Sat dates

How it works

A SAT date is a Saturday on a public list. You do not invent it from “some Saturday in October.” You take the published Saturday, then count backward to the registration deadline for that sitting. The weekday is part of the design: weekend testing is built around Saturday so it sits outside a normal United States school week.

Sunday testing exists for students who cannot test on Saturday for religious reasons. It is not a second open sitting for everyone. If Saturday is available to you, the date you want is the Saturday. If you need Sunday, you request that option and use the Sunday College Board publishes for that cycle, which is often the next day unless a religious holiday blocks it.

In-school SAT School Day is a different calendar. Schools pick a day inside a published window. That day may be a Tuesday. It is still an SAT administration. It is not a “Sat date” in the weekend sense. Keep the two lists apart or you will study toward the wrong morning.

The Saturday list, written out

College Board’s weekend dates for August 2026 through June 2027 are: August 22, 2026 (Saturday) September 12, 2026 (Saturday) October 3, 2026 (Saturday) November 7, 2026 (Saturday) December 5, 2026 (Saturday)

March 6, 2027 (Saturday) May 1, 2027 (Saturday) June 5, 2027 (Saturday) Fall 2026 in-school testing uses the window October 1–30, 2026. Spring 2027 in-school testing uses March 1–April 30, 2027. Those are ranges, not Saturdays. A school day inside October 1–30 can be a weekday. Do not look for it on the Saturday list.

Counting back from a Saturday

Registration is not the test morning. For these sittings College Board also publishes a registration deadline and a later deadline for changes, cancellation, and late registration, each at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time. The dates sit about two weeks before the Saturday, then a few days after that for the late window. Read the pair for the Saturday you chose; do not borrow December’s deadlines for October’s test.

Count this way: Circle the Saturday you will sit. Write the registration deadline on its own date, earlier in the month or in the prior month. Write the late/change deadline if you might miss the first one.

If you need to borrow a device from College Board, register at least 30 days before that Saturday, which is earlier than the ordinary registration deadline. September 12, 2026 is a useful example because it is the next fall Saturday after early September: registration for that sitting closed August 28, with September 1 as the late/change date. October 3, 2026 has September 18 for registration and September 22 for late/change. The pattern is “deadline, then Saturday,” not “Saturday, then you figure it out.”

A SAT date is a Saturday you can circle; a deadline is a Friday or a weekday that tries to hide in the same month, and missing the weekday is how people miss the Saturday. Once scores post, that Saturday is finished. The next Sat date is the next published Saturday, not “four weeks later” by habit. Gaps between December and March are large. Count the actual list.