Old SAT or New SAT?

If you are currently a high school junior, you are faced with a decision between taking the old SAT or the new SAT. 

The old SAT has a brief shelf life remaining since the new SAT format will roll out permanently in March. This gives you three opportunities (November, December and January) to book your score with the old test. 

I generally recommend that current juniors focus their prep on the new format since, in all likelihood, you would want to take the test again your senior year to try and improve upon the score from junior year. Thus, if you intend on taking the test again senior year, don't worry about the old format. Instead, focus on the new format. In fact, you might be familiar with the new format since the PSAT you likely took this past week uses the new format.

Nevertheless, if you have already started to prep for the old format or you feel more comfortable with the old format, there is nothing stopping you from trying to get a good score in the next couple of months. The only risk with this is having to learn a new format should you want to take the test again your senior year. 

In all, the decision is a personal one and it depends on where a student is in their preparation. The following is a very useful resource that can help you figure out which test format is better for you. Check out this link to take a brief test that can help you decide between the old format and the new format. 

If you need further guidance on the old SAT vs the new SAT, please contact CROSSWALK. We are the Monterey Peninsula's local resource for SAT prep, ACT prep and academic tutoring.