The SAT in Lafayette is offered seven times a year: October, November, December, January, March, May and June. Wise students, and those that want to do well on the test, plan when to take it and strive to do their best when taking it.

In general, students take the SAT in Lafayette during their junior and senior years of high school. Half of these students take it twice — once during the spring of their junior year and once in fall (usually in October) of their senior year. Even with SAT’s new Score Choice policy (which sounds tempting to take the exam early), it is still recommended to take the exam at these suggested occasions.

When is the best time to take the SAT? Actually, the best time depends on a lot of things. It may depend on the colleges or universities that you’d like to apply to. The deadline of the application can also affect when you take the test. Your financial or personal situation may also be a deciding factor.

If you are a senior and want to complete your college application in November — this application process is called “early action” (or “early decision”) — then you must take the SAT in October. In this way, your scores will reach to the colleges and universities of your choice in time. And in case you are not accepted early, you will still have the chance to be admitted to the regular admission pool, or you can apply to other schools.

If you’re going to apply for the regular admission pool, it is still advisable to take the exam as early as possible. If you hold off for too long and then take the exam just before the admission deadline, you won’t have any room to try again in case you can’t make it on the exam day or don’t score as well as you’d like.

If you are a junior and you think you’ll need to take the SAT, you have many options to choose from.

• Wait until the senior year, as you’re not required to take the SAT during your junior year. Some believe taking the test more than once doesn’t give any significant benefit, but the decision is yours.
• If you’re applying to the top schools, you should probably take the SAT in the spring of your junior year. It will help you to evaluate your SAT performance, as well as compare your scores to the score range of the colleges or universities of your choice. Getting familiarized with the SAT early on will help you to be ready when you take it in the senior year.

If you’re really serious about taking the SAT in your junior year, it’s probably a good idea to conduct practice exams during the summer. You could also work through SAT study guides or hire a college prep tutor such as Apex College Prep to help you prepare.

The College Board’s new Score Choice, by the way, is designed to minimize stress on the part of the student and make the exam an agreeable experience. Although you may be tempted to take the exam twice (or more than that), you should realize that not all colleges and universities will consider the new Score Choice. Besides, it may look absurd if these schools see that you’ve taken the exam more than twice.

Even a lot of sophomore (and even freshman) students rigorously prepare for the SAT in Lafayette. But chances are you’ll be better off studying and getting good grades in school in your freshman and sophomore year. At the same time, you may want to get a copy of the SAT Study Guide and do some simulated tests.