Test Optional Admissions: Should One Even Take the SAT/ACT?

Ever since most schools switched to test optional admissions during the early days of the Covid pandemic, students and parents alike have been confused about whether to even prep for and take the SAT or ACT.  The confusion is totally understandable, but it’s actually not that hard a decision to make once you understand the situation in full view…

The Simple Answer

Let’s start with the simple advice before we get into the nuance of the situation:  if you are someone who is likely to score near or above the average/median SAT or ACT score at the schools you would like to attend, you should prepare for and take the one of the two tests.  Even if it’s not extraordinarily likely but possible, it’s probably worth prepping for and taking the SAT or ACT (for reasons we will explain below).  And lest you read the above too quickly, let us repeat:  near or above the average/median is the key.  If the average for the schools you are considering is 32 on the ACT and you think you are capable of a 30 or 31, it’s definitely worth preparing for and taking the test.  We’ll explain why below!

A Fuller Explanation

Yes, schools are admitting many, many students without SAT or ACT scores.  This is true.  Still, the assumption that admissions officers tend to make is that if you are not submitting a score, it’s because you are not capable of a score at or above the school’s average.  So if you are capable of a score that is in line with what admissions officers are expecting at that college, you should try to demonstrate that ability, since failing to do so will lead to the assumption that you might not be capable of such a score.  

Now, if you are a shoe-in based on your grades, extracurriculars, etc., then it may be that you will be admitted with or without SAT or ACT scores.  And if you don’t believe your final SAT or ACT score will be in the range of what admissions officers are expecting, then it might be better not to waste time, money, and effort preparing for the tests.  But if you are closer to the edge based on your high school grades, extracurriculars, etc., then submitting scores will give admissions officers one more point of confirmation that you have the ability to handle the academic rigor of that school.

A Hidden But Very Important Factor to Understand!

Another factor that is VERY important to understand is that once test optional policies became near-universal at colleges, average/median test scores of the students admitted to competitive colleges became inflated.  This is because most people who didn’t have SAT or ACT scores in the range of what the previous average had been at the schools to which they were applying just opted not to submit scores anymore.  Imagine a school whose average ACT score was 30.  Obviously there would have been many students submitting scores of 32, 34, etc., but also many who had scores of 28 or 25.  Well now imagine what happens to the average when almost no one who has below a 30 submits a score: the new average will increase to something like 32 or 33!

This is why it’s good advice to consider prepping for and taking the SAT or ACT even if you think your final score won’t quite reach the average/median for the schools you are considering.  Even if you think you could land NEAR the average, it is probably worth studying for and taking the SAT or ACT.  Consider the following: It might be that students whose scores are at the 25th percentile of those admitted to a college are actually at the 50th percentile of all students admitted.  In other words, if you added in the data on what the scores would have been for the students who were admitted without submitting scores, that would “push up” everyone else, and someone who was at the 25th percentile might then land at the 50th percentile!

A Couple of Additional Considerations

There are some other factors to think about in deciding whether to prepare for the SAT or ACT…

First, while nearly every school went test optional during Covid, at the time of this writing (2022), the pendulum seems to be swinging back a little.  In March of 2022, MIT announced that it will begin requiring the SAT or ACT for undergraduate admission again.  The dean of admissions wrote a long justification (probably anticipating the fierce blowback that would follow) that is very interesting to read.  The most important point he makes is that MIT just feels like it needs SAT and ACT scores in order to properly evaluate applicants.  The other less obvious but perhaps more interesting justification was that MIT began to view its test optional policy as unfair and misleading to students: if MIT admissions officers really feel like they need SAT or ACT scores from applicants and if they are likely to preference applicants who submit scores then it’s misleading to claim they are test optional since students who don’t submit scores might not realize that they are at a disadvantage.  Fascinating, really!

The other consideration, while perhaps less important to some parents or students, is that preparing for the SAT or ACT is not just about getting great scores on the tests.   Of course that is our primary objective here at Reason Test Prep, but it’s not our only goal.  There is a reason that the SAT and ACT are useful to schools:  the skills that they test ARE important for success in college.  Again, our primary objective is to help students reach their highest potential on the SAT or ACT, but in driving towards that goal we are also helping students become better problem solvers, better critical thinkers, better readers, etc.  And developing these abilities is a worthy goal in its own right.  Of course it wouldn’t make sense to spend the time, effort, and money preparing for the SAT or ACT for that purpose alone, but in the edge cases (ones in which it’s not clear whether or not it would be worth preparing one of the tests), it’s useful to remember that good SAT or ACT prep teaches skills that are beneficial in college and life beyond.  One of our greatest rewards here at Reason Test Prep is hearing from students who tell us that they learned life-lessons that they carry with them beyond the SAT or ACT.

What to Eat before the SAT and ACT

So you wake up the morning of your big test and staring at you is a plate full of runny eggs.  Do you eat them?  Of course not!  Ok, that is a pretty easy call.  But what should you eat then?  Well, this is really a bigger question because it also involves what you should drink, what you should eat the night before, etc.  

Let’s start with the night before.  Athletic coaches will often tell you to load up on carbs the night before a big game. While you are not running a marathon, you will burn up a surprising amount of energy on test day – the nervousness alone accounts for a big part of that.  If you have not sat for the actual test yet, be prepared to be exhausted after!  So a bowl of pasta or a meal with some good complex carbs in it is a good idea for the night before the big day.  And stick with things that you have eaten many times before and that don’t bother your stomach (a super-spicy meal is probably not the best idea).  You don’t want to wake up on test day with a stomachache.

Additionally, you want to plan your hydration.  Part of the problem here is that you don’t want to drink too much right before the test and then have to go to the bathroom during the first section!  So try to drink a lot the day and evening before, so that the next day you are well hydrated.  However, stop drinking a few hours before bed so that you don’t wake up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and then find that you can’t fall back asleep.  

Similarly, on the day of your test, don’t drink a lot too close to when your test starts.  And if you drink tea or coffee, DO NOT drink those things within an hour or possibly more of when your test starts because you will very likely have to go to the bathroom during the first section.

In terms of what to eat in the hours before your test, keep it VERY simple!  You definitely need to eat, so don’t skip eating, but if you have a nervous stomach, you do not want to risk having issues at the test.  When I personally go in and take the SAT or ACT, I am nervous enough that all I eat is bread and a little water or juice (I call this the prison diet).  And I don’t even have anything but personal pride riding on these tests anymore!  Keep in mind, I’ve eaten really well the night before and have been careful to really hydrate the day before as well.  I just don’t want to challenge my stomach in any way right before the test.  If you feel like you have an iron stomach or are just not that nervous, you could certainly push it a little further, but again I would not risk eating anything that could cause you trouble (I would avoid eggs, for example).

One last very important point:  bring a drink and snack!  I usually bring a couple of granola bars and water with me to any test I take.  I am typically less nervous by the break, so I usually feel better eating at that point.  But I am still careful not to drink too much, so as to not have to go to the bathroom in the middle of a section.  I take some sips but will not polish off the entire bottle.

Feel free to personalize the above suggestions since only you know yourself and much of the above is, of course, subjective.  But how you feed and hydrate yourself will be important factors in your test day performance.  So have a plan for what you’ll eat and drink and when you’ll do it, and you’ll be much more likely to have a great test day experience.

At-Home Online Testing for the SAT and ACT?

In my previous post I mentioned the possibility that the SAT and ACT might one day be administered to students in the comfort of their own homes.  I cited as evidence the fact that GMAC and ETS, producers of the GMAT and GRE, had done research on that possibility for the GMAT and GRE.   Well here we are one week later and guess what? The GRE is now being offered online and the GMAT is slated to become available for online, in-home testing in a few weeks!  

The fact that this reality is already upon us is just mind-blowing.  It truly is a brave new world out there!  What does this mean for the SAT and ACT?  I predict that it is only a matter of time before the SAT and ACT are offered in-home.  It may take a while.  Possibly many years.   But it is going to happen.  

Presumably the SAT and ACT will go fully computer-based first.  The GMAT and GRE made that transition decades ago and clearly the ACT is already moving in that direction.  College Board will follow suit with the SAT.

There will be some logistical issues with offering online testing for the SAT and ACT since the scale of the endeavor is so much larger and since you have thousands upon thousands of kids who don’t have home computers and who would be disadvantaged in a world in which wealthier kids get to take the SAT and ACT at home.  But that will change and a solution will emerge.   I write this in part because as of 3 days ago I thought that the obstacles to online testing for the GMAT and GRE would be so formidable as to prevent it from becoming a reality until the distant future.  And yet, literally one week after mentioning it (more as a sort of dream scenario) in my previous post, it has become a reality. 

The age of in-home, online testing is upon us.  It may not happen tomorrow or next week or next year, but the march of progress will lead us ineluctably to the day when the SAT and ACT can be taken at home!