The days between when you take the SAT and get your scores can be agonizing. Fortunately, for most SAT test dates, it usually doesn’t take too long to get SAT scores.
How Long Does it Take to Get SAT Scores on Math and Reading Only?
Overall, SAT scores are released to you, the student, around two weeks after you take the test in what is officially referred to as your online score report. If you chose ahead of time to send scores to colleges, colleges receive those scores directly from the College Board within ten days of those scores having already been released to you online.
Complete SAT scores are released over the course of a couple of days. Initially, you’ll receive the online score report that includes your Reading/Writing and Language and Math scores. Not everyone in every region of the country gets scores at the exact same time. You’ll find that report in the account you set up to register for the test at collegeboard.org.
Each of the scores you receive will be on the converted SAT scoring scale of 200 to 800. Within that online report you’ll also be able to see right away how many questions on each section you got correct, although you won’t be able to see which questions those were specifically; however, these initial scores do include your performance on the College Board’s official subtopics, like “Command of Evidence” or “Heart of Algebra,” so you’ll be able to immediately see if any one particular area of testing contributed particularly well (or not) to your score.
Special Exception: Scores From the June SAT
While the College Board offers no official explanation for this, there is an anomaly in how long it takes to get SAT scores after the June test. June SAT scores follow the same progressive roll-out as any other test, but they aren’t released until around five weeks after the June test date. For example, this year the SAT is on June 1, but the scores won’t come out until July 10th.
Given that students don’t apply to college during the summer months, there isn’t an arguable reason that the June scores delay is problematic, but it’s painful to wait it out.
How Long Does it Take to Get SAT Scores on the Optional Essay Section?
If you chose to take the optional SAT essay section, you’ll receive your essay scores a few days after the reading and math sections are released online.
It takes a few extra days for your SAT essay scores to come out because essays, rather than being run through an automatic scoring machine like a bubble-sheet is, are read by two different people and scored by hand. You’ll receive three subscores for your essay on a scale of 2 to 8, which are likely intended to mimic the 200 to 800 scaled scores on the multiple choice. If you’re interested in a full breakdown of the essay section and why it takes so long to get SAT scores for the essay section in particular, check out my post How To Write the SAT essay.
How Long Does it Take to Get SAT Scores Fully Formatted on the Question and Answer Service?
On select test dates–October, March, and May–the College Board offers a Question and Answer Service, an upgraded version of the SAT Answer Verification Services, on which you can reconcile your answer choice with the correct answer choice for every question on the exam. Answer Verification Services allow you to compare your score with the correct score, but the Question and Answer Service specifically offers a copy of the original test questions.
The College Board is adamant that the QAS is not intended to be a study guide for future tests, but it’s incredibly useful for your own studying and understanding of your scores to see how you did question by question. You can order the QAS from the College Board in your account online under My Score Reports.
Start Prepping for the SAT
As always, waiting to get SAT scores is more brutal if you went into the test unprepared. Check out my post How to Write the SAT Essay as well as our article on the best SAT prep courses and books to help you get more prepared.