As a tutor, you’ve surely been asked questions such as how often should one take the SAT practice tests or when to begin taking those tests. Because the SAT is a very important aspect of college admissions, these questions matter.
Research shows SAT practice test frequency is crucial to success. A 2023 study by the University of Illinois suggests “...students in the frequent testing condition performed better than the students in the baseline section.” The 2025 research report by the College Board echoes the same: “Completing full-length digital SAT practice tests in Bluebook is associated with higher SAT scores”.
But how many SAT practice tests per month will raise the score to the desired level? The answer to this question must consider an individual’s timelines, target scores, and study style. Use this guide to shape your student’s test-prep journey and help them achieve their best scores.
We’ve already answered the first important part: practice tests improve scores. But there are several other reasons.
Writing a practice digital SAT (DSAT) builds the endurance and stamina to sit for over two hours, concentrating, solving problems, and tweaking the strategy a little after every question. Considering the decreasing attention span of the college-bound generation, this isn’t easy.
Besides, taking practice tests makes your students more comfortable with the test interface. Remember, these are test simulations, so every test builds confidence. Simultaneously, it exposes them to their strengths and weaknesses. That acts like course-correction and helps you fine-tune their time-tables.
Finally, following the SAT prep practice test schedule maintains the commitment to do well right till the actual test.
Let’s say your student Elaine asks you, “Ok, tutor, how often should I take SAT practice tests?”. This is what you should tell Elaine, “Elaine, first let’s understand when to start taking full-length practice tests”.
If Elaine has taken the PSAT, don’t let her start the SAT prep with a diagnostic test. Here’s why: She already knows where she stands, so there’s no point wasting away an important practice test. In case Elaine hasn’t taken the PSAT, first have her consider taking the PSAT. If that’s not possible, let her take a practice DSAT and identify her baseline score.
Explain to her that there aren’t an unlimited number of official practice DSATs. Hence, she shouldn’t take one “just to get a hang of it”. She should start taking the practice SATs when she is absolutely ready to draw the advantages of each test and has built the foundational skills.
Sometimes, your students will find that a strategy that looks great in theory doesn’t work so smoothly when they write the actual SAT. Full-length practice test tips often focus on operational aspects but ignore the psychological angle of test-taking. The schedule you suggest for your students to take the DSAT practice test should improve their endurance and mental stamina.
Feel free to create a tailored study plan based on the monthwise test-taking schedule below.
This is the phase during which the student is getting comfortable with the test interface and learning from mistakes. As a result, you want the tests to be spaced so that students get adequate time to work upon and correct their mistakes.
How many SAT practice tests: Per month, or every 3 weeks, let the students take no more than 1 test. Four months away from the actual test, students are not fully ready with their test preparations. Hence, they will need more time to correct their mistakes.
This is the period during which the student is able to focus on the nuances of test-taking. As a result, they will be able to make more advances in a slightly shorter time frame. Consequently, they’re ready to increase the frequency of their DSAT practice tests.
How many SAT practice tests: Have students take 1 practice test every 2 weeks. Apart from making sure they don’t repeat their earlier mistakes, students will begin getting the most out of the test simulations. Then they will know the time pressures and have a plan to beat the time pressure.
As the student’s test-prep journey enters the final month, your students are both excited and nervous. That’s because the bigger aspects of test-taking have already been taken care of by now. Also, there is hardly anything pending in terms of test-prep. Hence, it’s time to make test-taking more intensive and purposeful.
How many SAT practice tests: We recommend one test every week. This is the time where students fine-tune their strategies and reinforce their endurance. The primary goal is to make sure every gap has been addressed.
The test-prep journey is in the final week or two and your students have a fairly good estimate about the likely scores they’ll be getting. Which also means that a little push here and a little polish there can easily raise the scores a few notches. But what should your students aim for when they write their final set of practice tests?
How many SAT practice tests: Your students should be taking 2 full-length tests during this period. The goal is to improve confidence, maintain stamina, and develop a strong conviction that everything is in control.
Writing practice tests has huge advantages, and is practically indispensable. But it comes with a small caveat - make sure your students don’t overdo it. Taking too many tests can overwhelm the students and can potentially undo some of the benefits accumulated. Your students need to know when to take the SAT practice exams and when to sit back and just analyze them.
Strange though it may sound, going from 900 to 1,000 may take fewer efforts than it takes to go from 1,450 to 1,500. As one comes closer to the perfect score, it’s the finer points that matter. That means the DAST practice schedule we suggested in the previous section will work for some students but not for others.
A student who’s targeting scores in the neighborhood of 1,500 will require more frequent testing - obviously followed by rigorous review and analysis, of course.
But what does more frequent testing actually do?
Frequent testing:
Talking about mental resilience, it’s important for your students to be strong enough to handle stress. We always maintain that a little stress is actually good - that reflects the student’s sincerity to do well in the test. Your role as a tutor is to turn that stress into commitment of doing well in the actual SAT. To do this, you’ll need to help students with targeted review of each test and study breaks to avoid burnouts.
In essence, the frequency of practice DSATs is based on the targeted scores and the stress level of the student.
If we were to oversimplify a successful SAT strategy, we’ll say only two things matter: taking practice tests regularly, and reviewing them in detail.
Your students may come up with the most stringent SAT prep practice test schedule, but it’s the additional factors that will decide the benefits of taking the test. While taking a practice test, students should make sure:
Many students (and tutors) say that the biggest benefit of taking a practice test is available after the student has written a practice test. What they mean is analysing the practice test is where you get the real benefits of the practice test.
Only a strong platform like EdisonOS can provide a granular level breakdown of your performance. Check out the adjoining screenshot:
As the end of the test review, the student should know:
Your students rely upon you for adequate tests, and you need a solid platform that will help students get most of the tests they write.
Firstly, you will be able to schedule and track full-length tests per as required. You want Elaine to write two tests this week while Benedict to write only one? EdisonOS lets you handle all this easily.
In the adjoining screenshot, you’ll see every question comes with a detailed explanation. That will help you explain the entire context to the students so that they derive value out of every single question. Pay particular attention to how the explanation shows what makes the rest of the answers incorrect.
Finally, you will be able to create customized learning paths for each student, based on their goals, time available, test-taking skills, and preparation. With every SAT full-length practice test, tips, strategies, and study goals can be further improved if required.
In the larger scheme of things, it’s less important whether your students got 11 full-length practice DSATs or 12. What’s more important is, when did you have them take the tests and what could you do to help students get more out of those tests.
In summary, with DSAT practice tests, quality of the test and timing of the test are more important than the sheer number of tests your student takes. When the student takes the practice SAT, they should also set aside adequate time on their calendar to review the test. Also, taking too many tests can tire out students just like too few can fail to provide adequate exposure.
If you’re looking to build a completely personalized digital SAT test prep journey for your students, EdisonOS can be of invaluable help to you. Why not book a demo right now and see how you can boost your students and transform their lives forever?
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