When Do SAT Scores Come Out? 2026 Release Dates

SAT scores from the September 12, 2026 test are out now: College Board released them on Friday, September 25, 2026, and the next release is Friday, October 16 for the October 3 test. Sign in at studentscores.collegeboard.org to see yours. If it is not there yet, the cause is almost always an account mismatch or a second College Board account, not a lost score (details below). The rest of the fall 2026 calendar is confirmed on the official score release page: November 20 for the November 7 test and December 18 for December 5.

When do September SAT scores come out?

September 12, 2026 SAT scores were released on Friday, September 25, 2026, in students' College Board accounts at studentscores.collegeboard.org. Educator score reports for the September test follow on Monday, September 28, so counselors and schools see the score a few days after you do.

Scores released September 25: what to do now

College Board's own scores page now says most scores from the September 12 SAT are available. Here is the short version of what to do with that, in order:

1. Check your score at studentscores.collegeboard.org. Sign in with the College Board account you registered with. Your newest score sits at the top of the page with the total (400-1600) and the two section scores. Do not wait for an email; the account is the source of truth. Counselors and schools get access a few days later (September 28 for the September 12 test), so your account will show the score before your school does.
2. If your score is not showing, work through College Board's three listed causes. Their getting-scores page names them directly: (a) incorrect account information, which you fix with the Find Your Scores tool by checking and updating your address or school; (b) multiple College Board accounts, where you, a parent, or a counselor created a second account and the score landed in that one; (c) archived scores, which only applies to old tests and requires calling or mailing College Board and paying a processing fee. The page says "most" scores are available, not all, so a small number of tests that need extra review land after release day. Give it a few business days before you contact them, unless a deadline is close.
3. Sort out your score sends. The nine-day window to add or change your four free sends for the September 12 test closed on September 21, so any send you set up then went out automatically at release. Anything you add now is an additional report at $15 each (free with a fee waiver), and rush reporting (a $31 fee on top of the report fee, delivered within one to four business days, not counting weekends and holidays) is only available for scores that have already been released, which yours now has.
4. Decide about a retake against the calendar. Regular registration for the October 3 test closed on September 18, before this release, so the next test you can plan around is November 7. Its scores release November 20, which is too late for most November 1 early deadlines but workable for later ones, and December 5 (scores December 18) is the last date before the three-month gap to March 6, 2027. If you are already registered for October 3, your score lands October 16, in time for November 1 deadlines with standard sending.

2026-27 SAT test dates and score release dates

College Board publishes test dates, registration deadlines, and score release dates on the SAT Suite site. Here is what is confirmed on College Board's score release and dates pages as of September 26, 2026:

Test date	Registration deadline	Changes/cancellation deadline	Score release date
Saturday, August 22, 2026	August 7, 2026	August 11, 2026	Friday, September 4, 2026
Saturday, September 12, 2026	August 28, 2026	September 1, 2026	Friday, September 25, 2026
Saturday, October 3, 2026	September 18, 2026	September 22, 2026	Friday, October 16, 2026
Saturday, November 7, 2026	October 23, 2026	October 27, 2026	Friday, November 20, 2026
Saturday, December 5, 2026	November 20, 2026	November 24, 2026	Friday, December 18, 2026
Saturday, March 6, 2027	February 19, 2027	February 23, 2027	Not yet published
Saturday, May 1, 2027	April 16, 2027	April 20, 2027	Not yet published
Saturday, June 5, 2027	May 21, 2027	May 25, 2027	Not yet published

A few things to notice:

• Every published fall release is 13 days after the test, on a Friday. That is the current pattern for the digital SAT. College Board's general guidance is that "most scores from weekend tests are released 2-4 weeks after test day," so the two-week turnaround is the norm, not a guarantee.
• Educators get scores a few days after students. College Board's educator release dates for fall 2026 are September 28, October 19, November 23, and December 21, so your own account is always the first place a score appears.
• Spring 2027 release dates are not on the official page yet. If the fall pattern holds, expect roughly two weeks after each test, but check satsuite.collegeboard.org/scores/score-release-dates before you plan around a specific day.
• Late registration is available worldwide for an extra fee (currently $38 on top of the $68 registration fee). The deadlines above are the regular ones, and all of them expire at 11:59 p.m. ET.

What time do SAT scores come out?

College Board commits to a date, not a time. In practice, the pattern from recent release days is that scores begin appearing in the morning, Eastern Time, and release-day reports commonly put the first batch around 8 a.m. ET. Treat that as a historical pattern rather than a promise. Two practical notes:

• Scores roll out, they do not all flip at once. A blank score page at 8:15 a.m. is not a problem.
• Release-day traffic is heavy. Slow loading and sign-in hiccups are normal for the first hour or two. Refresh later rather than repeatedly hammering the page.

How to check your SAT score

Scores are delivered online through your College Board account, the same one you used to register.

1. Go to studentscores.collegeboard.org and sign in with your College Board username and password.
2. Your most recent score appears at the top of the page, with your total score (400-1600) and your two section scores for Reading and Writing and Math.
3. Select See Score Details for percentiles, the college and career readiness benchmarks, and a breakdown by content domain. The domain breakdown is the most useful part if you are considering a retake, because it tells you where the points actually went.

College Board may email you when a score is ready, but the account itself is the source of truth, so check it directly on release day.

What to do if your score is missing

A missing score on release day almost always means delayed, not lost. Work through these in order:

• Check for a second College Board account. This is the most common cause. Students, parents, and counselors sometimes create separate accounts with different emails, and the score lands in the one tied to your registration. College Board's "Find Your Scores" tool and help center can match your test to the right account.
• Check your account information with Find Your Scores. College Board's own fix is the Find Your Scores tool (findyourscores.collegeboard.org): check your account information and update your address or school if needed. A mismatch can hold a score until it is matched.
• Wait a few days. Scores that need extra review, tests affected by a testing irregularity at your center, and makeup administrations can land later than the published date.
• Contact College Board through the SAT Suite contact page if your score still has not appeared roughly a week after the release date, or sooner if you have an application deadline.

Score sends: free sends, fees, and timing

• Four free score sends per registration. You can choose up to four recipients when you register and change or add them until nine days after the test date. Free sends go out automatically once scores are released, which means you are choosing recipients before you know your score.
• Additional reports cost $15 each after the nine-day window. Students with an SAT fee waiver can send unlimited reports at no charge.
• Rush reporting adds a $31 fee per order on top of the per-report charge and gets reports to colleges within one to four business days, not counting weekends and holidays. Standard reports arrive within 5-10 business days of the order (or a couple of weeks after test day for recipients chosen at registration), and each college then needs time to process what it receives. If a deadline is close, rush reporting is the lever; if it is not, standard delivery is fine.
• Colleges see scores only after College Board releases them to you. A college could not receive your September 12 score before September 25, so a free send chosen at registration arrives in late September or early October.

For early action and early decision deadlines in November, this timing matters. An October 3 test releases October 16, which leaves comfortable room for November 1 deadlines with standard sending. A November 7 test releases November 20, which is too late for most November 1 deadlines and tight for November 15 ones, even with rush reporting. Check each college's policy on the latest test date it accepts.

Should you retake the SAT?

The two-week release gap usually lets you see one score before the next registration deadline closes, but not always: the September 25 release landed a week after regular registration for October 3 had already closed, so a September tester deciding now is choosing between November 7 and December 5. Here is the framework:

• Look at the domain breakdown first, not the total. If Math is 80 points behind Reading and Writing and the loss is concentrated in two content domains, that is a fixable gap. If the points are spread evenly across everything, you are looking at a longer prep cycle.
• Compare against the middle 50% of your target schools, which every college publishes. Being inside that range is the goal; being at the top of it is a bonus that rarely changes a decision on its own.
• Retake when you have time to change something. Many colleges superscore (they combine your best section scores across dates), so at those schools a retake rarely hurts, but retaking with no new preparation mostly reproduces the same score. Four to six weeks of targeted practice is the minimum that moves a section meaningfully.
• Respect the spring 2027 deadlines. After December 5, the next SAT is March 6, 2027, a three-month gap. Seniors applying regular decision should treat the December test as their last shot for most schools.

Plan the retake with a schedule, not a vibe

If you decide to test again, the difference between a 30-point bump and a 100-point bump is usually whether the prep was targeted. Two tools help:

• Put the test date and your weak domains into the free study schedule generator. It turns "I have six weeks until November 7" into a week-by-week plan that front-loads the domains where you lost the most points and tapers into full-length practice.
• Turn your own materials into practice. Upload your prep book chapters, class notes, or a PDF of missed-question explanations and use the practice test generator to build timed quizzes from them, or the flashcard maker for grammar rules, vocabulary in context, and math formulas you keep blanking on. Questions built from the material you are actually studying beat generic drills because they hit your gaps, not someone else's.

Scholarly is built around that idea: you bring the sources, and it makes flashcards, quizzes, study guides, and an AI chat grounded in those sources, so the four weeks before your retake are spent on active practice instead of rereading.

SAT score release: quick FAQ

Are September 2026 SAT scores out? Yes. Scores from the September 12 test were released Friday, September 25, 2026, in your College Board account at studentscores.collegeboard.org, with educator reports following September 28. If yours is missing, check for a second account or an account-information mismatch first.

When is the next SAT score release? Friday, October 16, 2026, for the October 3 test. After that, November 7 scores release November 20 and December 5 scores release December 18.

How long after the SAT do scores come out? About two weeks for every published fall 2026 date (13 days, on a Friday). College Board's official language is 2-4 weeks.

What time are SAT scores released? No official time. Historically scores begin appearing in the morning Eastern Time, often around 8 a.m. ET, and roll out over several hours.

Are the March, May, and June 2027 release dates known? Not yet. College Board has published the test dates and deadlines but not the score release dates for spring 2027. Check satsuite.collegeboard.org/scores/score-release-dates for updates.

The bottom line

September 12 SAT scores came out September 25, 2026, and every remaining fall 2026 date releases 13 days after the test on a Friday: October 16, November 20, and December 18. Sign in at studentscores.collegeboard.org, read the domain breakdown before you read the total, and make a real retake decision against the November 7 and December 5 dates rather than by reflex. If you do test again, build a study schedule around the domains where you lost points and practice with questions from your own materials rather than rereading. If you are an international applicant also waiting on an English test, our guide to when TOEFL scores come out covers that timeline.