I want to take the SAT over the summer, but the latest one is in June. I feel like I would not have enough time to prepare myself since I will have a few AP and IB exams in May. Why doesn't the College Board administer SAT's over the summer?
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The College Board has given several reasons for why it doesn't administer an SAT in summer. These reasons include concern about interest (how many students would actually sign up for a summer SAT), how it would affect the current SAT dates (would they add another date or have to move around one of the currently existing test dates), getting staff/testing centers (since schools are closed), and how it would affect students with fee waivers.
Of those reasons, I think the most weighty ones are probably the lack of staffing and test center availability over the summer (a lot of proctors are teachers, who during summer break may have other jobs/time commitments) and the fact that the College Board isn't sure how many students would actually sign up for a summer SAT (since over the summer students are often busy with summer programs, camp, work, volunteering, or even doing summer work for school). But that's just my best guess - I am not able to say for sure what the "real" reason is, since I am not part of College Board.
The most commonly cited reason for a lack of summer test dates is the limited availability of facilities and staff when school isn't in session. Most high schools are closed during the summer, so setting up test centers is more difficult. It's also harder to get teachers and counselors who normally proctor the tests to show up for these administrative tasks during the summer when they're supposed to be on vacation.
Additionally, the College Board has said that there seems to be an advantage to taking the test during the school year when students are actively engaged in learning. Most people's academic skills are a bit rustier in the middle of the summer.
Despite these reasons, there have been many calls for the inclusion of summer test dates. The counterargument to the College Board's position, which relates to the problem you cite, is that students are already inundated with other work during the school year. It might make more sense to have summer test dates to avoid distractions and burn out. Still, the organizational challenges presented by this proposal when the SAT is taken by millions of students worldwide have caused the College Board to avoid developing any plan to administer the test in the summer.
Source: https://www.thecollegesolution.com/why-you-cant-take-the-sat-in-the-summer/
UPDATE: Last week, the College Board announced that they would be adding an August SAT testing date beginning August 26th, 2017. This means that there will be 8 SAT dates in 2017 and 7 dates in 2018:
- January 28th, 2017
- March 11th, 2017
- May 6th, 2017
- June 3rd, 2017
- August 26th, 2017
- October 7th, 2017
- November 4th, 2017
- December 2nd, 2017
- March 10th, 2018 (no January test date)
- May 5th, 2018
- June 2nd, 2018
- August 25th, 2018
- October 6th, 2018
- November 3rd, 2018
- December 1st, 2018
The College Board is swapping out the often weather-delayed January SAT testing date for an early school year (or, in the case of states like NY, pre-school year) test date in August; however, this switch isn't going to take place until the school year after next, so there will be both a January and an August test date in 2017. The January test date doesn't go away until 2018.
For a good explanation of why the College Board initially didn't offer a July or August test date, I recommend reading either my or Sam's answer to this question from before College Board announced the new August test date.
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