Mohamed Bughrara
By the end of July, more than 1,700 colleges announced that they would not require SAT and ACT results as part of enrollment for the fall of 2023, a significant increase from the approximately 1,600 that were testing voluntarily during the same time the previous year.
The movement to make college entrance exams optional is continuing to gain momentum after the last few years. Fueled by the global epidemic, universities have been compelled to relinquish SAT and ACT acceptance criteria.
The SAT and ACT scores of incoming first-year students are insulative for 5% of an institution’s standings. Previously, entities with a limited number of students who forwarded exam results had their scores reduced.
“Institutions and university systems are reaching out to us to help advocate to keep the system or the university test-optional. I would say the majority of our members are probably in favor of test-optional. Not all.” said Angel Pérez, CEO of NACAC.
Many educational institutions are watching to see if the trend will slow or reverse after the Massachusetts Institute of Technology decided to reinstate a test-score requirement this spring.
Standardized tests, however, had no effect on placement on the new “Best Colleges” list for 2022-2023 for institutions that reported less than 50% of their fall 2020 and 2021 entering class scores.
The American Bar Association, which authorizes nearly 200 law schools, is considering whether to proceed with requiring schools to use a “valid and reliable” admissions exam, such as the Law School Admission Test, or LSAT.
Students applying to Georgia’s public universities for the fall semester will not be required to submit standardized test scores.
The University System of Georgia confirmed last spring that most of its schools would momentarily postpone ACT and SAT score requirements for Fall 2022. We’ll see if this ends up being a permanent motion throughout the state and the rest of the nation.
