How long does it take to receive SAT scores? How long does it take to send them? And how much does it cost to send the reports?
On most national test dates (August, October, November, December, March, and May), SAT scores will be accessible and viewable within a test-taker’s account 13 days after test day. Scores typically post early in the morning on Fridays. The lone exception is the June test date, for which scores return some 5-6 weeks after a test date. There are a number of reasons for the apparent delay, but June SAT scores will return well in advance of the next test date (in August) if you’d like to prepare for the next exam.
Once you receive your scores, there are a few ways to send scores to the schools of your choosing. We’ll run through them here:
1. Before test day (and up to nine days after the test itself), you can elect to send scores to four colleges or universities of your choosing for free. During the registration process for the test—and in advance of test day—just select the schools you’d like to submit scores to. On the one hand, free is great. On the other hand, you do send these score reports off sight unseen. You won’t know how you did on the exam before you choose to send the results. We don’t advise sending scores before you know how you did.
2. After you receive your scores—typically, 13 days after test day—you can choose to send your scores to as many schools of your choosing as is desirable. Within ten days of scores being released to a test-taker, the College Board can send scores to schools chosen by the test-taker. It costs $12 per score report to send scores after you receive your results.
3. For an additional $31 fee, test-takers can rush their score reports to schools of their choosing, which means that the scores will be sent out within 1-2 business days of receiving the order.
So how do I send score reports?
There are two ways you can send SAT scores to the schools of your choosing.
The primary way—and likely the easiest—is through your College Board account. Log into your dashboard at www.sat.org and under your SAT Scores subpage, choose to send scores from any test dates you would like using the Score Choice option. If you have chosen to send scores along after you have received your scores, it will cost the $12 fee cited above.
You can also send along SAT scores by phone. Call 866-756-7346 (within the US) or 212-713-7789 (international). Sending scores by phone does cost an additional fee.
Finally, if you are using the Coalition Application system, you can send SAT scores at the same time you’re submitting your applications through MyCoalition. Use your login at https://mycoalition.org/ to access your account. When you’re ready to submit scores, you can add SAT score reporting, as well.
When will my colleges and universities receive my scores?
So, you’ve taken the SAT and chosen to send your scores in one of the ways described above. Even if you chose to send your scores before you receive them (up to nine days after a test date) and used the rush score report option (for the additional $31 fee to get scores out within 1-2 business days), it will still take time for score reports to make their way through—you guessed it—the US Postal Service system and, thereafter, the delivery method chosen by the universities themselves.
Some universities receive score reports as they are sent. Other universities receive scores in batches, which accumulate from week to week. You can typically track whether a school has received your score report through that school’s application portal.
Most importantly, universities are very clear on the last test date they will allow score reports to be submitted. So, if you are taking the October SAT during your senior year, just make sure that the schools of your choosing will permit that test score to be utilized for your application.
What will colleges and universities receive in my score reports?
The colleges and universities you apply to will receive only the scores from test dates that you choose to submit to them.
Additionally, if you choose to submit a super score, colleges and universities will receive the super scored section results from multiple test dates.
Wait, what is a super score again?
If a test-taker takes the SAT on multiple occasions, the test-taker can select the best section results from different tests to compile a “super” score. So, if a test-taker takes the SAT twice and that test-taker does really well on the Reading + Writing section from the first test but better on the Math sections from the second test, the test-taker can take the Reading + Writing score from the first exam and the Math results from the second and combine them to create a super composite.
Anything else I should think about?
Remember, when you submit your score reports, you are consenting to release the data from specific test dates to institutions of your choosing. You can choose what test scores are released and to whom they are released.
Note that SAT score reporting is not instantaneous. It may take up to 6-8 weeks from the day of your test for a college or university to receive your scores, so if you are testing in the late summer or fall of your senior year and trying to apply to universities by an early deadline, make sure to leave enough time to report your scores before those deadlines close.
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