SAT Test Dates and Registration Deadlines 2026-27

College Board runs eight Digital SAT sittings across the 2026-27 cycle. Below is the full schedule with every deadline, and then the part that matters more than the calendar: how to decide which of those eight dates is actually yours.

SAT dates and deadlines, 2026-27

Registration closes roughly two weeks before each test day. A second, slightly later deadline covers changes, regular cancellation and late registration — late registration is available worldwide, with an additional fee.

One exception worth knowing. If you need to borrow a testing device from College Board, you must register and request it at least 30 days before test day— earlier than the standard deadline above. That is the one case where the normal two-week window does not apply to you.

Always confirm against the source before you book.Schedules can change, and this page reflects the schedule as published for the 2026-27 cycle. The official list lives on College Board's own site: satsuite.collegeboard.org/sat/dates-deadlines. That is also where you register.

Which sitting should you actually pick?

Most students choose a date by looking at their university deadline and working backwards two weeks. That is how people end up sitting the SAT in the same fortnight as three internal assessments. A better question is: which of these dates gives me a clear run at it?

If you are an IB or IGCSE student, read the calendar twice

This is where I see the most avoidable damage. We teach IB Diploma and IGCSE students every day, and the pattern repeats every cycle: a student books the SAT date that suits their university deadline, then discovers it sits in the same three weeks as an internal assessment submission and a round of school mocks.

Two dates in this cycle deserve a second look:

• 1 May 2027 falls inside IB and A-Level exam season. If you are a Year 13 student, you will be sitting real exams around it.
• 12 September 2026 lands in the first weeks of a new school year, when coursework restarts and nobody has settled yet.

The rule I give students is simple: pick a sitting with a clear four to six weeks in front of it, where you are not also submitting an IA or sitting school mocks. A slightly later SAT date that you can actually prepare for beats an earlier one you cram around.

How far ahead should you start?

Three months is a comfortable runway for most students. Two months works as an intensive plan if you already have a base score from a full-length timed mock.

The honest answer is that it depends on the size of your score gap, and you can find that out in a single afternoon by sitting one full-length mock under timed conditions. That number tells you which of the eight dates above is realistic far better than any general rule does. Count backwards from the test date; do not pick a start date and hope.

It also matters where you are coming from. An IB Diploma student is usually well ahead on functions and calculus but needs to build speed on comparatively simple algebra. An IGCSE student who took 0606 Additional Maths arrives with most of the SAT algebra already covered, while a 0580 student normally needs the statistics and data-analysis domain built up. Two students with the same target score can need very different amounts of runway.

A short checklist before you book

• Confirm the date and deadline on College Board's official dates page.
• Check that every university on your list accepts a score from that sitting.
• Register at least 30 days ahead if you need to borrow a device.
• Put your school's IA deadlines and mock exams on the same calendar before you commit.
• Sit one full-length timed mock first, so you know what your gap actually is.
• Leave room for a retake — most students sit the SAT more than once.

Working out your own timeline

If you want a second opinion on which sitting to target, we run a free diagnostic and map the plan backwards from your chosen date. Our own SAT coaching runs as a small batch of five or 1-on-1, covering both Maths and Reading & Writing, and we build the schedule around your school calendar rather than on top of it — which, if you are doing the IB or IGCSE, is usually the difference between a plan you follow and one you abandon in week three.

Two related guides worth reading next: SAT Maths calculator strategies for the Desmos techniques that save real time on test day, and IBDP Maths: AA vs AI if you are still choosing your IB Maths route.