Which is the best month to take the SAT or ACT?

We get this question a lot, and it’s usually accompanied by similar questions like: “Is the March test easier than the October test because of a difference in the forms?” or “Is there a month that’s easier than others?”, and so on.

The answer is that there is no best month. They’re all the same. Whichever month works best for you and your preparation level is going to determine the best time for you to take the test. You should take it in the month (or months) that best fits your situation.

What does differ from month to month and test to test is the “curve” by which the test is being graded. What this means is that sometimes the test will be harsher in how it translates the number of wrongs in your score. So in math, for instance, a test with an easier “curve” might translate you getting -4 into a score of 780. That would be pretty generous. On another test later in the year, getting -4 in math might translate to a 740.

A lot of times students look at this and think that this means the second test was harder and that they should have taken the first one. However, this is not technically the case. The reason the “curve” is harsher on one test than it is on the other is to balance the degree of difficulty among various forms of the test. A harder test will have a more generous curve, whereas an easier test will have a harsher curve. Test creators try to make the questions equally consistently hard, but it’s difficult to do. So, they use these “curves” to adjust as needed. If you are taking a test with a lot of questions that are tripping students up, they are going to make the “curve” more generous to balance that out. If you get a test that doesn’t have anything super tricky and is allowing people to do really well, the curve is going to be harsher to make up for it.

That’s why it doesn’t really matter when you take it, with whom you take it, in which form you take it, etc. Technically, the “curve” and the test difficulty balance.

Now, if you did have to choose, you would probably rather go with a test of higher difficulty and a more generous “curve”. This isn’t because it’s an advantage, necessarily, but if you are strong in math and make two or three silly mistakes, this test is going to be easier on your scoring because of the curve. With an easier test that has a harsher curve, those two to three silly mistakes are going to be more impactful on your score.

Due to the way in which the SAT adjusts their tests, the “curves” can be wildly unpredictable. The ACT math, however, is consistently getting harder over the years to account for growth in student scoring. This leads the ACT “curves” to be much more predictable and consistent, whereas the SAT “curves” tend to be all over the place.

Robert Schombs

I’m Rob Schombs, cofounder of Brilliant Prep and your test prep tutor. I earned a BA in Chemistry (2006) and an MA in Science and Technology Studies (2009) from Cornell University. I've been teaching the SAT & ACT since 2010.