think you’re eligible.
Once you’ve registered for the SAT, use Official SAT Practice on Khan Academy to get a personalized plan to prepare for test day. If you choose to retake the SAT after getting your scores back, focus on areas you need to improve the second time around. Many students increase their scores when retaking the SAT because they know what to expect. Colleges generally look at your highest SAT scores when they evaluate your application.
To learn more and to register for the SAT, visit the College Board registration information page.
Want to join the conversation?
I'm in Nigeria, hoping to take the test for October. Is there someone here who knows the process for payment? There are many funky looking websites and I'm still not sure how much the test is. Also, are there any peculiarities to the test from country to country? I also just tried to register but my high school was not listed and all that. Is that normal?(12 votes)
Make sure you're only on the College Board website to register, first. Once you get on the "register for the SAT" page, you should have to fill out some information about you. Then you have to select a testing center. If you were saying that you couldn't select your high school as your testing center, this means one of two things. Either your high school doesn't offer the SAT, or all of the seats are filled up there. You can just choose to take the test at a different high school, which is perfectly normal. I had to take the SAT at a different school, too.
On the same registration page, you'll have to upload a picture of yourself. Then it should give you the option of using a fee waiver. Once you move on, it should let you choose whether you want to use PayPal or a credit card. That should be all you have to do to pay and register.
They do give different versions of the test in different time zones to prevent cheating, but you also probably won't have the exact same test as the person sitting next to you, either. All versions of the test will be at the same level, though.
Does that help?(12 votes)
Hi everyone,
I'm now a sophomore and I receive my psat score a few week back. Unfortunately, I only receive an 1010; however, I really want to get into a ivy league school (so my SAT has to be above 1500). (I'm having SAT on June 4, 2022.) I did extremely awful on both reading and writing section, but I urgently need some advice and tips for both reading and writing section (especially READING !). Would anyone be willing to help me please? I really need some advice for reading, pleaseee. The tips online doesn't really work. Would anyone that did good on reading section please tutor me a little on spare time? If you're available for giving me tips and little tutor on reading section, please add my instagram -- yifei_1110 (a girl with white mask)(7 votes)- My biggest piece of advice for the SAT in general is to try to understand why you’re getting questions wrong (and right!). Maybe you’ll realize a better way of approaching questions, or see that you’ve forgotten a math concept. Specifically for writing, make sure you understand all the grammar rules the test requires. You can find this kind of material in Khan Academy’s SAT course.
You can also get free SAT tutoring at schoolhouse.world, if you didn’t know about that. You could even catch some of the SAT Reading Winter Strategy Bootcamp!(9 votes)
How to apply for a SAT fee waiver(6 votes)
You could be eligible for an SAT fee waiver if you get a free or reduced-cost lunch at schools, if you're homeless or orphaned, if your family gets assistance such as food stamps, if your family's income is below a certain threshold, or more.
To apply for one, ask your school's counselor for the process to get a fee waiver code, which you can enter on the College Board website when signing up for the SAT.
I'm not sure what the process is for international students, if that's you.(8 votes)
- How many times can we take it for free in till we have to pay to take it after when we want to take it again.(5 votes)
My school, for example, they don't offer an SAT for free. We do have a free ACT for all juniors the first time around. Check to see what your school offers. If there's not an SAT offered for free, then yes, you'd have to pay for the test somewhere else.(5 votes)
- Is the SAT mandatory for college.(4 votes)
- No, it's possible to go to college without taking the SAT or any other standardized test. Many colleges require them though, so unless you are 100% sure that you'll only apply to colleges that don't need them, you should probably take one.(6 votes)
is it still fine for me to take it today and when is it due(3 votes)
For the future, just FYI, you do have to sign up for the SAT in advance. It's not one of those things you can just show up for. Click the link to see the test dates and the deadlines to sign up.(8 votes)
- where does passing the SAT do for me ?(4 votes)
- You cannot pass or fail the SAT. You can figure out what score you want to try for by looking up the SAT statistics for students admitted to any colleges you might like.
Having an SAT score that’s above average for a college could help raise your chances of being accepted there.
High SAT scores can also help you get scholarship money.(5 votes)
- How can I make my essay better?(4 votes)
- Practice, practice, practice! If you use Grammarly, that is also an additional advantage to prep you for proper grammar.(3 votes)
- Where do I go to practice for the PSAT practice that Includes questions and answers.(3 votes)
- Khan Academy doesn't have a PSAT practice tool like it does for the SAT, but you can download practice PSAT tests you find here and on the college board website. Those will come with the answers and explanations as well.(4 votes)
- How many times can we take it for free in till we have to pay to take it after when we want to take it again.(1 vote)
- The SAT usually costs money each time you take it. If you qualify for a fee waiver (talk to your guidance counselor about that if you need it), you can register for free twice.
Does that help?(4 votes)
