Wanna hear something a little nerdy? I actually find it super fascinating and fun to learn everything there is to know about the Digital SAT and ACT (and thank goodness, because it’s my job to know all of the fine print…so you don’t have to!).
But it’s safe to say that many teenagers do NOT share this particular hobby. In fact, many of them hope and pray that they can just “nope” out of the whole standardized test thing altogether.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, certain high school graduating classes actually got to live that dream. Lots of colleges decided to go “test-optional” because so many testing centers shut down—there were fears that COVID would spread in such small, enclosed spaces. In other cases, standing test dates were even cancelled at the last minute.
To cut a break to kids in these tough situations, many institutions of higher learning decided to relax their testing policies for a few years, letting students apply without SAT or ACT scores. Some of the schools on your list may well have been among that number.
Is that still the case? If so, it’d be pretty tempting to just…forget about that ACT or Digital SAT. After all, without having to set aside time for test prep, you could focus on your coursework, extracurriculars, and still have time for Fortnite. It might even make you think you should cut the schools on your list that ARE still requiring the tests.
But before you jump at the chance to toss your test prep books out the window and pick back up your TV remote, I need to give you a reality check. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it’s my professional duty to give you the information you need to get into college, not tell you what you want to hear.
ARTICLE CONTENTS
1. Video version of this article
2. Reality check: schools are returning to testing
3. What if some of your colleges are test-optional?
4. What if all of your colleges are test-optional?
5. Test optional vs. test blind
6. Is the SAT/ACT required for financial aid?
7. “Easier to apply” does NOT mean “easier to get in”!
8. Conclusion
Watch this article as a video:
Colleges are requiring standardized tests again
Here’s the first maybe not-so-welcome thing you need to know: the test-optional wave has been subsiding—and in many cases even reversing—for over a year now. Recently, several ivy-league and other eilte schools have started requiring tests against: Dartmouth, MIT, Brown, Harvard and Yale, among others.
Why are they adding SAT/ACT scores to their application checklists again? In part because of the finding (confirmed in a 2023 study by Harvard economists) that test scores can help identify academic talent from disadvantaged communities.
Of course, testing is not without its biases, but it’s possible that other parts of the college application (recommendation letters by well-resourced teachers; access to after-school activities that enrich your mind and look good on an Activities List) are more likely to give privileged kids an unfair advantage than an SAT or ACT score.
If *some* of your list's schools require testing
Maybe a handful of schools on your list are test-optional, while others require the ACT/SAT. The thing to remember in such a case is that those schools are on your list for a reason—they’re the ones that, in your best estimate, spiritually and academically align with who you are. They’re the ones where you can see yourself finding likeminded community and pursuing your dreams.
And to put this in perspective: college lasts a LOT longer than test prep does. So please think carefully before you nix any of those carefully-chosen schools just because it will make your next few months more relaxing.
Should you sign up for the SAT/ACT if ALL of your schools are test-optional?
But what if you have the (seemingly) most straightforward situation—what if ALL of the colleges you’re applying to are test optional?
Even if every single one of the schools you’re applying to is “test optional,” unfortunately, that DOESN’T necessarily mean that it’s in your best interest to skip the test—or the prep. In fact, there may even be cases in which it actually becomes MORE important for you to slay that SAT or ACT when your dream school is test-optional—which I’ll explain at the end of this post. To understand why, you need to start by understanding this:
“test-optional” does NOT mean “test blind”!
Test optional vs. test blind
“Test Optional” means you don’t HAVE to submit a test score if you cannot or prefer not to.
That said, the admissions office will consider your score if you send it, and usually, a significant majority of applicants DO still send in test scores. If you have a good test score, it can strengthen your application, especially if your grades or academic rigor are lacking. Conversely, if you elect not to send in a score, all your other admission factors will count more heavily. That might hurt your application—or it might not. (I help you figure out which camp you fall into in this post.)
“Test Blind,” by contrast, means that the college or university in question will never look at your scores, no matter what.
In other words, even if you scored a perfect 1600 on the SAT or a 36 on the ACT, if the college is “test blind” (or “test free”), they will not even look at it. It will not count. You might as well not have sent it in. Right now, very few schools are “test blind”—even for the class of 2026. And many of these still have GPA requirements that a student must surpass in order to be eligible to not send in scores.
And there’s one more very important factor to consider before you start even digging into those details:
Is the SAT/ACT required for financial aid?
You may be able to get into a given college without submitting a test score, but if you’re in need of financial aid, merit aid, or independent scholarships, many of THOSE will want to see a test score. So skipping that test might mean missing out on a lot of important opportunities.
But again, let’s say you DON’T need those things, AND all of the schools on your list are test-optional. NOW can you toss your flash cards?
Not quite.
Sorry.
Because now that we’ve defined some key terms, I have to explain how they actually affect admissions:
Are test-optional schools easier to get into?
Short answer: Nope, not in general.
Long answer: What colleges were trying to accomplish by going “test optional” was to allow more students to apply without jumping through yet another hoop. They don’t want to turn away a candidate because that student couldn’t afford to pay for a test sitting and travel to a testing location. In the years during and immediately after COVID-19, when multiple test dates and test centers had canceled and closed, some universities went test optional as a way of making things easier on students who genuinely couldn’t access an open testing facility.
The idea, in short, is that even if your testing center was closed for your only two test dates in your rural location, you should still be able to apply to your dream college or university and have a shot of getting in. Test optional higher educational institutions don’t want you to be taken out of the running by an obstacle that was no fault of your own. Fair enough!
That said, if we’ve now made applying to a given college a little bit easier, guess what happens?
Yup: more students apply to that college.
In fact, my favorite example of how “easier to apply” does NOT mean “easier to get in” is the case of the University of Chicago. In 2018, U Chicago went test optional. First of all, over 80% of applicants still DID submit test scores. And second of all, you know what happened? Their admissions rate went DOWN, from 7.2% of applicants being admitted to only 5.9% of applicants being admitted. And you know what else happened? Their average SAT score actually INCREASED by 15 points!
By letting students choose whether to send in a test score, U Chicago allowed more students to apply…which resulted in their most highly selective freshman class to date! And therefore, as my theory predicts, the performance profile of students who got in did not get less competitive; it got MORE competitive.
The other clear takeaway here is that if a student did NOT submit a score but still got in, that student must have been a mega-achiever in all other admission factors (grades, rigor, activities, essays, character, etc.). Those applicants’ non-testing-related qualities had to be so superlative that they could stand on their own and still get that student in the door. In other words, the committee concluded that a test score wouldn’t have added any new insights to what they’d already determined about the student’s excellence.
So if ALL of your schools are test optional, chances are that they’re actually HARDER to get into than they were when they required the SAT/ACT. Especially in the context of COVID, where EVERYONE had faced a challenging couple of years—and many people experienced academic gaps in their learning during those pivotal early teen years—you weren’t the only one hoping to keep test prep off your already-long list of stressors.
So, the answer to the question of whether “test optional” really means that standardized tests are suddenly totally skippable is unfortunately not a clear yes or no.
It’s a maybe—it depends on YOU.
If you determine that your application will stand out even without a test score, even in a MORE competitive field, then you might be able to afford not to take the SAT/ACT. But if a strong test score will improve your overall appeal to colleges—and this post has tried to show you that there’s a solid chance it will—well, maybe four years at your dream school is worth going through with your testing plans.
However, to even BEGIN to answer this question, we need to take a moment to understand some VERY IMPORTANT THINGS: namely, what’s important in college admissions in the first place? How does taking out a test score affect the way your application will be evaluated? Will those factors help you or hurt you?
Remember that I’ve got a whole post walking you through how to self-assess for these factorS (CLICK HERE TO READ IT).
It’s got a complete checklist for how to take your individual circumstances—your application’s strengths and weaknesses and your college list—and make a decision about whether you can REALLY skip those tests.
If you can? Congratulations! (Not least because it almost certainly means you’ve been putting in the work in school and are reaping the rewards, as well as slam-dunking a range of achievements in great extracurriculars and hobbies you’re passionate about—yay for you!)
But even if skipping the test ISN’T right for you, it’s still going to give you peace of mind to KNOW that you’ve made the best decision possible. Yes, you might need to spend some of the time hitting the test prep books when you’d rather be reading up on the latest Timothée Chalamet gossip…but when you open that “Congratulations” letter from your dream school? I bet you won’t regret it.
If you fall into this second camp, and would like help creating a completely customized test prep plan, you’ve come to the right place.
