Canceling your SAT registration is done through your College Board account online. The process takes about five minutes: log in at collegeboard.org, navigate to your upcoming test registrations, select the registration you want to cancel, and confirm the cancellation. You will receive a confirmation email when the cancellation is processed. College Board does not accept cancellations by phone — the process must be done through the online portal. If you registered through your school for a School Day SAT, contact your school's test coordinator rather than College Board directly, as school-administered test cancellations are handled differently.
The most important timing consideration for canceling SAT registration is the refund deadline. College Board allows cancellations for a partial refund if the cancellation is completed at least five days before the test date. The refund consists of the registration fee minus a processing fee — the exact refund amount depends on when you registered and the current fee structure. If you cancel fewer than five days before the test, you forfeit the entire registration fee. There are no exceptions to this policy for most circumstances — missing the refund deadline means losing the fee entirely. For the current fee structure and to verify the cancellation deadline for your specific test date, check your College Board account's registration details directly.
Registrations for score choice or test date changes may also be managed through the same portal. College Board allows you to move your registration to a different test date at no additional charge, as long as you do so before the change deadline for your current test date. If your reason for canceling is not that you want to skip the SAT entirely but that you need to change your test date, rescheduling is almost always better than canceling and re-registering — rescheduling preserves your registration and avoids paying the registration fee again. For upcoming test dates to reschedule to, see our sat dates 2025 guide which lists all College Board SAT test dates and registration deadlines. For the registration process from scratch, see our sat registration step-by-step guide.
Special circumstances (documented illness, family emergency, natural disaster) may qualify for fee waiver exceptions beyond the standard five-day deadline. College Board evaluates these situations case-by-case and requires documentation. Submit documentation to College Board customer service through the support portal at collegeboard.org. The process is not guaranteed to result in a refund but is worth attempting if you faced a genuine emergency. Students with SAT fee waivers who cancel and re-register for another date should also contact College Board to confirm that their fee waiver status transfers to the new registration — in most cases it does, but confirmation prevents issues. For november sat and september sat timing details, see those dedicated test date guides.
Canceling SAT score sends is separate from canceling SAT registration. Once you have taken the SAT, you may want to prevent College Board from sending your scores to specific colleges or to anyone at all. There are several mechanisms for this, and understanding them prevents you from inadvertently submitting scores you do not want to share.
First, if you designated colleges to receive your scores at registration time (up to four free sends), those scores are sent automatically when results are released — you cannot stop these pre-designated sends once scores have been released. You can, however, cancel free score sends before scores are released (typically a few days window between test day and score release). Log in to your College Board account after the test but before score release to remove pre-designated score recipients. Act quickly — this window is brief, usually one to two weeks after the test.
After scores are released, College Board's Score Choice policy allows you to control which test sittings you send to each college. Under Score Choice, you can choose to send scores from specific test dates rather than all your test dates. If you took the SAT three times, you can send only the sitting with your highest score, for example. Most highly selective schools superscore and prefer to see all sittings (to maximize your superscore composite), but Score Choice gives you the option to withhold lower sittings at schools that do not superscore. For the full details on how Score Choice works and official score reporting, see our college board sat scores guide. For the score sending process step by step, see how to send sat test scores to colleges.
Score cancellation (also called score withdrawal) is different from Score Choice. Score cancellation permanently deletes a score — it cannot be recovered and will not appear on your score report. College Board allows you to request score cancellation within a very short window: either immediately after the test at the testing center (by filling out a score cancellation form before leaving the room) or within a few days after the test by submitting a written request. Score cancellation is rarely the right choice for most students — a low score that you withhold via Score Choice is more flexible than a score you permanently delete, since you might later discover that a specific school does not access score history and the score would have been irrelevant. For understanding when do sat scores come out and the timeline around these decisions, see that guide. For score interpretation once results arrive, see what is a good sat score and sat percentiles. For prep guidance before your next attempt if canceling due to insufficient prep, see khan academy sat preparation. For a full-length practice test to benchmark readiness, see our sat test library.
Before canceling SAT registration, evaluate whether rescheduling to a different test date serves your goals better. Rescheduling — moving your registration from one College Board test date to another — is free if done before the change deadline (typically about two weeks before the original test date). Unlike canceling, rescheduling does not result in a forfeited fee or the need to re-register. If your reason for canceling is that you feel underprepared, rescheduling gives you more prep time without losing your registration. If your reason is a scheduling conflict, rescheduling moves you to a date that works. The only situations where canceling rather than rescheduling makes sense: you have definitively decided not to take the SAT at all, or you have exhausted all viable upcoming test dates for your application timeline.
When deciding which future test date to reschedule to, consider your college application deadlines. The SAT dates most relevant to college applications are August/September (for EA/ED cycle), October (last EA/ED retake), November (last good option for Regular Decision), and December (backup for RD January 1 deadlines). If you are canceling a spring junior year test and rescheduling to a later date, ensure the new date still leaves time for at least one retake if needed before senior fall application deadlines. For a complete map of how test dates align with application cycles, see our when should you take the sat guide. For understanding how your score will be received after each test date, see when do sat scores come out for release timelines by test date.
Cancel your SAT registration before test day
How: Log in to collegeboard.org → My SAT → Upcoming Registrations → Cancel
Deadline for partial refund: 5 days before test date
Refund amount: Registration fee minus processing fee (~$10)
After deadline: No refund; you forfeit the full fee
Alternative: Reschedule to a different test date for free
Best for: Students who are sick, unprepared, or have a scheduling conflict and do not want to reschedule to a different date. Always check whether rescheduling is a better option before canceling, since rescheduling avoids repaying the registration fee.
Move to a different test date without re-registering
How: Log in to College Board account → change test date option
Cost: Free (if done before the change deadline)
Change deadline: Varies by test date, check your registration
Rescheduling is almost always better than canceling because: you keep your registration without paying again, you still take the SAT on a future date, and your fee is transferred to the new date.
Best for: Students with a scheduling conflict, illness, or feeling underprepared who still plan to take the SAT — just on a different date than originally planned.
Two ways to manage scores after test day:
Score Choice: Choose which test sittings to send to each college. Scores are preserved in your account but not sent until you request it. Most students should use Score Choice rather than cancellation — it preserves flexibility.
Score Cancellation: Permanently deletes a score. Cannot be recovered. Must be requested immediately (at test center) or within a few days after the test. Use only in extreme circumstances (catastrophic performance, test security concern).
Recommendation: Do not cancel scores unless you have a specific, compelling reason. Score Choice provides all the flexibility most students need.
In most cases, rescheduling to a different test date is better than canceling outright. Rescheduling is free (before the change deadline), keeps you registered without repaying the fee, and ensures you still take the SAT on a future date. If you cancel instead, you will need to re-register and pay the full fee again for a future date. The only reason to cancel rather than reschedule is if you have firmly decided you do not want to take the SAT at all — and for most students, that decision should be made after evaluating whether your college list requires or benefits from an SAT score. For understanding whether you need an SAT at all, see our is sat required guide on test-optional and test-required policies at different schools.