Updated August 2026 by Carson Flowers.
The short answer: there are eight SAT dates in the 2026-27 cycle. For Bright Futures, only exams taken by August 31 of your student's graduation year count, and that date falls the summer after they graduate. So the class of 2027 can still use every date on this list, including the anticipated August 2027 sitting. College Board has also published anticipated dates through June 2028, and nothing beyond that exists yet.
All 2026-27 SAT dates and deadlines
| Test date | Register by | Late registration |
|---|---|---|
| August 22, 2026 | August 7, 2026 | August 11, 2026 |
| September 12, 2026 | August 28, 2026 | September 1, 2026 |
| October 3, 2026 | September 18, 2026 | September 22, 2026 |
| November 7, 2026 | October 23, 2026 | October 27, 2026 |
| December 5, 2026 | November 20, 2026 | November 24, 2026 |
| March 6, 2027 | February 19, 2027 | February 23, 2027 |
| May 1, 2027 | April 16, 2027 | April 20, 2027 |
| June 5, 2027 | May 21, 2027 | May 25, 2027 |
When the scores come back
College Board releases SAT scores roughly two weeks after the test. Knowing the release date matters more than families expect, because it is the date you find out whether a retake is needed, and a score lower than you hoped for is recoverable when you see it early, and the registration deadline for the next sitting often lands within days of it.
| Test date | Scores released |
|---|---|
| August 22, 2026 | September 4, 2026 |
| September 12, 2026 | September 25, 2026 |
| October 3, 2026 | October 16, 2026 |
| November 7, 2026 | November 20, 2026 |
| December 5, 2026 | December 18, 2026 |
College Board has not published release dates for the spring 2027 sittings yet. Based on the fall pattern, expect them about thirteen days after each test.
Anticipated 2027-28 SAT dates
College Board publishes the following cycle about a year ahead under the heading Anticipated SAT Weekend 2027-28 Test Dates. These are College Board's own published dates, not our projections. Two things to understand before you build a calendar on them. There are no registration deadlines attached yet, and College Board can move an anticipated date before it becomes final. Treat them as planning dates.
| Anticipated test date | Cycle |
|---|---|
| August 28, 2027 | Fall 2027 |
| September 18, 2027 | Fall 2027 |
| October 2, 2027 | Fall 2027 |
| November 6, 2027 | Fall 2027 |
| December 4, 2027 | Fall 2027 |
| March 4, 2028 | Spring 2028 |
| May 6, 2028 | Spring 2028 |
| June 3, 2028 | Spring 2028 |
The one that matters most to Florida families is August 28, 2027. Bright Futures counts any qualifying score from a test taken on or before August 31 of the graduation year, so that August 2027 sitting is the last SAT a student graduating in 2027 can use. It falls three days inside the cutoff. If your senior is chasing the Bright Futures line and runs out of road in the spring, that is the final attempt, and it is worth knowing now rather than in July.
Anything past June 2028 does not exist yet. College Board has published no dates of any kind for the 2028-29 cycle or later, so any 2029 or 2030 SAT date you find online is somebody guessing from the pattern of Saturdays. We update this page when College Board rolls the calendar forward, which it has been doing around May each year.
How the Bright Futures deadline actually works
The rule is that a qualifying score has to come from a test taken by August 31 of the graduation year. That is later than most families assume. A senior graduating in May 2027 can still sit the August 2027 test and have it count.
The deadline that actually bites is a different one. College application deadlines arrive in the fall of senior year, months before the Bright Futures cutoff. So the score that gets your teen admitted is due long before the score that earns them the scholarship. Plan around the admissions calendar and the Bright Futures date takes care of itself.
One more date to put on the calendar: the Florida Financial Aid Application has to be submitted between October 1 of senior year and August 31 of the graduation year. A qualifying score with no application on file pays nothing.
The right calendar by grade
Sophomores: baseline diagnostic now, and when to start real prep depends on the grade, first official sit late sophomore year or early junior fall. Juniors: first official SAT in the fall, October or November, retake in March, which leaves May, June, and August as insurance, though whether a retake actually helps depends on how UF, FSU, and UCF superscore. Seniors: count backwards from your earliest application deadline rather than from August 31, because that is the date that arrives first.
Every date without a plan is a wasted shot
Most students get two or three test dates that truly count, between school, sports, and deadlines. In a free Florida SAT Strategy Session we count your teen's remaining dates, set the target score, and build the six to twelve week plan to hit it. Yours to keep either way.
Sources: College Board SAT dates and deadlines; College Board score release dates; Bright Futures Student Handbook, Chapter 1. Reviewed August 2026.
