Would it be better to prepare for SATs or IIT JEE and why?

Totally depends on your skill set and your bank balance (of course). Where IIT tests hardcore knowledge, SAT just check your basic calculating skill and understanding of language. Their motto is: if you know the basic, we can push you up to top. On the contrary, IIT wants you to know EVERYTHING; even things that would far exceed your 12th syllabus and won't ever be taught in schools. Now talking of the time once you get in, SAT will open huge number of possibilities for you. If you are good enough to get in IVY LEAGUE, be sure that you will be a future millionaire.

I wont be telling you what to do as it is your decisions . But consider these points before taking you decision. 1.Ranking of IIT's w.r.t other universities you may have chances of getting into with your SAT score.(Plz show it to your DAD) 2.Your family economic conditions .(as 1$ ~~ 60Rs and 3 to 4 years of studying) 3. Getting into IIT is not a piece of cake and it takes time and energy continuously for 2 years. IIT entrance exam is not an exam of selection but rejection(only 18,000 get ranks out of 1,50,000 people ).And chances are there that you may not be able to secure your dream course.

Yes, it is very much possible. Suffocated by the pressurizing Indian system of education (where your life supposedly depends upon a couple of exams), I had made the exact same plan as you when I was in 11th. I will first narrate my personal experience and then express my views (in hindsight) as to what should have been my course of action. I am not saying that I am brilliant or extraordinary. In fact, you should be motivated that if a guy like me can do it then you can definitely do much better. In mid-11th, I realised that while I was very interested in engineering, I could not learn up facts as well as my other friends. As a result, I did not do very well in chemistry (which is arguably supposed to be the most scoring subject in IIT). By absolute chance at this point of my life, I heard of this SAT test from one of my relatives in USA. When I heard you could give multiple attempts, I was relieved that your performance did not depend on a single day. Preparing for the first SAT was pretty simple. This is because it consists of 2 parts - Maths and English (essay included). The maths is really simple, especially if you are used to tackling problems of JEE Advanced. Most Indians face a problem in the English section. However, thanks to my difficult English course in ICSE till 10th (which included classics and even Shakespeare), as well as my voracious appetite for reading, I was able to adapt to the demands of the test quickly. Moreover, in India you must be used to sitting for 3 hour long tests, but the best part about the SAT is that the entire exam is divided into short tests of variable duration. The average duration is 15 - 20 minutes, the longest test (if I remember correctly) is around 40 minutes. There are short breaks after every test. Honestly, I only prepared for SAT for around a week (tops). I got a good score of 2100. But the difficult part is not scoring in the test. It is getting accepted in a college. American colleges look out for a LOT of things - extracurricular activities, social awareness, projects, initiatives, etc etc. So even if you have a good score, it's not really going to help you. Moreover, the atmosphere in USA is conducive for such activities. It is something which an Indian student probably can't imagine. Here we only focus on academics. There your professors also help you in this stuff. If you just visit orphanages in your high school, or develop a sudden interest in sports, then the college will see your resume as pretentious, and you will be at a disadvantage. Suppose you do manage to get into a decent college based only on your score (or your existing achievements). You will still face the hurdle of tuition fees. It is extremely high. Coming from an average middle class family, I could not afford the tuition fee and had to drop the option of going abroad for undergrad. Most of the scholarships awarded are only partial; you still have to pay a substantial amount of the fees. Meanwhile, I had continued studying at a regular pace for IIT (I still struggled with chemistry). However, I realised that while I could not memorise facts easily. I had a strong understanding of logical concepts and I used that to my advantage. Thus, there were many tricky topics in physics and maths which I could handle very easily as compared to my friends who struggled to understand the basics. I used this to my advantage. I gave Advanced in 2015 and got a rank of 2000 (Mains rank 1500), which is great for a guy with a bad memory. I gave the SAT subject tests recently (Physics, Chemistry and Maths) without any special preparation and got a full score (2400/2400). :) I will most probably be joining BITS Pilani CSE. So yeah, it is possible to do both simultaneously. However, unless you are sure of getting a scholarship (or are super rich), my advice to you would be to forget about the SAT and focus on JEE. We spend so much time listening to people criticize our education system that we actually fail to appreciate its fairness. If you study, to will succeed. End of story. No matter how rich/poor/smart/dumb you are. I realized this after spending a considerable amount of time (and money) filling forms and travelling to test centres outside my city to answer the SAT 1 and 2. Education is the best and one of the fairest means to succeed in life.

If you can get in MIT, you will get to study from Nobel prize winning Faculty at extreme low cost as MIT gives you full financial support.

First of all sorry for being too late. Bro/sister first think about what is the rank of college/institute where you will go with JEE and what is rank of those where you can go with such a nice preparation of sat. Originally you are not thinking about second hurdel which is "you can’t enter to those colleges only with sat score" … it needs to complete interview round  and It is  required to  have a good resume/ECAs as well … and our our education system no where care about Resume/ECA and things like this….. If you have passed theory…you will be definitely good at other things also….. this is the worst supposition of our education system.  For going  foreign you need to prepare for TOEFL/ IELTS + SAT + College/UNIVERSITY Interview. Top colleges(abroad) doesn't test (only) a person’s cramming( or learning /solving theory / exam) capabilities , They tests a person’s overall development. Now:- Most of times the main barrier is financial problems. Solution:- If you will be lucky , you may get scholarships , even if you doesn't get one you may apply for loan and you can very easily payback it once you are hired and you definitely will be. For earning livings you can do intern-ships or part time jobs there. If expenses are high then pay is also high there. Note:- I haven’t tell the benefits of going abroad because internet is already flooded with those , i have only give suggestion which will allow you to make your mind easily. One more problem with JEE/IIT is that every year only 200–500 students can choose their choice’s branch (which is CSc and the sad thing is that they haven’t touched things related to CSc in past two or three years) , although fees is very low as much low( for 2–3 semesters) as it will cost you to fly to USA and come back. But many university offers full financial support based on grades/merits and financial needs. MIT is one of them. Here is my contact information and resume http://www.funandenjoy.in . Note:- I also aspire to go there. Passed 12th CBSE(also that chemistry as well) this year(2016) and sorry for my bad English.

Seeing as this question is two years old. I don’t think the person who asked this will b e helped.But if anyone else wants an answer then here it goes.Studying in US costs a lot of money money mate. Just applying for the goddam visa costs around 30K. So if you can not shell out 10–12 lakhs per year then don’t go in this direction.For internationals ,especially from India, a score of 2000–2100 is not too much. It’s just above average (for scholarship). So if you want to get a almost full scholarships in a top 100 college you need to bring your SAT score to at least 2250. And I am not even going to list the Extra Curriculars you need and a stellar High School report card.That being said, there are a few lower ranked universities that will give you near full aid and will cost you around 5 lakhs per year on that score. For Example-University of Texas-Arlington will cost you around 4.5 lakhs with that SAT score.So I would suggest that you do your research before switching sides.Hope I helped.Cheers.Edit 1- I gave similar answer here - Do check it out.