With the recent changes afoot in testing and admissions it is hard to keep track of things and there is much bad information floating around on WhatsApp groups and other social media. Here are just a few common testing misperceptions debunked. Check the webinars for more details....
- The SAT is no longer required.
Nearly every American school has been forced to go "test optional". The main driver for this is the fact that the SAT is not openly available due to Covid and schools can't require tests students can't take. Some schools such as the University of California system have gone full "test blind" and have committed to not even considering test scores for a few cycles. However, most schools have adopted some form of "test optional" policy where kids can submit scores if they want to but those who do not should face no negative consequences. Read the exact policies on the university websites. The tests are still required for many scholarship/ROTC programs at public universities and also for public schools in Florida.
- So I shouldn't submit scores at all.
If you have a poor score relative to the average level at that university then submitting scores is not a good idea. However, if the median score of past admitted students at university A is, say, a 1250 and a student scored a 1400, then that score should absolutely be submitted. If it makes you look good, then show it. More on this can be found in an article by our friend Jed Applerouth here.
- I should take the Subject Tests while I still can.
No. These tests are dead though they will still be administered internationally through June 2021 for some strange reason. American universities will hence stop looking at results on these exams and the only schools asking would be schools in other locations that maybe didn't get the memo yet. IB results, A Levels, and AP tests are much better gauges of subject-specific mastery, and is a core reason why these exams got cancelled.
- The SAT will not come back.
The great Andrew Sullivan really stirred the pot last week with this impassioned defense of the test. It is really too soon to say for sure what will happen come 2022, 2023, 2024, etc. but most universities like the idea of a common metric. Universities know full well that kids from very wealthy families will have access to test preparation and that a 1400 from such a student isn't nearly as impressive as a 1350 from a student with more modest economic circumstances. Grade inflation has made GPAs less useful over the years and larger universities in particular will really struggle without the SAT score to consider. If all American high schools ran the IB then it would be a different story, but that will never happen. Each state closely controls the specific curricula used at public schools; ceding this control to a Swiss-based NGO is not in the cards.
In a perfect world of rainbows and unicorns each student would be personally interviewed, letters of recommendations would be fully considered, and a full personal examination would be conducted. Small, well-funded liberal arts colleges can do this. Large universities getting upwards of 100,000 applicants can't.
Stay tuned on how this dynamic situation develops in the future.
