"Test scores used to be the only way into college. Now, many universities are doing away with the requirement.
WHEN THE ACT RECENTLY released test results from the graduating class of 2018, it roiled the higher education community: For a second year in a row, the number of test-takers dropped – this, after more than a decade of consecutive climbs.
Much more concerning, however, were readiness levels in math and English, which continued a downward slide dating to 2014. This year, math scores dropped to a 20-year low." …
As more and more schools go test-optional (and other ones go test-flexible), students who abhor the standardized test machine can go so far as only apply to schools which don’t need an ACT/SAT as part of the application package.
I have a question, though, @Dave_Berry . With so many high schools in the country, an A at one school can be much easier to obtain than an A at another school. And some schools give out A’s like candy. So, how can adcoms truly compare students across the board? They are overwhelmed, many of them, with way too many applications. They can’t spend tons of time on each particular application, going over ECs and recommendations with a fine toothed comb. I read that they spend 6-8 minutes one each application! That’s not a lot of time.
Say what you will about the ACT and SAT. They can serve some sort of purpose despite how awful the College Board is as a company.
Perhaps the decline in the number of students taking the ACT is related to the increase in the number of students taking the SAT (“largely due to its partnership with 10 states and the District of Columbia to give the SAT to all public high school students for free”), as noted in the article.
A small number of private test-optional schools is unlikely to affect the test taking habits of the bulk of high school students who want to go to college, since most will be applying to moderately selective (usually public) schools that admit mainly or only based on academic stats and test scores, or going to the open admission community college.
The drop in students taking the ACT is directly the result of the SAT becoming the chosen test in a number of states.
Before the new SAT and its move to make it the test used in states to comply with no child left behind laws, ACT was the king of that activity and its growth in the 2000’s that ultimately resulted in its overtaking the SAT in number of test-takers per year was due to its seliing states on the use of the ACT and thus getting many states to require juniors or seniors to take the ACT with the result that most students in those states stopped taking the SAT. Key states that ACT captured included Colorado, Illinois and Michigan.
College Board finally saw the handwriting on the wall and decided to change its test to something it could claim tested what students learned in high school like the ACT has always claimed. In the process, it contacted states and offerred the new test to the states for a cost that was much less than ACT was charging. Result: CB gained states that had its students take the SAT as the state administered test, while ACT lost states, including Colorado, Illinois and Michigan, three highly populated states where the SAT is now the chosen test.
One has to wonder if the ACT’s decline in test-talers in major states also impacted its percentage of those deemed college ready when taking the ACT. In other words, I am not sure that drop reflects anything other than a drop of ACT test-takers from key states with large number of students in well-funded high schools.
I wonder if the decline in math and English readiness is due to the Common Core Standards. This change was especially difficult on students who were thrown into this mid-career (middle school) give or take a few years. I know in my local competitive high school many students have been pushed out of the math department into Algebra I & II, and geometry classes that actually take 2 years each to get through. This means the students actually receive less instruction//material because the pace has been decelerated. Sadly, some student were completely pushed to the business department setting them up for community college only. The CC has ended up being a tracing system for high school. Some are tracked out or slowed down. I can not speak to the ELA CC except to notice that the curriculum seems very narrow now. It seems they do the same core work over and over each year.
The school profile that accompanies transcript (my kids’ HS one was 2 small print pages), plus regional admissions reps probably gets that done pretty well.
Except there are many schools in the country where the val and sal can’t crack 30 on the SAT, so those school profiles still aren’t that helpful. And don’t for a second believe that regional reps are familiar with all or even most high schools. They aren’t.