Very few students love the idea of taking tests, and the opportunity to forego them can be appealing. Why take a test if you don’t have to?
While many students are taking advantage of test-optional policies that are currently in place at more than 1,650 four-year US colleges and universities, it is a decision that should not be made lightly. Students should leave the door to testing open because they may find their ‘perfect’ school requires scores, and they do not want to be left scrambling to meet a registration deadline or be ill-prepared for the SAT or the ACT.
It is also not advisable to skip testing if a student plans to apply to a highly selective school that accepts less than 20% of its applicants. In this case, most of the applicants are likely to have exceptional profiles that include rigorous curriculums, strong GPAs, and in-depth accomplishments.
Since test results are a metric that can used to predict academic success, if a student has done well with standardized testing it can be beneficial to submit their scores. If their scores are not within or above the median range that the school has published on their website, then a student may want to consider taking advantage of the opportunity to go test optional if it is offered.
Regardless of a school’s acceptance rate, if a student decides to go test optional, they will need to demonstrate academic ability with other parts of their applications such as thoughtful, well-written essays and stellar teacher recommendations.
While testing is rarely anyone’s favorite pastime, before a final decision is made to ‘test or not to test,’ it is important for a student to be completely familiar with the admission requirements at each school they are considering.
For an up-to-date list of the four-year US colleges and universities that will be test optional for Fall 2022 admissions, visit https://fairtest.org/university/optional.
