SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips

The dreaded date has come: SAT score release date. You've waited for this day. You log in, and the College Board gives you a stern warning: "not yet available." What does this mean?!

Unfortunately, your scores are delayed. Learn the most common reasons that your SAT scores might be delayed and how to fix this and speed up your score delivery.

Why Are My Scores Not Yet Available?

There are a few major reasons that your score will be coming out later than your friends' scores and those of students across the country. Some of these are nothing to worry about, but some of these can mean trouble.

Your Score Improvement Was Too Large

If you improve your score by over 200 points in a section, or by 400 points total, the College Board may re-examine your test to make sure that no funny business happened.

To put it bluntly, they think you might have cheated. In their view, it's very difficult for students to improve their test scores by 400 or more points from test to test. (Because we've trained thousands of students, we know better - that some students are capable of such a huge increase).

Remember how you were seated in the classroom in a specific way, according to the administrator? The test proctor records the seating arrangement, and the College Board compares answer sheets for people sitting close to each other. If your incorrect answer choices match up, they may suspect that you were cheating.

If you know you didn't cheat, keep reading to find instructions on how to deal with this.

You Were Reported for Cheating

As you may remember from the day of the test, the College Board welcomes whistleblowers who report cheating to the test administrator. Someone sitting close by might have noticed you doing something irregular and turned you in.

You might have done something innocent like looked around the room while thinking. You might have done something less innocent like continued bubbling in answers after time was called. In the worst case, you might have looked at someone's answers nearby.

If you did nothing close to cheating, you should be fine. If you did cheat, your score may be canceled.

Your Test Administration Had Some Irregularities

The College Board is very strict about how the SAT should be administered. If your administration differed from the standard protocol, they may be doing further investigation to make sure nothing irregular happened.

There have been cases reported of entire schools having their test scores invalidated. In 2014, tests taken at Providence High risked being invalidated because some students hadn't been seated appropriately. 

Your Registration and Test Sheet Had Some Errors

Your answer sheet has a number of fields for you to enter important information relating to your test registration. If you mis-bubbled any of these fields, they may be having trouble finding your answer sheet and associating it with your College Board account.

The College Board Is Simply Running Behind

The College Board occasionally stutters under the demand of too many students taking the test. On certain test dates, they've admitted that some students just receive their scores later than others.

What to Do About Your Delayed Scores

Whatever the reason, delayed test scores are frustrating. The best thing you should do is contact the College Board immediately. They might be able to give more insight into whether this is happening to a lot of students, or whether there's something irregular about your test that you can clear up.

To contact the College Board, call:

(866) 756-7346

If this number is busy, try calling their international line at (212) 713-7789

What's Next?

Once you get your scores back, figure out whether you need to retake the SAT.

Sign up for our SAT program. We have a 160+ point guarantee: improve your SAT score by 160 points or get your money back.