When COVID hit in March 2020, it disrupted life for everyone across the globe, including college admissions. Standardized test dates were cancelled, rescheduled, and cancelled again, and ultimately more than 1200 colleges and universities made them an optional part of their admissions process. We’ll update you on test optional policies for the 2021-2022 admissions cycle and share our thoughts on whether or not juniors should still plan to take them. In Office Hours, we’re answering your college admissions and finance questions.

by Emily Toffelmire, former admissions officer at University of Southern California

Another week, another announcement that makes the college admission testing landscape feel more unpredictable than season three of Game of Thrones (yet, thankfully, much less violent). However, we can’t help but think most people were happy to hear the news that two pieces of College Board testing will be discontinued: the SAT Subject Tests and the optional essay section of the general SAT. For those of you who are saying, “Wait, what were the SAT Subject Tests—was I supposed to take those?!” let’s back up and explain these two soon-to-be-defunct items.

by Sara Calvert-Kubrom, former admissions officer at Lewis & Clark College

It is time for a follow-up from our September article about the California State Court preliminary injunction that could have banned the University of California system from using standardized test scores!

For much of October, news about this case has been unclear because an appellate court temporarily stayed the ruling requiring the UCs to stop using the SAT or ACT in their admission process. Essentially, the UC system was still allowed to use standardized test scores in their admission process for applicants to fall 2021, with each campus given the freedom to decide if they wanted to adopt a test blind or test optional policy. This piecemeal approach left students confused and unsure of whether or not to submit scores.

by Sara Calvert-Kubrom, former admissions officer at Lewis & Clark College

On September 1, 2020, a California State Court judge issued a preliminary injunction stating that the University of California system may not use standardized test scores like the SAT and ACT in their admission evaluation process. This ruling was made in response to the extreme limitations of testing during COVID that have been exacerbated for students with disabilities. These students have had less access to testing sites and/or needed accommodations during testing which are protected by the California Disabled Persons Act and the federal Americans with Disabilities Act. Although the judge’s ruling bars the use of standardized test scores by the UCs for applicants to the fall of 2021, the legal process is not yet complete and we will learn more after a litigated case management conference on September 29, 2020.

by Sara Calvert-Kubrom, former admissions officer at Lewis & Clark College

On May 21, 2020, the University of California Board of Regents approved substantial changes to their standardized testing policies, changes that will drastically alter the nine-campus system’s undergraduate admission process. For the past two years the UCs have been evaluating the role of standardized testing in their admission process and we were eagerly awaiting the news. The extent of the changes, however, came as a surprise to many.

by Sally Ganga, former admissions officer at the University of Chicago

As I talk with high school juniors and their parents, it’s clear that one of their biggest concerns around the COVID-19 situation is standardized tests. With the March, May, and June SAT and April ACT test dates cancelled, students are hoping to test sometime in summer but are aware that even that may not be an option in every state. Such uncertainty is stressful, to put it mildly.

Standardized tests play an important role in the application process at many colleges, and those colleges will generally accept submission of either SAT or ACT scores. So which test should your child take?

Perhaps you’ve heard the news that the SAT will give students a new “adversity score” that will share more about their social and economic background with colleges? If not, you must not work in college admissions, college counseling, or a high school setting, be a teenager, have a teenager, know a teenager, or know someone with a teenager. The news exploded with so much force on Thursday as to almost—almost—eclipse the big bang of #OperationVarsityBlues.

The College Board made headlines this week with its new adversity score, which will be utilized by 150 colleges and universities this fall. The score will be calculated based on factors like neighborhood crime and poverty rates, parental income and education levels, as well as the curriculum and socioeconomics of the student’s high school. Given the current climate of college admissions thanks to high-profile legal cases like the Operation Varsity Blues scandal and the Students for Fair Admission v Harvard lawsuit, it’s unsurprising this news has been met with a wide variety of very strong opinions.

Think you’re either a good test-taker or you’re not? Wrong! While some students show a natural aptitude for standardized tests, it’s been documented time and time again that studying for the SAT or ACT does, in fact, improve scores. It follows that, if you intend to take the SAT or ACT this spring or summer, you should be preparing for that test now, or very shortly. But with the volumes of books, online tutorials, classes, and private tutoring available, it can be difficult to figure what kind of test prep is best. Enter former Tufts University and Regis College admissions officer, Kerrin Lyons.