Standardized Testing Policies in 2023
The landscape of standardized testing has shifted rapidly in the last few years, and we work with many students and families struggling to figure out what is the “correct” choice on how much to prioritize standardized tests, whether to submit the test scores received, or whether to take the tests at all.
This article shares an update on the current state of standardized testing policies, as well as some advice to help students and families make confident decisions around standardized testing.
Let’s start by making sense of the different types of standardized testing policies you may come across:
- Testing required: This means that a college is requiring that the student submit an SAT or an ACT score as part of their application. Some examples of colleges that require testing for the upcoming admissions cycle include MIT, Georgetown, Purdue, the University of Florida, the University of Georgia, Georgia Tech, the U.S. Naval Academy, West Point, and the U.S. Air Force Academy.
- Test-free: Sometimes called “test-blind,” this means that a student does not have the option to send in a test score (even if they’d like to!) as it will not be considered as part of the admissions process. Some examples of test-free colleges include: The University of California and California State systems, Pitzer College, Worcester Polytechnic, and Reed College.
- Test-optional: The college gives students the choice of whether to submit a test score. The majority of colleges across all levels of selectivity are now test-optional. The website Fairtest.org hosts a frequently updated list of test-optional and test-free colleges. There are more than 1800 colleges that have said they will be test-optional or test-free for the fall of 2023.