A bit late for the class of 2024, but for future years takers, you have to take this test. And try to shoot for a 20+ of the 24 total on the one added to the SAT. Same for the ACTs (not wrt score). You’ll be tired, but it will be good training for future standardized tests, MCAT, LSAT, etc.
I assume you are taking about the essay portion/writing portion for the SAT/ACT?
Not sure why this has be announced since it is spelled out very clearly on the UC website.
While I imagine most CA students know this, the UCs are the only schools left that require the essay so it’s not common to take elsewhere and not really on people’s radar. I think it’s good to put the reminder out there.
When you click “Exam Requirements” on the UC admissions site, there are 2 boxes. One box in blue has “SAT with essay” and the gold box has “ACT with writing.”
I suppose if you don’t read instructions… :lol:
@sushiritto . . . are you serious?
What happens if you read the instructions too late as a good handful here on CC who’ve presented this problem have done?
@firmament2x Read the instructions too late? Really? Are you serious?
How many SAT’s did these kids take? 1, 2, 3? So over the course of 4 years in HS, the students, parents and counselors missed or ignored the app instructions for the entire UC system? It’s not a software usage agreement that you click “agree” and don’t read.
Sorry, zero sympathy. SAT with essay is not a new requirement.
So to answer your question about “what happens?”
“It happens.”
One of the strategies, particularly by mentors from the UCs, is for their first-generation-applicant mentees to take the SAT and ACT numerous times and report both on their UC apps. So it’s not particularly unusual for students to take both tests a total of, say, six times. (This is why UCLA, e.g., has 126% of its frosh class reporting both tests, instead of a student using the ACT-SAT concordance to remove extraneous lower scores.) Taking both boards with writing/essay test for these students would mostly be a given, as these students whom UC students mentor are from local in-state high schools, and they, as @techno13 stated, would know to take the writing test because it is admonished to them all throughout. Consequently, these students probably take all their boards with writing test, as the language for UC does state “best sitting score,” although, the door is ajar for a separate writing-score to be permitted from a different take because it is auxillary. (And it is good training for subsequent standardized tests, because they’ll be more comfortable taking LSATs, MCATs, etc, with a lot of the secrets to taking these tests being to overcome nerves.)
UCLA and Cal applicants, generally though, apply pretty heavily to Ivy and other high-tiered colleges. And certainly those applicants from outside of California do so even more so than in-state students, with the UCs, even UCLA and Cal, being more background. So those who apply to both, may not have counselors or parents who would guide them to take the writing test.
I think you’re missing the point, though, related to your link. Some may come to the knowledge of the writing test when they’re applying to UC campuses. But by then, it’s kind of late in the game being that probably none of their prior takes have included taking this test. They do have a little time from their applying to UC and the end of the year, but if an applicant is satisfied with his/her component and composite scores, are they going to want to take the test all over again and include the writing test? And it’s not a question of an applicant being deficient of aptitude; it’s a question of procedure only.
Another point, too, is that the language that UC requiring the writing test should be heeded, way prior, when agreeing to pay the extra fee and signing up for the SAT or ACT, not when applying to the University and reading the directions you linked. The notice that UC requires the test possibly should be a function of the testing board, because it wouldn’t seemingly cross the mind of a parent or counselor remote in geography to CA.
And I don’t think that UC should drop the test. If a student writes a personal essay like a Nobel-prize winner in Literature but scores 17 on the SAT writing test, that should raise a red flag. The University should keep this test and of course keep the SAT and ACT as requirements. Additionally, the taking of the test at the end is good strategy by the board, forcing the student to push through adversity, etc, in writing a cogent essay.
And, by the way, I’m not looking for this to be pinned; it’s not my concern.
It is a useful point to make (that one should take the SAT with essay for the UCs. ). A lot of us from outside of CA might not know this. The argument above that students should be familiar with admissions websites of all possible colleges before taking the SAT seems goofy to me.
The UC system receives over 200,000 apps. It’s not an obscure college. Most students get it right and take the SAT with essay.
Read the directions. Yes, you should be intimately familiar with the requirements of EVERY school that you apply to.
The deadline for the UC app is 11/30. So a student can still take the SAT as late as November and still submit it.
Personally, I think the essay should be eliminated. The test is already too long and then they sometimes have experimental sections like they had included for the August SAT, which my 2021 kid took. The test started at 9 AM and was over at 2:15 PM with a couple tiny breaks. Yes, my kid took the SAT with essay.
That’s not the attitude of UC that even if just a couple would fall by the wayside. Again, it’s not a deficit of aptitude; it’s a problem of the timely dissemination of information. It should be a College Board issue; they should provide a list of colleges that require the test, because some students take the SAT and/or ACT as high-school freshmen.
The link you provided says “to be done with admissions tests by December.” That’s a bit tough to determine if it’s the end of December, before its start, or the 2nd to the 30th. Obviously the last date in submitting apps is November 30th, so if it’s by the end of application season, the language should say 11/30. If it’s post-application season, the applicant might have to just put in a number for the written test into one’s electronic app and wait it out until the campuses get the scores directly.
An applicant puts in his/her course list for the second semester of one’s senior year, so perhaps putting in a score for writing might be doable also. It’s too subtle a question to determine, but if the question is the campuses “getting the test results on time,” then perhaps it is doable.
There are no tests for either the ACT or SAT for the remainder of this month. There are a couple of test dates in December, however. But would an applicant want to wade through the entire test just to get to the essay?
Actual writing should never be considered experimental nor unnecessary. In the quest of being certified as medical practitioners, there are numerous tests that would make the SAT or ACT seem really easy. I don’t think coddling students is the answer; they should be getting used to each successive test that increases exponentially in difficulty.