Are The SAT And ACT On Their Way Out?

University of Chicago, Indiana University at Bloomington, Wake Forest University, and Bryn Mawr College.  Great schools?  Yep; elite, even.  But these elite schools no longer require the SAT or ACT for admissions.  US Colleges in general are dropping their standardized test requirements at an ever-accelerating rate (twenty in the past year).  So what happened to these titans of testing?  Why have the tests that so many of us sweated over, lost sleep over, and spent many hours and dollars on started to lose sway?  If I’m not a 1420, then who am I? And what does it mean for those of you who are still in the middle of this process?

The SAT and ACT have long been accused of unfairness.  Early on, the allegations were that the test questions were familiar to middle to upper class white test takers and less so to other students.  Here’s maybe the most infamous example (taken from a real SAT from the 1980s):

A runner is to a marathon as:

(a)    An envoy is to an embassy

(b)   A martyr is to a massacre

(c)    An oarsman is to a regatta

(d)   A horse is to a stable

“Oarsman”?  “Regatta”?  This isn’t exactly a question designed for a kid from the projects; this stops just short of asking the difference between a brandy snifter and a sherry glass.  In the past couple of decades, though, the testing companies have tried to democratize their test questions, and they have come a long way.

While SAT/ACT have done a good job of addressing this issue, a newer, bigger issue has emerged: test prep/coaching.  The US test prep industry is worth $1.1 billion a year.  Families pay anywhere from a few hundred to ten thousand dollars for professional tutors to prepare their students for the SAT/ACT.  Clearly, not every family can afford this, so once again we see the advantage skew back to the upper and middle classes.  The ACT has recently offered a free online “ACT Academy” for test prep, and the Khan Academy offers a similar free online program for SAT prep.  While neither of these is a substitute for one-on-one tutoring, they are steps in the right direction.

More troubling, though, is the question of whether tests do what they’re intended to at all.  There is increasing evidence that the SAT and ACT are no longer accurate predictors of college success.  On a recent visit to Wofford college, I discussed their test-optional policy with an admissions officer.  She said that they had come to realize that a high school transcript was a much better predictor of college success than a test score.  Recent research bears this out.  A study last year at several UNC system campuses showed that once students with good transcripts but lower test scores were admitted, they succeeded as well as their higher-scoring classmates. The testing industry has attempted to respond to this trend in different ways.  The SAT introduced (and almost immediately withdrew) an “adversity score” which was meant to account for socio-economic disadvantage.  The ACT will now allow super-scoring, and if a test taker only wants to retake one section of the test, ACT will allow it.  Whether these “reforms” will breathe new life into the tests seems doubtful.  They don’t address the real issues dogging the institution of standardized testing.

So if you’re a sophomore or junior (or a parent of such), what does this mean to you?  Not much, probably.  While more and more schools are test optional, there are very few schools that won’t look at your scores if you send them.  Take the tests, see how you do, and if your scores are better than the average at any school you apply to, then send them along.  If you’re an ACT-taker, starting in September you’ll be able to retake only the parts of the test you want.  There are very few cases where I’d recommend not taking at least one of the tests at all. 

In any event- admissions has never been all about the tests.  Admissions officers know how to WORK that transcript; they’ll look at your weighted, unweighted, and core GPAs, they’ll look at your school profile, your class rank, the rigor of courses you took, and the trend (up, down, or flat) of your GPA over time.  They’ll look at your activities, your recommendations, and what neighborhood you and your school are in.  Like you, they’re trying to find a fit.  Take the tests seriously, but don’t think a lower score is going to automatically bar you from some schools, and for Heaven’s sake (!) don’t assume that a high score (even a perfect score) is your automatic ticket into anywhere. 

I predict that standardized college admissions tests are headed to dinosaur-city.  But it’s going to be years before that happens.  If you’re a high-schooler or a high school parent, the SAT or ACT is in your future.  For advice, strategy, and support, I’m here to help.  Give a call or text today: 704-692-4559.