With the biggest SAT of the year just five days away, this is a good time to remind everyone of the importance of signing up for College Board’s question-and-answer service for the May SAT. Many students don’t even know about this service, but it’s critical.
For a small fee of $18, College Board will send you a copy of the SAT test you took and your answers for it, so you (and your tutor) can review every single question you missed and see why you missed it. As a test coach, it’s the best diagnostic tool I have. This service is only offered on the January, May, and October tests, so if you’re taking the SAT on one of those administrations, you should absolutely pay a few dollars to get your booklet back. It’s very much worth it. For observant Jewish students, and students taking the test outside of the United States or Canada, this Sunday’s test is the only one all year with the service available. Make sure you take advantage of the offer while it’s available! If you end up taking the test again, it will be a massive help in improving your score.
You can retroactively order the service up to five months after your test date. However, the sooner you order the better, since College Board can be very, very slow sending the booklets out. A student of mine this spring ordered the January Q-and-A but did not get it in time for the March test he was also taking. (It arrived two days after, which just figures!) Even worse, a student I taught last year kept procrastinating about ordering his Q-and-A for the May test, then didn’t get it back in time for his re-test in the fall, which was totally avoidable. Order early, and assume it will take 8 weeks at least to arrive.
More information is available on College Board’s website: http://sat.collegeboard.com/scores/verify-sat-scores