Most students sit out SAT
In a recent Olympian survey, 92.6% of respondents have not taken the SAT or ACT but 78.3% plan to take it. Most of those who have taken a standardized test are seniors.
As the pandemic canceled SAT testing all over the country, many colleges and universities went test-optional. California State University campuses, Stanford, and many others are all test-optional until 2022 or 2023. The University of California system permanently no longer considers standardized test scores.
For many seniors, this and last year, taking the SAT was an option, not a requirement. However, standardized test scores may still be used for scholarships and placement in college.
The push to make colleges and universities test-optional or test-blind has been present even before the pandemic. Between October 2018 and September 2019, 49 schools adopted test-optional policies.
Counselor Amanda Maloney has mixed opinions regarding the use of standardized testing in college admissions. “These tests did present challenges for many students, and not having them makes the application process more accessible to many,” Maloney stated. “However there are also students who benefited from being able to include test scores. These students may have not taken as rigorous of a course load, or have had some kind of struggle that brought grades down.”
Most CVHS students seem to object to the use of standardized testing in college admissions, considering the test as a poor measure of a student’s aptitude and stress as major reasons.
“I feel like they should not be used in college admission because one test determining whether one person gets into a certain college is quite absurd. It is more reasonable to grade someone off their grades than the SAT and ACT because, with grades, you always can improve and are always given a chance. SAT/ACT does give retakes but with a cost,” said sophomore Asheley Tan.
Sophomore Tao Zhou disagrees. “Being objective, the SAT and ACT should be used in college admissions. It gives students an opportunity to prove that they are worthy of being in the desired college. Many people can get good grades and it reflects how well they do in class, but there are many factors that can contribute to that such as assistance. The SAT and ACT can give colleges an opportunity to see how well you do without any positive factors other than studying for it. Getting into a good college isn’t something to take for granted. You need to work hard and show how capable and dependent you are,” Zhou said. “But to be fair, I wouldn’t want to take the SAT/ACT, but having it for college admissions is the rational choice in my opinion only.”
The CVHS College and Career Center recommends that students take the SAT or ACT if they can. According to the College and Career Center website, “Applications without test scores, even for test-optional schools, will be given the same consideration as other applications. Many local testing centers have been canceling the exams..”
Maloney believes that students should consider the colleges they are applying to when thinking about whether to take the SAT. Students applying to “test-free” colleges should not take the test. If the college is “test-optional”, then the student should take the SAT if they feel that it would benefit their overall application.
Caught up in a historic pandemic, taking the SAT is a choice many students will have to make as college applications get closer.
I think the SAT/ACT can be beneficial to students who want to go to a college out of state to to help them get a higher placement in colleges. I agree with Maloney, if students want to stay in CA or go to a test optional school they should think twice before taking it.
I respect those who decide to take the SAT/ACT, though personally I don’t really want to because UC’s are not looking at them, there are good universities in our state that don’t require SAT/ACT scores for now, it’s reasonable considering the test doesn’t determine how smart you are, adding on to our circumstances over the past year.
I respect people who has taken SAT and ACT. However, I think they are kind of useless because I know some people spent lots of time and money just to find a private tutor. And they ended up only applying to few university that required the test grade.
I don’t think the SAT/ACT should be a requirement anymore because it disadvantaged students who didn’t have the time and access to resources such as programs to increase their score, like wealthier classmates did.
I think SAT’s shouldnt be a thing at all. They don’t show your true skills, but more sore your anxiety and being depressed. Most kids that are smart, do bad on the SAT because of the score and how its in your college records. It should’nt be the determining factor of your skills
I’m glad that the SAT is no longer required for the UC applications because it makes the whole college application process a lot less stressful especially for people who are bad test takers.
I didn’t take the SAT because I knew the schools I was applying to wouldn’t look at it and I didn’t want to waste what little energy I had on a test that didn’t really matter.
I took the SAT and only a couple of my schools that I applied to actually accepted it, so it makes a lot of sense that not everyone is deciding to take it. It mostly helped me to tell how qualified I was for a school based on their SAT averages.
I didn’t take the SAT because for UC applications they would not look at it. However, I respect anyone who has taken the test because it’s long and tiring!
Though I think standards based grading is slightly bad, with the pandemic, students’ grades have dropped and without the SAT or ACT to fall back on, those students would unfortunately be at a larger disadvantage.