By Keya Nijhawan
While much of the college application process involves promoting how unique we are, most of us still have to take a standardized test.
Juniors have three options when choosing their testing path: the ACT, SAT, or nothing. The nothing option came into play when COVID hit, and many colleges became “test-optional.”
Since “test-optional” is a relatively new option, I decided to speak to the director of College Counseling, Ms.Hua, to understand its implications. She explained that schools have different versions of test-optional, which essentially means you can be test-flexible. She also sent me to fairtest.org in hopes of finding a more straightforward definition.
As I searched the website for a simple definition, I found, “Test-optional admissions describes the process by which many colleges and universities consider for admissions all or most applicants without requiring an ACT or SAT test score to be submitted” (What is Test Optional). So, certain schools provide this option, and students can decide if they want to submit their scores to these schools.
This year, the Juniors are acting as the guinea pigs for the College Board, as they have changed the SAT from paper to online. The first run-through for the digital PSAT happened in October, and the first digital SAT took place on March 20th.
I surveyed the juniors, asking them what testing option they chose and why.
The results suggest that all the juniors plan on taking at least one test—the majority plan on taking the ACT, and 17.4% plan on taking both the ACT and SAT.
Naturally, I had to search for answers on why and how juniors were making their choices.
When I spoke to junior Ella Williams, she said, “SAT because the lads across the pond prefer it.” This baffled me for a minute because I had no idea what that meant until I took a moment to think, and then I realized that her top college is “across the pond” or, in other words, the UK. She explained that the colleges she wishes to attend have international requirements, one of which is taking the SAT, as they see it as a more legitimate way of testing, so essentially, her decision was made for her.
Junior Virginia Jane Hultgren is in a very different situation than Ella because she chose the ACT. She explained that she took a real ACT as a mock and “knocked one of her scores out.” Conversely, when she took the PSAT, she started crying. She also knew that it would be much harder to super score if she took the SAT because her goal was to get a “good enough” score by the end of October and then super score later in March if she needed to, and due to the SAT changing format that would be much harder to do.
Unlike Virginia Jane’s and Ella’s complex answers, junior Milan Prahbu gave me a simple “It felt easier” reasoning for choosing to take the ACT. I accepted the explanation and moved on because he seemed confused about people having complex reasons for picking certain tests.
Ultimately, the answers I received when interviewing people matched up very nicely with the answers I received from the survey I conducted. Many of the explanations for picking the ACT were “because I was scared to risk it with a digital SAT.” Many of those who chose the SAT chose it because they “did well on the PSAT.”
There is also the occasional junior who is choosing to take both the ACT and SAT and will pick the better of their scores to submit.
Since the Common Application is how many juniors will apply to college, I spoke to Ms.Hua about how students go about submitting their scores. She explained how every college is different in the way that they want students to submit scores. The Common App allows students to self-report their test scores, but colleges differ in how they use this information. “Some colleges don’t use it at all. Even though you put it in and you say test-optional, or Hey, I’ve got a 1600,” Ms.Hua said. Some colleges may also ask for your official score, which you have to submit in a different way.
Because test-optional is an option for many colleges, I wondered whether any juniors plan to utilize it. According to the survey and my interviews, no one does, and 46.8% of juniors feel they will be lucky if their scores help them in their college process. The juniors I interviewed unanimously agreed with this.
However, only a handful of Juniors feel their test scores will actually help them in their college process. Ultimately, much of it is up to admissions officers on both sides of the pond.
