ACT & SAT College Admissions Testing

Most everyone is somewhat familiar with the SAT and the ACT and the idea that students need to take one of the tests in order to get into college.

However, things have changed quite a bit over the last few years making that statement now slightly untrue.

From new and changing testing policies to learning how to prepare, it’s important for your child to be all-in on testing, IF that is the decision they’ve made. Testing is not a requirement for admission at many schools, and after experiencing COVID-19 restrictions (causing testing opportunities to be limited and risky in some cases), some schools have also made testing optional for merit aid consideration.

Due to the great variation in policies from school to school, it is vital that you and your student fully understand the test policies at the colleges they are interested in applying to ahead of the year when they will be applying. I typically recommend testing no later than the August prior to their application season, so if your student decides to go test-optional and then learns a school on their list requires scores, it can be a difficult lesson in preparation.

Dive in to the articles on the left for more information on test preparation and understanding various test policies.