A college counselor explains test-optional, test-blind and test-flexible policies and why you might have fewer reasons to stress as you prepare for college.

The college admissions experience involves different levels of stress. In my years as a higher education professional, I’ve observed that preparing for and taking the SAT or ACT is one of the biggest stressors for my students.

This isn’t surprising; even if it’s never actually been said, students often think the SAT or ACT will determine how successful they will be in life. When discussing a testing plan with clients each year, one of my first priorities is to ensure students are aware this isn’t a life-or-death situation. Their SAT or ACT score is not a reflection of their future success, or an indicator of their self-worth. It’s just one test, and it’s just one data point in an application evaluation.

Many colleges view test scores as important factors in admission. However, the most important aspects of any college application, for most colleges, are the classes you take and the grades you earn. You’re applying to be a student on campus, so one of the best ways for colleges to find out if you’re a good fit is to see what kind of student you’ve been over the last three-plus years. That doesn’t mean students shouldn’t still put thoughtful effort into preparing to do their best on an SAT or ACT, though.

Like it has with so many aspects of life, COVID-19 has turned the college admissions standardized testing landscape upside down. This has led to students and families hearing a lot of unfamiliar admissions jargon, so I’d like to break it down and explain the differences.

WHAT DOES TEST OPTIONAL MEAN?

Simply put, test-optional colleges let students decide whether or not they want to submit test scores with their application. Most test-optional schools will consider SAT and ACT scores if they are submitted but focus on other factors they believe are stronger predictors of a student’s potential.

The pandemic forced many colleges to adopt test-optional policies for at least the high school graduating Class of 2021. Some colleges announced multi-year test-optional pilots; others implemented temporary test-optional policies or were test-optional for only some groups of students or academic programs. Penn State University recently announced it will remain test optional through 2023. Hopefully, other colleges will follow suit sooner rather than later so that students have ample time to plan and study for tests.

The idea of being test optional became mainstream once COVID-19 began wreaking havoc on the world, but it’s actually been around for a while — since 1969, to be exact. Before the pandemic took hold, more than 1,000 colleges and universities were already evaluating students’ applications without the presence of test scores. 

So, how will you know whether a college you’re researching is test optional or not? You can search for the standardized testing policy on official websites, but all the accurate information is at your fingertips with CollegeData. Let’s use Wake Forest University’s college profile as an example. Upon navigating to the school’s dashboard, clicking on “Admissions” and scrolling down a smidge to the “Examinations” section, you’ll see that for the SAT and ACT, Wake Forest will “consider if submitted,” meaning they’re test optional. 

WHAT DOES TEST BLIND MEAN?

Test-blind admissions is exactly what it sounds like: whether or not a student decides to send their test scores, they won’t be considered as part of the application evaluation.

Test blind schools are not nearly as common as test optional ones, but COVID-19 has led to more colleges and universities to adopt test blind policies. Prior to the pandemic, only a handful of schools were test blind. Now, there are more than 50 that have decided to not consider test scores throughout the admissions process. This is happening because admissions offices are seeing how difficult it is for certain students to test. Instead of leaving it optional – and letting those who can’t test feel like they’re at a disadvantage (even though they wouldn’t be) -- they’ve taken testing completely off the table. 

Here is a list from FairTest detailing the colleges that are currently test blind, and if they’re not adopting that policy permanently, the details of how long it’ll be in place are included. 

WHAT DOES TEST FLEXIBLE MEAN?

If you’re not a good standardized test-taker but don’t want to simply not submit a test score, there are test flexible schools. Test flexible colleges or universities allow students to choose which type of test (or tests) they’d like to submit with their application. If students want to submit the SAT or ACT, they’re welcome to do so. Other options include an International Baccalaureate exam or an Advanced Placement test. SAT Subject Tests were previously an option before the CollegeBoard discontinued them on January 19, 2021.

New York University adopted a test flexible policy long before COVID-19, and its policy is reflected on their CollegeData college profile page. Each college or university will likely have its own range of tests it is willing to consider, so after getting initial information from CollegeData, it’d be helpful to read the complete policy on a school’s official website. As you can see with NYU, there’s a lot more detail and nuance that goes into their policy, which they explain here. 

WHAT TO DO FROM HERE

The high school graduating Class of 2022 are still dealing with uncertainty regarding standardized testing for college admissions. While this uncertainty adds another layer of stress on top to the admissions experience, it’s important to control what is controllable. 

As you uncover schools you love, there are three main things to find out when it comes to testing:

• The school’s testing policy and required tests (if any).
• The average scores for admitted students (which you can see in the “Admissions” tab of the college profile by scrolling down to the bottom).
• How multiple scores are used, and if the schools superscore the SAT, ACT, or both.

Once you find out this information, put together a testing plan and prepare to sit for the test, if you can. Once the time comes to actually take the test, do the best you can, and don’t get too hung up on what your highest score is. This is not to say that SAT and ACT scores aren’t important or will have no impact on your application. Top-tier or highly competitive schools still place weight on test scores. However, an individual test score is simply not a complete determination of your worth or how successful you’ll be. After you’ve completed your test (s), move on to the other important parts of your application. If the hard shift to test optional, test blind, and text flexible policies have shown us anything, it’s that colleges are evaluating the effectiveness of the ACT and SAT, and for now, it’s not worth stressing too much over. By Matt Musico

The latest news about changes in standardized-testing policies tends to pique people’s interest. But the latest news about changes in standardized-testing policies at Harvard University? That sends folks into breathless fits of joy or despair, depending on their view of the universe and the rightful place of the ACT and SAT within it. Because, you know, Harvard.

On Thursday The Washington Post first reported that the nation’s oldest university, which temporarily suspended its ACT and SAT requirement due to Covid-19, would extend its test-optional policy for four years, through 2026. Why? Harvard cited just one reason: concerns about how the pandemic might continue to limit high-school students’ access to testing centers. The bottom line is significant: The granddaddy of the Ivy League, which played a huge role in popularizing the SAT, just told the world it would forgo its testing requirements until today’s eighth graders finish high school.

The news caused a social-media tizzy. Some observers rejoiced on Twitter: “A tremendous step”; “This should be permanent. SAT/ACT were used to exclude Black and Brown students from colleges.” Others, such as Andrew Sullivan, the political commentator, saw a falling sky: “Abolishing objective standards to enable more aggressive race discrimination. … American higher education is committing suicide.”

The strong reactions reflected the fact that, whether you like it or not, Harvard casts an extra-long shadow. What the university does has long influenced other institutions, as well as the public’s thinking about admissions. And what Harvard seems to be doing now is slow-marching the ACT and SAT into decline and diminished relevance. It’s hard to imagine the university would end up rolling back its test-optional policy after so many years on the books.

Jon Boeckenstedt, vice provost for enrollment at Oregon State University, which adopted a permanent test-optional policy in 2020, said on Thursday that Harvard’s announcement “does fire a shot across the bow of everyone down the food chain — which is everyone.”

Though most colleges have at least temporarily stopped requiring the ACT and SAT, many big-name institutions haven’t yet announced that such policies will be permanent. Harvard’s announcement probably just made it more likely that they will do so. The university, Boeckenstedt said, had made “a bold ‘We’re going to end this now’ move. I give them credit for using their power. They can do what they want, and they did the right thing.”

Angel B. Pérez, chief executive of the National Association for College Admission Counseling, had a similar reaction. “The reality of the matter is that Harvard doesn’t actually have to make any changes to its admissions process to admit a strong class,” he said. “Staying test-optional sends a really strong statement, a strong message about the lack of value that they see in the tests.”

Pérez, a former vice president for enrollment and student success at Trinity College, in Connecticut, expects that the announcement will accelerate discussions of testing policies at many other institutions, not just superselective ones: “When Harvard speaks, your alumni ask ‘What are we going to do?’ There’s a pressure to respond. If this ends up trickling down and influencing more and more institutions to make this change permanent, I think that’s a win.”

Perhaps it’s tempting to view the recent rise in test-optional policies as a high-minded revolution in which college officials searched their souls and decided that, by gosh, requiring tests that disproportionately disadvantage low-income and underrepresented-minority students really was a harmful and inequitable thing to do. Sure, on some campuses over the last few decades, that’s kind of what happened.

But the truth is, colleges are businesses. The pandemic disrupted the admissions business model that relied heavily on testing. And after the admissions process didn’t grind to a halt, and application totals soared far and wide, many colleges made the business decision — for competitive reasons, if nothing else — that tests are no longer necessary. That leaves more applicants to decide whether submitting a score might help or hurt them, a business decision in its own right — and often a difficult one.

So, yes, Harvard’s announcement is significant. But it’s important to keep this news in perspective. For one thing, changing a testing policy doesn’t guarantee that a given institution’s admissions process will deliver more-equitable outcomes. Harvard didn’t announce on Thursday that it would, for instance, stop considering applicants’ legacy status in admissions. In the classes of 2014 to 2019, children of the university’s alumni were accepted at a rate of 33.6 percent, compared with 5.9 percent for nonlegacies, according to a prominent economist’s analysis of Harvard data that came to light during an anti-affirmative-action lawsuit filed by Students for Fair Admissions. Generally, legacy applicants tend to be white and come from affluent families.

One can get carried away with Ivy fever. So let’s keep in mind that the biggest testing news this week arguably came from the Golden State. On Wednesday, Joseph I. Castro, California State University’s chancellor, announced that the system’s Admissions Advisory Council had recommended eliminating its ACT/SAT requirement. The Board of Trustees will vote on the recommendation in March, but the nation’s largest university system — which enrolls nearly half a million students — appears poised to join the ranks of colleges allowing applicants to decide whether to submit test scores.

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Recently, the University of California decided to go test-free, removing the ACT and SAT from the admissions process altogether. In other words, the history of standardized testing is being rewritten, and the lead authors are large, diverse institutions out West.

Finally, let’s not forget that while testing requirements have fallen at hundreds of colleges since 2020, many applicants will, for one reason or another, continue to take the ACT, the SAT, or both — and submit their scores. Those tests might die out one day, but they’re certainly not dead yet.

Beverly Low, director of guidance and college counseling at Manchester Essex Regional Middle High School, in Massachusetts, told The Chronicle last summer that many of her school’s high-achieving students would continue taking the ACT and SAT, “no matter what,” because they wanted a top score: “They live for the challenge.”

On Friday, though, Low said that Harvard’s move could help ease the skepticism of students and parents who don’t believe that test-optional really means test-optional. The toughest audience to convince that a college won’t penalize an applicant without scores?

College-educated parents, for whom testing was a rite of passage, Low said: “I’ve been trying to convince them that a student’s teachers, who instruct, challenge, mentor, and evaluate their children over time have a much better sense of a student’s academic ability and potential for success in college than a score obtained from a four-hour multiple-choice test. But, heck. If it’s happening at Harvard, then it must be real. Right?” By Eric Hoover