By Isabella Ying
During the COVID-19 Pandemic, many U.S. universities pivoted to test-optional. That is, they no longer required applicants to submit SAT and ACT scores. However, since 2024, many major schools have reversed that decision, sparking controversy over whether these tests hurt low-income students and whether scores can actually predict college success, according to NPR.
The SAT is scored between 400 and 1600, and according to Testbook, the national average is 1029. The ACT is scored from 1 to 36, and the national average sits at around 19.
Today, the stakes of these tests are highly contentious and vary among American universities. According to Carnegie Prep, many large state schools, prestigious universities, and six of the eight Ivy League schools require SAT or ACT scores (all eight will require them for the 2027-28 cycle), leaving applicants across the US confused and anxious about which to take.
Ashley Armato is in her 17th cycle as a Lovett college counselor. In her experience, “testing matters more than you want it to, but less than you think.” Some schools need tangible numbers and metrics to identify potentially successful students, while others look for traits test scores can’t show.
But universities also evaluate applicants within the context of their high school, meaning that test-optional isn’t always optimal for lower-scoring applicants. Ms. Armato pointed out that when admissions officers review applications from schools they aren’t familiar with, test scores can serve as a universal metric. For example, an applicant from an underfunded school where most graduates do not attend college may choose not to submit their test score to a test-optional school.
At test-optional schools, applicants with higher scores submit them, whereas applicants with lower scores choose not to. As a result, the average score is skewed. So, “maybe that student’s 1350 would’ve really helped them in their application, but they were too afraid to send it because it was under the average,” Ms. Armato thinks.
For instance, MIT argues that “we are actually disadvantaging this group of students by not asking for those test scores,” Ms. Armato said, because those scores provide an extra reference point when admissions officers aren’t familiar with a high school.
She also highlighted the inequity of those tests. The SAT and ACT rely heavily on test preparation, and lower-income students don’t have access to the same resources as their higher-income peers. “Looking at people who are first gen, whose parents did not go to college,” and “people who are first gen and also don’t speak English at home … there are lots of studies that show correlation between lower test scores and those factors,” she said.
Essentially, Ms. Armato believes that “the largest correlation between higher scores is income.” So, she believes standardized tests can indicate future success, but less so for lower-income groups. Instead, based on her experience, a combination of GPA and test scores is the best predictor.
Certain schools explicitly state that, during early action, they only consider the numbers. “They’re looking at GPA, and they’re looking at test scores,” she said. That “makes or breaks your application. There’s really nothing that you can do to overcome a test score that’s not within the range they typically take.” And with more schools now eliminating supplemental essays, they have one fewer piece to review, so the other pieces stand out more.
At schools that consider other factors, students can compensate for a weaker score in many ways. She cited leadership, strong grades, and rigorous classes. However, rigor doesn’t mean straining oneself. Rather, it means stretching oneself. “Students have to feel out what that stretch looks like, and it looks different for everybody,” she said.
Ms. Armato also knows that “looking at colleges that will actually pay attention to and value your strengths is really important.” For many students who are “more than their numbers,” a large disconnect occurs when they apply to schools that rely heavily on numbers because “they’re not seeing the best parts of you, and they’re not able to evaluate you in the ways that benefit you the most.”
DJ Mayers, a senior, is very familiar with the limitations of the SAT because he wrote his APUSH paper on it last year. He explored how the test has historically discriminated against minorities, African Americans in particular. DJ was inspired to research this topic because “junior year, I didn’t want to take the SAT much.” Upon further investigation, he realized that the test might actually have previously been discriminatory.
“Around the early 1890s, after Reconstruction,” many white individuals in power “didn’t want Black people to vote. So they created ‘poll tests,’” DJ told me, which were questions that essentially didn’t have answers: “How many bubbles does a bar of soap make? Or how many jelly beans are in this container?”
That evolved into military tests, which discriminated against who could be in the military, and eventually the tests were also implemented in college applications. DJ explained that Carl Brigham created the SAT. “He was a eugenicist, so he believed that Anglo-Saxons, or Nordic people, were smarter than Mediterranean people, and then eventually smarter than Black people,” he said.
DJ discovered similar statistics as Ms. Armato. “The number was about 10% in its ability to predict college success,” he said. And, “household income has a pretty direct correlation to test scores.” Until then, he had never questioned the credibility of standardized tests. It turns out that his initial aversion to the SAT was valid.
Unfortunately, he’s not aware of an alternative. “I don’t know of any better predictor than the SAT or ACT, honestly,” he admitted. GPAs can be skewed across schools, and even teachers within the same school. Kids who have “5.0 GPAs” at other public schools “would come to Lovett and they wouldn’t be able to survive for three weeks,” he believes.
“But then at the same time, the SAT is also unfair to certain parties,” he said. The SAT curates to “the ideal American,” he observed: “They’re white, they come from a high-income background, and have access to early education. They have private education, probably tutors, because that’s the environment that sets you up best to succeed on the SAT.”
Even as Black Americans received better educations, the SAT still catered to that high-income, Anglo-Saxon demographic, was DJ’s conclusion. Clearly, other factors have influenced his decision to take the SAT, though, because with his current score, 1450, he is not satisfied and still plans on taking it again.
Zoe Robinson, an Atlanta native who graduated from Lovett in 2026 and is now a freshman at Smith College, scored a 35 on the ACT. She believes her score strengthened her application. However, “even if it is a school that’s very test-heavy, they are considering other things as well,” she said. “I don’t think there are a lot of schools where it’s just like ‘number, yes, no.’” Instead, she thinks that standardized tests are just another factor in a holistic review of college applications.
As for the tests themselves, she thinks schools use the tests to judge “how you learn, how you think,” and “do you do well under time?” As such, she recommends applicants choose the test that best suits them, because the ACT is half as long as the SAT but has twice as many questions. This is because ACT questions focus on quick thinking rather than complex analysis.
The SAT and ACT can also be motivational — “a lot of schools might see someone who doesn’t have the perfect GPA,” she said. But if they’re “putting in overtime effort trying to get their SAT up to a 1560,” then they are “someone who has the drive to be at a school that’s very intense.”
That being said, Zoe doesn’t see those scores as indicative of someone’s potential performance in college. At Smith College, she said that she is no longer a standout student. The work is more difficult because, naturally, her ACT score and other parts of her application landed her at a school that matches her academic level.
“There are a lot of people here who I know who had incredible test scores, like valedictorian, all of those things,” she said. But they are struggling because “more of what makes college hard is adapting to the style of work … it’s a really big lifestyle and mentality change.”
In terms of test preparation, she advises caution about continuing to spend money on tutoring. “It’s expensive,” she added. “So don’t waste money that you don’t have to waste,” Zoe said. She wasn’t initially satisfied with her 35 score, which she earned at the start of her senior year. However, she eventually abandoned her chase for a 36 because she recognized “where [she] wanted to end up… because there are places where you can just stop because you’re just going to stress yourself out.”
Beyond the stress the tests themselves cause, Zoe pointed out that overemphasizing them can lead to the deprioritization of schoolwork. It can “be detrimental to the energy you’re expending doing other things,” she said. “It can get really easy to hole up and study and be like, ‘I missed this unit, I missed this unit,’ and shy away from school.” This can also lead to stagnant or slipping grades, which may reflect unfavorably on colleges despite making progress on standardized tests.
“The people who are like, ‘it doesn’t matter,’ are lying to you,” she says. “Of course it matters. But at the same time, it’s a number, and you can do amazing things at any school” — “just be zen,” she advised.
On the other hand, Victoria Penake, a junior at the Lovett School, doesn’t prioritize standardized tests. Victoria’s target school is Georgia Tech, and she believes the other components of her application will matter more than her current SAT score of 1450.
She shares Zoe’s sentiment of knowing her target school’s character. As a junior, she’s taking “a very heavy STEM schedule, which they like to see.” In addition, “I’ve been to three Georgia Tech camps, and I got a computer science certificate from there over the summer.”
She thinks she’ll probably take it again, “but I’m not dead if I don’t.” Victoria explained that Georgia Tech asks applicants to self-report their scores, “and then after you’re in, they ask for your official SAT and ACT scores.”
Victoria added that on the SAT, Demos significantly simplifies the testing process. However, this doesn’t entirely take away from college’s ability to evaluate applicants: “You still have to know how to set up the equations and know what they’re asking for,” she explained.
Ultimately, “these tests do say a lot about that hard work,” Ms. Armato believes. But they don’t tell the full picture. At the end of the day, she said, “All you can control is that you did your best.”
