On Monday, February 5, the New York Times reported that Dartmouth College will require applicants to submit SAT or ACT scores beginning next year. Later in February, Yale also announced that they are reinstating standardized testing to their admission processes.
Without a doubt, Dartmouth’s and Yale’s decision represents the most significant move to date away from the test optional policies that more than 2,000 learning institutions adopted during the pandemic. We expect that many other colleges and universities will follow Dartmouth’s lead in the weeks and months ahead.
But this decision hasn’t been limited to Ivy League institutions. Some days ago we learned that the University of Texas at Austin, a prestigious public university, is also making standardized testing mandatory.
Our own practical experience in working with students over two decades supports the recently conducted academic research that contributed to Dartmouth’s decision – research that shows the value of standardized tests in the admissions process and as a predictor of future academic performance. In short, a student with an excellent standardized test score makes a stronger, more compelling applicant, especially at highly selective schools.
The tests themselves have been changing in the rapidly evolving admissions environment. Most notable is the SAT, which started offering its first fully digital test to US students on March 9th. We have been working with students to prepare for the new testing era with our own proprietary Digital SAT practice tests that recreate the College Board’s technology platform and the streamlined adaptive structure of the new test.
The next SAT exam is scheduled for May 4. We anticipate that more institutions will begin to reintegrate standardized testing. We strongly believe that this approach will help broaden the pool of qualified applicants, particularly among minorities and students in underserved communities.
