New recommendations for standardized tests

Since Covid, I haven’t really had any “testing strategy” conversations with clients. So many colleges have been test-optional that test scores just haven’t been a big deal. The pattern for almost all of the students has been the same: they take the SAT when it’s administered at their school, get their scores, and then decide if they’ll submit test scores to the colleges they’re applying to. A few took the SAT a second time, but even those avoided the sorts of long and anxious conversations that I used to have with students: trying to figure out whether to take the SAT, ACT, or both; trying to figure out how many times to take the test and what kind of test prep course to take; trying to figure out what a good score is. For the past few years, the students I work with simply haven’t spent much time trying to figure those things out.

But I think that’s going to change.

While most colleges are still not requiring tests, and some refuse to even look at test scores, a few have decided that they will again require some form of standardized tests. First MIT made a big splash with their announcement, and recently Dartmouth, Yale, and Brown have followed. I could kind of pretend those don’t matter, because very few of my clients apply to any of those specific schools. But this month UT Austin announced that they will also require testing again, and virtually all my clients apply there (I’m in Houston).

So it’s time to re-think testing strategy, and this is what I am now recommending.

The first step is to take a test. Take the SAT, ACT, or both. If they give one or the other at your school during the school day, excellent. If not, then find out where you can take one near you. (Here are the ACT testing dates, and here are the SAT testing dates.) If possible, don’t make decisions based on the PSAT or a practice test—use a real and usable score as your baseline for making all other decisions. Some students like to take both the SAT and ACT, in case they score significantly better on one. That’s understandable, but there’s no real need to do both. Colleges accept both SAT and ACT, and they don’t have a preference. Few students have a drastically different score. Which you take mostly comes to down to geography—some states and regions have normalized the SAT, while others prefer the ACT.

I think taking at least one real test is a good idea for everyone, with one exception: you have no interest in applying to schools that will even look at a score. If you’re only applying to UC schools, which are test blind, then obviously don’t bother. Otherwise, even if you only plan to apply to test-optional schools, take at least one test.

Once you have a score, understand it in context. There’s no such thing as a “good” or “bad” score. To get a feeling for your score, consider it in three contexts.

 The simplest is to understand your score in a national context. Your score report will include a percentile. That shows how high you scored compared to everyone else who took that test. If you scored in the 70th percentile, then you scored higher than 70% of the people who took the same test as you. That’s a really large group, from all over the country, so it gives you a pretty good point of comparison.

You can also compare your scores with other students at your high school. Many states—but not all—make this information public. If you live in one of those states (here’s where you can look up Texas high schools), look up the average scores for your high school to see how you fit with your classmates. If you’re not in a state where you can look up the information, ask your school counselor. Colleges using holistic admission will view your scores in the context of your high school, so it makes sense that you would look at it this way too.

You’ll also want to see how your scores compare with the typical scores at colleges you’re considering. You can easily look up any college’s test midrange for the SAT or ACT. The midrange is exactly that: it’s the range of scores within the middle 50% of students. 25% made a higher score than the midrange, 25% made lower. Having a score higher than the midrange doesn’t guarantee acceptance, and a score lower than the midrange doesn’t guarantee denial.

 Another important thing to understand about the colleges you’re considering is whether or not they “superscore” test scores. Superscoring means that they will count your highest score for each individual test section and ignore the lower scores. For example, imagine if you took an SAT and got a 600 on the reading & writing section and a 600 on the math section, for a 1200 total. And then you took it again, and again got a 1200 total, but with 550 on math and 650 on reading & writing. A college that superscores will give you credit for 600 on math and 650 for reading & writing—the same as 1250. A college that doesn’t superscore will make you choose which test scores to submit to them: submit 1200 evenly split, or submit 1200 with a higher section and a lower section.

You should also find out just how important testing is to a college you’re interested in. There are schools like MIT and UT Austin that require SAT or ACT scores. There are schools like Yale and NYU that require testing, but are flexible about which tests and will accept AP or IB exam scores instead of SAT or ACT. There are schools that are test-optional, and you can find out (from their Common Data Set) how many applicants submit scores.

Once you’ve considered all of the factors that make up the context of your scores, then you’ll have a better idea of how to feel about them and what to do next. Remember: it’s a feeling. Test scores are not objectively good or bad, and you can’t figure out what to do as your next step using any simple objective formula.

With your score and context in mind, decide if you want to re-test and if you want to do any formal test prep. I don’t advise retesting without prep, but some students do. There are a number of ways to practice for a test, from free online programs to intense (and expensive) in-person programs or a one-on-one tutor. I don’t’ have any kind of preference except this: if you do test prep, make it count. Learn something other than how to take the test. Make sure you’re learning math and reading skills, not just learning test-taking tricks. Otherwise it’s a complete waste. I don’t think there’s a very good reason for taking the test more than twice. It’s just not worth the time and effort.

For test-optional schools, decide if you will or will not submit scores. Keep your complete context in mind, and not just the college’s range. The main factor in deciding to send scores should be you. Are the scores aligned with your other information? Are you proud of them? Are you being realistic about them? If so, send them. Don’t let the time and preparation you put into the test go to waste—because those test scores are definitely useless once you’re out of high school.

Also ask what the school’s attitude is about being test-optional. Were they test-optional even before Covid? Or have they announced that they plan to stay test-optional for a long time? Then they obviously don’t think scores are super-important, and you should feel more comfortable not submitting scores for whatever reason. If you get the sense that they are begrudgingly test-optional, then you may consider sending scores if you have them. They’re signaling that they really prefer test scores and may be less hesitant accepting someone with scores than without. I’ve seen college admissions web pages that make it very clear they’re happy to be test-optional…and I’ve seen some where you really have to search for the phrase “not required.”

You should also feel more comfortable not sending SAT/ACT scores if you have other scores to report, like AP exams or an IB exam. Especially if those other measures accurately reflect your best efforts and the SAT or ACT doesn’t, feel more confident keeping your ACT/SAT to yourself and relying on those other tests to let colleges know who you are.

 Let me end with three things to remember.

 1. Your test score is just one piece of information. Some colleges think it’s really important, some think it’s interesting, and some think it’s worthless. But it’s never all of your application.

 2. Never skip applying to a school just because of your scores. Don’t decide for yourself that “you’ll never get in.” I can’t guarantee that you will—nobody can. But if you think a college may be a good fit for you and you’d like to apply, go for it. Let them tell you they’re not going to accept you, don’t decide for yourself. On the other hand, make sure you apply to at least a few schools where your scores are definitely in or above their midrange.

3. Of all the things you can do to have a stronger application, your test score has the least longevity. It’s worthless after you graduate, especially if your test prep was nothing but test-taking tricks.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, here are three easy things you can do:

1. Share it on your social media feeds so your friends and colleagues can see it too.

2. Read these related posts:

   The glossary: test optional

   Should you submit your test scores to a test-optional college?

3. Ask a question in the comments section.

Apply with Sanity doesn’t have ads or annoying pop-ups. It doesn’t share user data, sell user data, or even track personal data. It doesn’t do anything to “monetize” you. You’re nothing but a reader to me, and that means everything to me.

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Three pandemic changes I hope will become permanent

It would be really foolish of me to say that the pandemic is over, or almost over, or close to almost over. There are still a lot of people left to get vaccinated, and there are still some scary new variants that may be resistant to the vaccines. There’s just too much that can still go wrong to start feeling confident.

And yet….

The past month I’ve seen a lot more people get their shots, a lot more kids go to school in person, a lot more people comfortable going out of the house. The pandemic may not be over, but we’re definitely in a new phase. So as the one-year anniversary of our lockdown came up last week, I started to think not just about what I was glad to be done with, but also the new habits and routines I picked up over the past year that I hope stick around.

I also, naturally, thought about changes in college admissions I hope will stick around.

The fall of standardized tests. Maybe “fall” isn’t the right word. There are still ACT and SAT tests, and there are still schools that require them. But the role of those two tests has certainly been diminished, and I don’t think they’re coming back to the prominence they had before. I’ve written about the tests a number of times in the past year:

Opting in and out of standardized tests

Juniors, should you take the next SAT or ACT?

Should you submit your test scores to a test-optional college?

It seriously looks like SAT/ACT testing is going away

Should you bother to take the SAT or ACT?

A more deliberate approach to campus visits. Last fall most college campuses were closed to student and parent tours, and many are still closed to visitors. However, a lot more virtual tours and online opportunities to explore became available. I hope this remains the norm, even after in-person tours get going again. While I think visiting a campus before committing to attend is still the best approach when possible, the past year taught many of us how to be more deliberate with visits. In the future, I hope people will get enough from the online options to feel comfortable applying to schools, and in-person visits will be limited to schools where you’ve already been accepted. I want to see more students touring schools online in the 9th-11th grades, and a lot fewer touring schools in person in the 9th-11th grades.

I hope that in the future, visiting colleges will be a lot more like touring homes for sale. Lots of people (including me) have fun checking out real estate listings both where we live and throughout the world. But we only book a visit with a real estate agent when we’re actually looking to buy. I’m sure they’re out there, but I haven’t heard of anyone saying “while we’re visiting family in California, we may as well check out some homes for sale just in case we end up moving here!” But I know plenty of families who, once their kids are in middle school, will say “while we’re visiting family in California, we may as well check out UCLA and USC, just in case!” They go on college tours wherever they happen to be, just to get the kids some exposure. I think you can do that much closer to home if you want, but colleges are making it much easier to get to know them without being there in person.

An appreciation for the old rituals. As a high school teacher, especially when I taught seniors and had AP exams to prepare for, I really didn’t like all the extra stuff that came with senior year. Prom; senior skip day; senior prank; senior trip; awards night; graduation rehearsal, sometimes several of them. I was fine with seniors doing college visits at places who had accepted them, but the rest felt like too much celebrating a win before they had crossed the finish line. But talking to students in the classes of ‘21 and ‘22, I keep hearing how much they miss those things. I’ve come to a better understanding of how important those transition rituals are, and I hope students do, too. School communities can reflect on which of the rituals and traditions they missed the most and why. The next two years will be a good time to appreciate and accentuate the really meaningful ones. It’s also a great time to let go of the ones that aren’t as special.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, here are three easy things you can do:

1. Share it on your social media feeds so your friends and colleagues can see it too.

2. Check out these related Apply with Sanity posts: Taking time to reflect, Things for high school seniors to consider before committing to a college.

3. Ask a question in the comments section. Or let mw know what pandemic-related changes in your life you hope to keep.

Apply with Sanity doesn’t have ads or annoying pop-ups. It doesn’t share user data, sell user data, or even track personal data. It doesn’t do anything to “monetize” you. You’re nothing but a reader to me, and that means everything to me.

Photo by Zoe Herring.

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Opting in and out of standardized tests

There has been some big news in the past few weeks concerning college admissions testing.

The first is a single announcement: the College Board has discontinued SAT Subject Tests and the optional SAT Essay. While I was pleased (but not surprised) to hear this, the SAT Subject Tests are not really a big part of my world. Few of the students I’ve worked with in the past five years took any Subject Tests. When they did take them, it was because they wanted to apply to a specific school that required one or more of the tests, and the students took it once. There had been no multiple-year build up to the Subject Tests the way there is for the SAT (and/or ACT). The Subject Tests and Essay were essentially opt-in tests, meaning those tests were something that people only did once it was clear they had to—it wasn’t “normal” to take those tests.

The second news item is a series of announcements: many colleges are already declaring that they will remain test optional for at least another year. (I’m not surprised at this development, but expected it to come later in the spring, not this early.) With so many test-optional choices available, that means that the regular SAT and ACT are becoming opt-in tests as well. I wouldn’t advise any high school student to take either of those tests until they’ve chosen to apply to a school that requires it. Those tests had been, until last year, opt-out tests: it was “normal” to take those tests, and you needed some good reason not to. But things have shifted drastically.

This news is good for you on a personal level. Eliminating the SAT/ACT requirement, or at least reducing its outsized importance, makes your admissions tasks more manageable. You get to focus more time and energy on things that have a lasting effect and less time and energy on tests that have no value once you enter college.

It’s also good on a wider, systemic level. When it comes to inequities in college admissions, the opt-out nature of the standardized tests is a major factor. First-generation college students are less likely to take the tests before their senior year, or at all. Students in high schools that don’t make test administration part of their focus are less likely to take the tests. For them, the SAT and ACT were opt-in tests, and many didn’t or couldn’t opt in in time. With that barrier to college access reduced, those tests will be less of a factor for equal college access. Of course there are other barriers, especially during a pandemic with widespread unemployment, but making the tests essentially opt-in for everyone can help level the playing field a bit. That’s a categorical good thing for everyone.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, here are three easy things you can do:

1. Share it on your social media feeds so your friends and colleagues can see it too.

2. Check out these related Apply with Sanity posts: Test-optional isn’t going to last: Juniors, should you take the next SAT or ACT?; Should you submit your scores to a test-optional college?

3. Ask a question in the comments section.

Apply with Sanity doesn’t have ads or annoying pop-ups. It doesn’t share user data, sell user data, or even track personal data. It doesn’t do anything to “monetize” you. You’re nothing but a reader to me, and that means everything to me.

Photo by Zoe Herring.

Apply with Sanity is a registered trademark of Apply with Sanity, LLC. All rights reserved.

Juniors, should you take the next SAT or ACT?

There’s an ACT test coming up on February 6, and the regular registration deadline is tomorrow, January 15. There’s an SAT on March 13th, with a registration deadline February 12th. Should current juniors consider taking either of these tests?

Nope.

The main reason I'm not recommending anyone take the ACT in February or SAT in March is simply the Covid situation. With the numbers as high as they are, I just don't feel comfortable encouraging anyone to go into a group setting in the near future. Last fall there was a lot of chaos surrounding test administration, with many test sites closing at the last minute, so I don't have full confidence that registering for the spring exams will even get you into the spring exams. I would look ahead to the June or August exams instead of spring. That will still give you plenty of time to re-take if you want.

Another reason to put off testing is the number of universities that are test optional. A growing number of colleges were already test optional. And then last year a whole lot more went test optional, some for one year and some for multiple years. But the ones that only gave a one-year break are likely to do it again (at least one already has), because the pandemic is even worse right now than it was last June. By the time you are applying this fall, It may be that the majority—or even all—of the schools you’re considering won’t even be requiring test scores. So risking an unhealthy situation for an unnecessary test just doesn’t seem like a great idea.

Let’s also look at reasons why you might want to take the test soon:

You want to take the test once, early, to get it out of the way and focus on other things in the summer and fall. I love the thinking behind this. I don’t, however, think it’s all that likely to happen. In my experience, almost nobody is ever happy with their test scores. Even if you take the test and get what you think is a good score, there will still be some tempting reason to take it again and aim for a higher score. Your scores will be just under the mid-range of a school, and you want to get them up just a little bit more. Your scores will be just under the top 25% of a school, and you want to get them up just a little bit more. Your score will have a 9 in it—either a 29 composite for the ACT or a combined SAT score that ends with 90—and you want to get it up just a little bit more. That just a little bit more is going to be hard to resist, and so the “once and early” strategy often fails. But if you think you will actually do it this way, go for it…in June. Not right now.

You want to get a baseline score to help you plan for test prep and retakes. Again, this is completely rational and practical. You probably have an idea of where you want your test scores to be, so now you need to know where you are. I get that. But again, you can put off your first exam until June and still be able to execute that plan. You can also take practice tests to get a good idea of your starting point, and they are free and can be done from the safety of your own home.

You want to take the exam as often as possible for superscoring purposes. This is something I hear less often. Most the people I’ve worked with who took the exam a bunch of times thought they’d take the test once, maybe twice. Then they just ended up taking it three or more times because they kept chasing that just a little bit more. Some students, though, absolutely do decide early on that they’ll take the exam four or five time to get the highest possible score. While I don’t endorse this approach, I do understand it. And again, if this is your plan you can take the SAT five times between June and December. Give it time.

But there’s another way to think about testing, an approach I do endorse: don’t take them at all. Not this spring, not this summer, not this fall. Decide right now that you’re only going to apply to test-optional or test-blind schools. There are lots of reasons to dislike the tests, and Fairtest is good at explaining them. Here’s the thing that I always come back to, though: every other part of your college application has value far beyond college applications. Doing well in your high school classes, being involved in your community, strengthening your writing skills, practicing interviews, taking action to pursue your interests—all these are valuable on their own. But a college-entrance exam has no value once you enter college. It’s extremely limited in usefulness. So I encourage you to skip that part. It’s not worth it.

Does that mean you’re eliminating choices based solely on their testing policy? Yes. But there are thousands of colleges and universities. You’ll only apply to maybe a dozen, and only attend one. Elimination is what the process is all about. But isn’t testing policy a pretty arbitrary reason to eliminate choices? Yes. But so are other reasons. You want to stay within 100 miles of home? Arbitrary. You want to avoid places that are hot, or avoid places that are cold? Arbitrary. You want to go to a college with a “good reputation?” Arbitrary. It’s fine to use an arbitrary reason to pass on a college. But could you be letting go of a college that would otherwise be a really great fit? Absolutely. But remember that wherever you go to college, you will also be letting go of colleges that are also a really good fit.

If you’re not ready to make that leap, I understand. There may be a college you really have your heart set on, and they require you to take the SAT or ACT. That’s fine, I’m not judging you. But I still believe it’s time we all—students, parents, counselors, consultants, teachers, all of us—start thinking of the SAT and/or ACT as a special opt-in circumstance, not the default that only a certain subset of students opt out of. You can go to a really great college and have a really great career and a good life without ever taking one of those exams. Think about how nice that can be.

Be safe. Be careful.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, here are three easy things you can do:

1. Share it on your social media feeds so your friends and colleagues can see it too.

2. Read these related posts: Should you submit your test scores to a test-optional college? and It seriously looks like SAT/ACT testing is going away.

3. Ask a question—or share other resources—in the comments section.

Apply with Sanity doesn’t have ads or annoying pop-ups. It’s not trying to sell you anything. It doesn’t share user data, sell user data, or even track personal data. It doesn’t do anything to “monetize” you. You’re nothing but a reader to me, and that means everything to me.

Photo by Angela Elisabeth.

What happens in high school stays in high school

Graduating high school and going to college is pretty major life achievement. Not everybody does it, for lots of reasons. Only around two thirds of Americans have a college degree. But if you found your way here to this website, then I assume that crossing the stage and going to college—probably moving away from home to go to college—is something you’re planning on.

College is a new start. You’re no longer confined to the strictures and bell schedules of high school, no longer looked over every hour. You get to leave a lot behind, and that’s wonderful. But let’s pause and take stock of some things you leave behind that you may not be thinking about. When you leave high school and go off to college, what stays behind?

Your high school grades. You’ll need to send an official high school transcript to your college once the final grades are in. And, if you’re like a lot of people, that’s the last you’ll ever see of your high school grades. The bad news is that they truly are part of “your permanent record.” The good news is that nobody is likely to look at, or care about, your permanent record. No matter how good, bad, or mediocre your high school grades were, you get a fresh new start in college.

There’s a catch, though. Your college GPA is very likely to be about the same as your high school GPA, or slightly lower. There’s a pretty strong correlation between high school grades and college grades. If you want your college grades to be different, you’re going to need to plan ahead to make that happen.

But unless there’s a change, your college GPA will probably be the same as your high school GPA. If you want to change, start planning now. Being a better college student than you were a high school student will require extra focus and organization. Time management skills will be incredibly important.

Your standardized test scores. Once you begin college, your SAT, ACT, or AP scores really don’t mean anything. They may have helped you get admitted to college, and they may even have an effect on your required classes in college, but they become useless after you begin. If you have scores you’re not proud of, that can be a nice burden lifted. If you invested a lot of your self-worth or self-identity in high test scores, though, the transition can be a bit more uncomfortable. But either way, those scores are done with.

I have to warn you, though, that that done-ness can come back to bite you sometimes. If you transfer colleges, either from a community college to a four-year college or from one four-year college to another, then those test scores may be meaningless.

Say, for example, you get admitted to a university based at least partly on your high test scores, but then things don’t go well. For whatever reason you fail a class or two (or three or five), and you realize the school isn’t a good fit. Your transfer application is going to rely much more heavily on your college record—which isn’t so hot in this example—than your high school record. The college may not even consider high school or SAT/ACT at all. This can be a big problem.

When I went to college, I placed out of the required first-year math and first-year composition requirements based on my SAT scores. That was wonderful! But then, when I transferred to a different college my junior year, they didn’t have the option to skip those requirements. And I didn’t have a math credit or freshman writing class on my transcript. So I had to take College Algebra and Freshman Comp my senior year. It was no fun.

Your boyfriend/girlfriend. I don’t doubt your affection for, and commitment to, your boyfriend or girlfriend. I do, however, doubt that you’ll be together for long once you’re in college. It just doesn’t usually work that way. Yes, you hear about people who married their high school significant other. I know people who have been with their spouse since they were in high school. But that’s what they call “the exception that proves the rule.” Think about it this way: when a couple has been together since high school, that’s noteworthy. People will call them “high school sweethearts.” It’s rare enough that it’s got a name and is something people bring up. Couples who met and together after high school? Nobody mentions that. There’s no special term for that, because it’s the norm.

I don’t think there’s any good reason to put your romantic life on hold until you’re done with high school (unless, of course, you want to, which is great also.) Nor do I think you should treat romantic partners as disposable, someone you’re just going to get rid of once you get to college. But far too many recent high school graduates are caught off guard by this dilemma. It’s okay to start thinking about it now. And talk about it. And plan for it.

Your family’s input and intervention. The Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or FERPA, guarantees that you and your parents have access to your educational records. You may have a Permanent Record, but you’re not supposed to have a Secret Record. What this means for you in practical terms is that if you or your parents have questions or concerns about your grades, the school has to respond. A teacher can’t legally say “your grades are your grades and I don’t have to explain them.” It also means a teacher can’t legally share your grades with others.

Once you’re in college and a legal adult, however, you get all the privacy. Not your parents. So the good news is that if your parents try to call one of your college professors to get answers about your grade and performance, the professors aren’t allowed to disclose anything (here’s a succinct graphic). The bad news is that you still have to deal with your parents about your grades and performance, and your professors won’t provide any context or support. It’s just you.

Some of the most important things and people to you in high school will suddenly get really un-important to you, really quick. Sometimes in ways that are freeing and glorious, sometimes in ways that can be a pain in the butt. I’m not trying to scare anyone or tell you that what’s important to you now isn’t really that important. I just know that there are sometimes situations where people ask “why didn’t anyone warn me about this?” You’ve been warned.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, here are three easy things you can do:

1. Share it on your social media feeds so your friends and colleagues can see it too.

2. Check out these related Apply with Sanity posts: “The Glossary: summer melt” and “The two things you need for success in college and beyond.”

3. Ask a question in the comments section.

Apply with Sanity doesn’t have ads or annoying pop-ups. It doesn’t share user data, sell user data, or even track personal data. It doesn’t do anything to “monetize” you. You’re nothing but a reader to me, and that means everything to me.

Photo by Angela Elisabeth.

Apply with Sanity is a registered trademark of Apply with Sanity, LLC. All rights reserved.