January SAT on the Horizon

This year has been unlike any other for standardized test makers and especially for College Board, the makers of the SAT and AP tests. David Coleman, Collegeboard's CEO, bet big on students returning to schools in the fall and therefore scrapped the online version of the SAT after administering online AP exams in May. In order to provide more testing opportunities, College Board has worked to open more testing sites and add dates this fall. However, students in California and on the East Coast in particular have consistently been hit hard by SAT cancellations continuing this fall.

College Board has also announced that a January date may be added to the SAT testing schedule. The College Board did once regularly offer a January administration, but stopped offering the test date in 2018 in order to make room for the August administration. During COVID-19, the organization has been publicly asking participating colleges to extend score deadlines to accommodate students who wish to submit scores alongside their application and haven't yet been able to test. Historically, a January test date also allowed students who applied Regular Decision to receive scores before their applications deadlines, adding to the strength of their applications without compromising their ability to submit applications on time. 

College Board made an announcement in June that they would provide a January 2021 test date for the SAT “if there is demand for it”. Even though we’re already in October, it’s within the realm of possibility that they will make the decision to add a January date, as they have already added another PSAT date for January 26, 2021. Additionally, they set a precedent in late April that they were willing to add more test dates based on need with the addition of the September 2020 administration.