Over 1,000 colleges are now “test-optional”. For those colleges, you are not penalized or excluded from admissions consideration just because you did not take the ACT or the SAT.
This leads to a few questions the students should logically ask:
- Should I take the standardized test?
- If I do, should I submit the results?
This article suggests factors to help students resolve those questions.
Question 1: Should I take the standardized test (ACT or SAT)?
Discussion: In my opinion, the simple answer is “Yes”. Here’s why.
The standardized tests have a long history of being highly regarded by institutions of higher learning. You are entering academia and the historic respect given to those tests still generally resonates within academia.
If you simply refuse to take the ACT or SAT, you already fulfilled a self-defeating prophesy. So first give yourself every opportunity to show that you can succeed. That means do the following:
- If finances allow, hire a personal tutor that specializes in preparing students for the standardized tests. You may find the finances through scholarships and grants from nonprofit organizations, including fraternities and sororities.
- If the cost of a private tutor is prohibitive, consider the ACT itself. It provides free practice questions and tips. See https://www.act.org > test-preparation.
- The ACT tutorials may not be enough preparation. So, consider other tutor companies that also provide free practice tests. Mometrix Test Preparation http://www.mometrix.com. Varsity Tutors https://www.varsitytutors.com and Peterson’s https://www.petersons.com are among several such companies.[1]
Remember this is YOUR future. Other essAID articles discuss studies on how much more college graduates can make beyond those with a high school diploma. Over the course of a career, the amount can be substantial. These pre-test preparations are your investment in YOU. Taking the test is an investment in you. And remember, you may go to graduate school. Standardized exams exist for entrance to law schools, business schools, medical schools, and beyond. So, you may as well start practicing and learning how to make these tests work for you, instead of against you.
After you take the test, you still have the option not to use it as part of your application. But it narrows the number of schools to only those that are test-optional or those who do not take the standardized tests at all. You can take the test more than once. Consider using your best composite and test score. You are not required to average multiple test scores.
Question 2: If I do take the standardized test, should I submit the results or instead, just submit my transcript and the Common App?
Discussion: After researching the opinions of admissions officers, the short answer is “It depends”.
As succinctly put by one expert: “If your score is solidly in the middle 50 percent or top 25 percent of test scores [for your college of choice], it’s probably safe to submit it.”[2]
Remember, report your highest score. The farther away your best standardized test score falls below that middle 50 percent threshold at your school of choice, the less likely you are to be admitted using those scores. Secondly, if you do not submit test scores that fall below those thresholds, submit applications to a larger pool of schools.
Another option is to use the Common App, which can include an essay.[3] Thus, you can opt out of submitting a standardized test score. You would not be the first to pursue that option. In the three years from 2020 through 2023, high school students filed a million more applications using the Common App (without standardized test scores) than in 2019. That was an increase of approximately 24 percent – one more student out of four using the Common App.[4]
All of this leads to a simple recommendation: Work at becoming the best version of you. That does not come from allowing the fear of failure to defeat you before you start. The best version of you is to invest in you with everything good you’ve got. And if the first time – or first test is not the winner – try again. And again. Each time the version of you will get better. That process, in and of itself, is a win.
[1] essAID is not providing recommendations at this time.
[2] Jeffrey Selingo, Who Gets in and Why – A Year Inside College Admissions, Scribner, Preface, February 2023.
[3] Some schools have their own equivalent to the Common App. Check with your schools of choice.
[4] Id.