Account Help
Please browse the frequently asked questions below to answer any questions you may have about creating or accessing your collegeboard.com account.
Note: For questions specifically about SAT Registration and Scores, please go to the SAT Registration Help.
Account Basics
- Why should I create a collegeboard.com account?
- How do I create an account?
- What is "My Organizer"?
- How do I sign IN to my account?
- How do I sign OUT of my account?
Completing the Sign-up Form
- Can I create more than one account?
- Why do I need to supply this sign-up form information?
- What's the security question used for?
- Why am I asked for both student and parent information?
- Why can I enter information about only one parent?
- Why do I need a number in my password?
- Why am I being warned that my email is already associated with an account?
For Parents
- Can I create an account for my own use?
- Can I create an account on behalf of my child?
- How do I register my child for the SAT?
- Can I sign myself up for the "CC a Parent" service?
- Can I sign myself up for parent and/or student email newsletters?
Your User Name and Password
- I forgot my user name—how do I get it?
- I forgot my password—how do I get it?
- Where did the security questions come from?
- What do I do if I cannot answer the security question?
- What do I do if I no longer have access to my email address?
- Why is my account locked?
- Why am I getting emails about my account when I didn't request any changes or info?
- Why isn't my temporary password showing up, or working?
- How do I change my user name or password?
Updating Your Account
- How do I update my personal info and/or email address?
- How do I change my email subscriptions or email preferences?
- How do I turn on or off the "CC a Parent" email service?
- How do I change the email address for the "CC a Parent" email service?
Account Basics
Why should I create a collegeboard.com account?
You can access helpful information on collegeboard.com without an account. But if you create an account, you open the door to a whole range of services that are customized to you and that let you take critical steps on the road to college. Creating an account is fast, free, and easy.
- Connect to My College QuickStart™, a free college planning kit based on your PSAT/NMSQT® results.
- Start an SAT® registration and come back to it later.
- Choose your test date and test center online.
- Get immediate registration confirmation.
- Print SAT admission tickets for test day.
- View SAT scores online as soon as they're available.
- Participate in The Official SAT Online Course™.
- Save college searches and track colleges on a personal watch list.
- Save your scholarship search matches.
- Complete the CSS/Financial Aid PROFILE® Online.
- Save college cost and financing calculators.
- Get free student email newsletters and alerts.
You can also take advantage of My Organizer, which makes it easier to manage all of your important activities on collegeboard.com and to stay on top of deadlines.
How do I create an account?
Creating an account is fast, free, and easy. You just have to complete a sign-up form that creates your personal profile and sets up your user name and password.
The easiest way to get to the sign-up form is to go to the student home page and click the "Sign Up" link in the My Organizer box. You'll also find a "Sign Up" link whenever you're prompted to sign in or sign up to access a password-protected area.
Make sure that you use a single account to manage your College Board activities, so that your record remains complete and you continue to receive critical updates.
What is "My Organizer"?
My Organizer is a tool that organizes all of your college-planning activities on collegeboard.com, from your SAT registrations and SAT practice tests to your college list and financial aid application. There are two ways to get to it:
- My Organizer Dashboard
You'll find a My Organizer dashboard in the left column of most pages. It's like a personal toolbox, summarizing your saved information and putting key tools at your fingertips. For example, you'll see the number of schools on your college list and quick links to those schools. - My Organizer Full View
For a detailed summary of your activities, plus analysis and advice based on your activities, go to the full view of My Organizer. There you'll find a calendar, reminders, and tips—all tailored to you. The full view is linked from your My Organizer dashboard, and is available once you sign in from the student home page.
How do I sign IN to my account?
You'll save time if you sign in as soon as you start your collegeboard.com visit. The easiest way to sign in is to go to the student home page and enter your user name and password where you see the My Organizer box. You'll also be prompted to sign in when you try access any activities—like SAT registration or your College List—that require a password.
How do I sign OUT of my account?
To protect your privacy, it's important that you sign out after you finish each session. The easiest way to sign out is to go to the student home page and click the "Sign Out" link that lives in the My Organizer box. You'll also find a "Sign out" link wherever you see a "My Account" box with your name in it.
Completing the Sign-up Form
Can I create more than one account?
You must use only one account to manage your College Board activities, so that your record remains complete and you continue to receive critical updates. Do not create a duplicate account.
You will not be able to start or access any College Board testing activity, such as SAT or PSAT/NMSQT, if you've already started it with another account. For example, if you register for the SAT with one account, then come back later and create a new account to get your scores, you'll get an error message that tells you to sign in to your original account.
Why do I need to supply this sign-up form information?
We'll use the information that you provide to create your official College Board record—such as the record that's sent with your SAT scores to colleges. We'll also use the information to tailor services to you, such as reminders that are customized to your grade in high school.
Tips for creating your profile:
- Provide your full, official first and last name, as you'd see it on a Student ID or other official identification. You won't be able to change your name online once you start any testing activities.
- Use an email address that you plan on having for a while. Email is used for critical communications such as your SAT admission ticket, score alerts, and password reminders.
- Your high school graduation date will be used to customize services for you. If you've already graduated, enter the past date.
- Your birthday, security question and answer, as well as other information will be used to verify that you are you if you forget your password or need to call customer service for help.
- You cannot create a collegeboard.com account if you are under 13 years of age.
What's the security question used for?
Your security question and answer are used to verify that you are you.
You'll be asked to answer your security question if you forget your password and want to reset it online or if you call customer service for help. Your answer is not a hint that will be presented to you.
First choose the question that you'd like to answer from the pull-down menu, and then answer it in the space below.
Why am I asked for both student and parent information?
A collegeboard.com account is focused on a student's college planning activities. So the student's information is required in order to create the official student record and appropriately customize services.
But we recognize the important role that parents play on the road to college. So we now provide a way for parents to receive their own email services and to be linked by email to the student's account. Click the "learn more" link associated with any email service to learn more about it.
If a parent's information is entered (it's optional), we'll invite the parent to participate in the selected services—parent newsletters and/or the "CC a Parent" email service. We won't send any emails unless the parent confirms he or she wishes to receive them.
Why can I enter information about only one parent?
Because the "CC a Parent" email service can contain sensitive information about a student and that student's testing record, we are currently limiting the service to a single parent or guardian. This is to protect the security of the information.
Additional parents can sign up independently to receive email newsletters, using a form on the parent home page, but only one person can be copied on student emails.
Why do I need a number in my password?
Your password gives you access to College Board services and to personal information that you've saved. We require at least one number so that it's more secure.
A Good Password...
- contains between 7-15 characters—the more the better.
- has at least one number (0-9).
- is changed periodically.
- is unique, but easy to remember.
- is hard for someone else to guess. For example, if everyone knows you love peanut butter, you wouldn't want to make your password "peanutbutter." But you could make it "ILPBIM1S" for "I love peanut butter it's my #1 snack."
A Bad Password...
- uses words or phrases with which you're easily identified.
- is a name, such as your name, your IM nickname, a pet's name, or any other name associated with you—even if it's doubled (bobbybobby) or some combination of first and last name (bjohnson).
- is a personal number, such as your bank number, your Social Security Number, your birthday, your phone number, your address, or your license plate number.
- uses a simple pattern, such as repeated characters, keyboard sequences, or an acronym.
It's a good idea to change your password periodically—for example, every six months. And certainly change your password if you've told it to anyone or suspect that someone may have access to your account.
Why am I being warned that my email is already associated with an account?
If you saw this warning when you tried to create a new collegeboard.com account, it's because there's already a collegeboard.com account that uses your email address. This can happen if you already have an account and are creating another one, or if family members share an email address and another family member has an account.
We present this warning because you should use only one account to manage your College Board activities so that your record remains complete and you continue to receive critical updates. You will not be able to start or access any College Board testing activity, such as SAT or PSAT/NMSQT, if you've already started it with another account. For example, if you register for the SAT with one account, then come back later and create a new account to get scores, you'll get an error message that tells you to sign in to your original account.
If you must create the duplicate account, you can use the "Continue" link at the bottom of the warning. But we do not recommend that you do so.
For Parents
Can I create an account for my own use?
Yes. While a collegeboard.com account is tailored around a student's college planning activities, we recognize that you may have a perfectly good reason to create your own account. Perhaps you want to create your own College List or save information to a college financing calculator.
Are you creating an account for your own personal use, with no connection to official activities like SAT registration? The student's profile information is still required and will be used to customize services. But if you enter your email address in the student's email field, you will be the one to receive any account-related receipts and reminders.
Are you creating an account on behalf of your child or to access student services like SAT? Then we then we recommend that you have your child create the account or that you create the account together. Because by creating the student's account, you are establishing your child's official College Board record online. And for security, there can be only one account that's tied to that official record. In other words, if you create this account and register your child for the SAT, then your child comes online to create an account to get scores, he or she will be blocked from creating that account.
Can I create an account on behalf of my child?
If you're creating this account for any other reason than your own personal use, such as to save your own College List, then we recommend that you have your child create the account or that you create the account together.
Because by creating the student's account, you are establishing your child's official College Board record online. And for security, there can be only one account that's tied to that official record. In other words, if you create this account and register your child for the SAT, then your child comes online to create an account to get SAT scores, he or she will be blocked from creating that account.
How do I register my child for the SAT?
We recommend that you have your child register for the test or that you register for the test together:
- Go to the Registration page and click "register now."
- When prompted, either sign in to an existing collegeboard.com account or click the "Sign Up" button to create a new account. Since creating this account establishes the official online record for your child, and only one account can be the official record, you should have your child create this account or create it together. Make sure that the student's information is complete and accurate.
- When you land in the SAT registration area, provide additional information that's used for registration and score reporting, such as mailing address, and follow step-by-step instructions throughout the rest of the process.
Tips:
- Make sure that your child enters his or her complete, full name and information in the student form fields. The information entered will become part of your child's official record.
- Be sure to enter your child's email when prompted for the student's email address, so your child receives critical notifications about the account and activities.
- Enter your name and email address in the parent information section if you would like to receive copies of important emails that your child receives or would like to receive your own email newsletters and reminders.
- Once an account is used to perform any testing activities, that account becomes the official account and no duplicate account can be created. So, if you were to register your child for the test, and then your child came back later and tried to create an account to get scores, your child would be blocked and told to access the original/official account.
For help with SAT registration, please visit the SAT Registration FAQs.
Can I sign myself up for the "CC a Parent" email service?
Only your child can turn on the service, through his or her official collegeboard.com account. That's done to protect the security of your child's record and to keep your child in the driver's seat.
Talk to your child to have the "CC a Parent" email service turned on. It's done in one of two ways:
- When the student account is first created, your child checks the "CC a Parent" checkbox and provides your name and email address.
- When your child signs in to an existing collegeboard.com account, he or she can go to the account profile and add your information there. The "Update My Info" link appears on his or her personal My Organizer start page.
If your child turns on the service, you will be prompted to confirm that you wish to participate and you or your child will be able to turn off the service at any time.
You can, however, sign yourself up for other email services, such as parent newsletters and The Official SAT Question of the Day. Go to the parent home page for a chance to sign yourself up for parent email services.
Can I sign myself up for parent and/or student email newsletters?
Yes. There are two ways for you to sign up for the College Board's email services:
- You can be signed up by your child. When your child's collegeboard.com account is first created, there are places on the sign-up form for the parent's name and email address. At that point you can be invited to receive parent email services, such as newsletters and The Official SAT Question of the Day.
- You can sign yourself up. Go to the parent home page and use the sign-up form that's promoted there. You can sign up for parent newsletters customized by your child's grade level and/or for The Official SAT Question of the Day.
Tips:
- You do not need a collegeboard.com account to receive parent email services.
- Regardless of how you're signed up for parent emails, you'll be required to confirm that you want the email subscriptions. This is to prevent unwanted email. You'll receive an email with a confirmation link in it.
- Regardless of how you're signed up for parent emails, you and only you will manage what email newsletters you receive. You'll do that via a manage email subscriptions link in any College Board email that you receive. Only the "CC a Parent" email service is managed via your child's collegeboard.com account.
- When you confirm subscriptions, you'll have a chance to add additional emails—such as student newsletters—and generally manage what you'll receive at your email address.
You cannot, however, sign yourself up for the "CC a Parent" email service, where you receive copies of important emails your child receives from the College Board. That must be turned on through your child's official collegeboard.com account. Talk to your child to have the "CC a Parent" email service turned on.
Your User Name and Password
I forgot my user name—how do I get it?
Getting a collegeboard.com user name reminder is secure and simple:
- Go to the Forgot User Name? help. You'll find user name and password help links wherever you're prompted to sign in.
- Submit your email address. It must be the email address associated with your account, so we can look up your info.
- Check your email. We'll send you any user names associated with your account and indicate which (if any) are associated with a College Board test record.
I forgot my password—how do I get it?
Getting a new collegeboard.com password is secure and simple:
- Go to the Forgot Password? help. You'll find user name and password help links wherever you're prompted to sign in.
- Submit the user name for your account. If you forgot your user name, too, you can first use the user name help to get help.
- If we have enough information to securely verify you online, you'll be asked to answer a set of security questions. If you correctly answer these questions, you can reset your password online and immediately access your account.
- If we don't have enough information to securely verify you online or you wish to bypass the security questions, we will email a temporary password to you. There's an "Email Me My Password" option in the top right corner of the security question page.
Where did the security questions come from?
When you created or last updated your collegeboard.com account, you chose a security question from a list of available options and provided an answer. The answer is not case sensitive, but when prompted you must answer the question exactly as you did before.
You may also be asked to answer questions that are based on your account profile or testing record, such as your date of birth or SAT registration number.
What do I do if I cannot answer the security question?
Were you prompted to answer security questions in order to reset your collegeboard.com password online, but you cannot answer them or wish to bypass them?
On the page with the security questions, just click the "Email Me My Password" link in the top right corner. We'll email you a temporary password so you can access your account.
What do I do if I no longer have access to my email address?
For your security, we send information to the email address associated with your account—the address you provided when you created or last updated your account.
If you cannot use online options to retrieve information and you no longer have access to an email address to retrieve the information, please call customer service for help. They'll verify that you are you and help you access your account. Customer service can be reached at (703) 480-1691 Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. (Eastern Time).
Be sure to keep your email address current, because we use it for critical communication about your account and services.
Why is my account locked?
For your security, we lock your collegeboard.com account if someone has failed multiple times to sign in with your user name. Your account will be locked for 30 minutes and you'll receive an email with details and instructions. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you, but we want to take every precaution to ensure the integrity of your account.
If you forgot your password and were unsuccessful in guessing it, please go to the Forgot Your Password? help to have it reset. If you are not the person who attempted to sign in to your account, we suggest that you make sure your password is as secure as possible.
Why am I getting emails about my account when I didn't request any changes or info?
We send automated emails to your address in order to confirm a change to your account or to send you requested information. If you got information that you did not trigger or request, then someone may have your email associated with their account or someone may have typed your email instead of their own when requesting a user name or password. We recommend that you make sure your password is as secure as possible.
Keep in mind, too, that if you share an account with a family member—for example, to receive College Board emails—then activity performed by any of you could trigger an email.
Why isn't my temporary password showing up, or working?
Here are some tips for using the temporary password that's emailed to you if you forget your password:
- Be sure you're checking the right email box. We tell you where it's going when you request the email and get the "check your mailbox" confirmation page.
- Most requests will arrive within a few minutes, but if the system is busy it could take longer.
- If you've requested a temporary password multiple times, you must use the password in the most recently received email. Each temporary password replaces the earlier temporary password.
- Each temporary password will work only one time. When you sign in with it, you'll be prompted to change your password to something that's still secure but also easy for to remember. If you bypassed that password change somehow, you'll need to request a new password.
- If you have trouble using the sign in link that's in the email, please use the user name and password fields on the collegeboard.com student home page.
How do I change my user name or password?
You can change your password at any time, but for security you cannot change your user name. To change your password:
- Click the "Update My Info" link that's on your personal My Organizer page. It's found in the top left "My Info" box, right below where your name is displayed. You'll be prompted to verify your existing password, for extra security.
- Once on the "Update My Account" page, use the "Click here to change your password" link that's displayed below your user name.
- Enter and confirm a new password and verify your security question and answer, then submit the form.
- You'll receive an email confirming that your password was successfully changed. Use this new password the next time you sign in.
Updating Your Account
How do I update my personal info and/or email address?
You can change your personal information, such as your email address, at any time. Just click the "Update My Info" link on your personal My Organizer page and verify your existing password again for extra security. That link is found in the top left "My Info" box, right below where your name and email address are displayed.
How do I change my email subscriptions or email preferences?
You can add subscriptions, remove subscriptions, or change the preferred format of your emails at any time. Just click the manage email subscriptions link that's on your personal My Organizer page. That link is found in the top left "My Info" box, right below where your name and email address are displayed.
You can also use a manage email subscriptions link in any email that you receive from the College Board.
How do I turn on or off the "CC a Parent" email service?
Though either a student or parent can turn off the service at any time, only the student can turn it on or change the recipient—through the linked collegeboard.com account.
To turn on the service for a new account, the student should opt in to the service on the account sign-up form. The student just enters the parent's name and email, in addition to their own, and checks the box for the "CC a Parent" service.
If the student has already created a collegeboard.com account, the student should sign in and go to the Update My Account form to modify the parent information section. Students should look for the "Update My Info" link on their My Organizer start page; it's in the top left "My Info" box, right below where name and email are displayed.
If a student turns on the service, we send an email to the parent confirming that he or she wishes to participate. The parent has 14 days to confirm before the invitation expires, and will get a reminder after 7 days. The student is notified by email if the parent confirms, if the invitation expires, or if the parent turns off the service. The parent is notified by email if the student turns off the service.
How do I change the email address for the "CC a Parent" email service?
The email address for the "CC a Parent" recipient can be changed only through the collegeboard.com account that it's linked to. Just sign in and update your parent's info on your "Update My Info" form linked from your personal My Organizer.
If you change the email address for the service, you are essentially turning it off for the original address and turning it on for the new address. The original address is notified by email that the service has been turned off, and the new address is required to confirm participation within 14 days of the invitation.