Does SAT Score Expire ? — The SAT or Scholastic Assessment Test is a standardised test, which is widely used in the United States to compare students from different schools and backgrounds for college admissions. SAT assesses a student’s literacy, numeracy, writing skills and critical thinking to check their preparedness for college life. A strong SAT score ensures high chances of getting into a desired college or university in the US and gaining scholarships or financial aid as well. Administered by the College Board, SAT is taken by high school juniors and seniors. But you might wonder “Does SAT score expire?”. This article will address questions related to SAT scores validity, university SAT requirements & test policies and the latest digital SAT format changes.

Does SAT Score Expire?

SAT scores generally do not expire. But you must refer to the prospective universities’ websites to check their latest policies, as they may differ from one university to the other. Some schools have a validity window of five years. Some highly selective universities may ask for more latest SAT scores from the past one or two years. The College Board Organisation that administers the SAT, generally while sending a SAT score that is five years or older to a university, attaches a disclaimer message saying – “These scores may be less valid predictors of college academic performance than more recent scores”. Ascend Now would recommend you to take the test again if the SAT scores validity period is nearing its end. 

College Board Score Policies

The College Board has set some clear SAT score policies related to its score reporting, cancellation and validity. Here’s a gist –

Reporting the SAT Score

Many colleges nowadays, allow students to self-report their scores to colleges and scholarship programs at least during the initial application process online. But almost all colleges require the official SAT scores to be sent directly by the College Board. The College Board, thus, offers two options for sending scores – once during registration and once after the scores are received. It also allows students to choose which test dates to send to colleges depending on their performances, if the test has been taken multiple times.

SAT Scores Validity

The College Board saves your SAT scores on file for a long time, but there is no such thing as a strict expiration date of a SAT score. Students are required to go through the individual University SAT requirements as the SAT score lifespan depends on the colleges or universities they are applying for, which may range anywhere between two to five years.

Score Cancellation

If students aren’t happy with their SAT scores after taking the test, they may choose to cancel it within a specific deadline. This decision however, is irreversible. Cancelled scores are not sent or reported to colleges and universities.

Verification of SAT Scores

The colleges and universities have the liberty to verify the SAT scores directly with the College Board, after receiving them from students during the initial online application.

Accessing Old SAT Scores

You can access your old SAT scores on your College Board online account. Older scores get archived and you can access them by using the following information – test date, registration information, name and address. You will be charged an additional fee for the same. You may initiate the process on the College Board account by contacting their customer service.

Number of Times are you Allowed to Take the SAT

There are seven dates for SAT across the year and the College Board allows students to take it as many times as they want to. Most universities consider your best scores or use the process of superscoring SAT.

What is Superscoring SAT?

Many colleges and universities practice superscoring the SAT, which essentially means combining your highest section scores from multiple SAT test dates, instead of looking at your overall score from a single test. It works well for students as colleges consider their highest potential based on their best performance in each individual section, across all the SATs that they would have taken. Your “superscore” is basically created by colleges by combining your highest Evidence-Based Reading & Writing score and your highest Mathematics score, regardless of the test date they were achieved on.

Digital SAT Format Changes

The new digital format of the SAT is computer-based and students take the test on a laptop or a tablet provided by the College Board or their school. In some settings, they also allow “bring your own device” for the test. The digital SAT format changes include –

Test Interface & Tools – The tools in the digital format of the test include built-in digital calculators, tools to highlight, annotate and mark passages and a timer along with a progress bar to help students manage their time effectively.

Length – It is shorter and its duration is 2 hours 14 min as against the paper SAT which used to be 3 hours long. It reduces fatigue and helps a student maintain focus throughout the test.

Adaptivity – The test follows an adaptive format, wherein the difficulty of questions changes based on a student’s performance. Each section is divided into two modules. Your performance during the first module of each section determines the difficulty of the second module. It ensures each student’s experience is unique and is tailored to their ability.

Results – Students receive their SAT scores within days in the digital format as against 2-3 weeks in case of the paper format.

Security – Individualised test versions ensure that the digital test is secure and free from the possibility of cheating and malpractices.

Question format – The digital format comprises shorter reading passages with one question per passage, instead of longer passages with multiple questions in the paper format.

SAT Testing Policy by Top Universities

Universities have undergone significant changes in SAT testing policies in recent years. The key trends vary from test-required to test optional to test-flexible. Let’s take a quick look at what these options mean –

1. Test-required – It is mandatory to submit SAT/ACT scores along with the college applications.
2. Test-optional – Students have the liberty to choose whether or not to submit the SAT/ACT test scores.
3. Test-flexible – Universities may allow students to submit their scores of alternative standardised tests like AP or IB exams to follow a more equitable admission process for students coming from various backgrounds..
4. Test-blind – Test-blind policies mean that SAT/ACT scores are not considered at all in admission decisions, regardless of their submission.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, many top universities were following the test-optional policies. But now many of them are reinstating their SAT or ACT requirements. Please note that UK universities generally do not require SAT for admissions. Let’s see what the current trends in some of the top colleges/universities in the US are.

University/College	Test Policy	Mandatory Test Scores
Yale University	Test-flexible	ACT/AP/IB/SAT
Columbia University	Test-optional	Optional to submit SAT/ACT
Brown University	Test-required	SAT/ACT
Princeton University	Test-optional	Optional to submit SAT/ACT
Harvard University	Test-required	SAT/ACT
Cornell University	Test-required	SAT/ACT
Dartmouth College	Test-required	SAT/ACT
University of Pennsylvania	Test-required	SAT/ACT, waiver applicable in special cases
University of California	Test-blind	None
Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Test-required	SAT/ACT
John Hopkins University	Test-required	SAT/ACT

Master your SAT with Ascend Now

As you may have noticed, most universities in the US are SAT test-required for their admission process. It’s important to remember that universities and colleges do a holistic review of your capabilities during the admission process that include factors like academic transcripts, your GPA, essays, extracurricular activities and letters of recommendation among others. Ascend Now helps you excel in every aspect of the college application to submit a competitive portfolio to maximise your chances of acceptance. Begin your journey to academic excellence, get trained by our experts at Ascend Now to master your SAT and pave your way to your dream college!