<p>What evidence do you have to support that assertion? </p>
<p>What evidence COULD you have?</p>
<p>You seem to be assuming that the test-optional or test-flexible colleges end up admitting substantial numbers of students whose standardized test scores do not correlate well with their GPA’s or class rank. That is, that there are enough students like the OP’s daughter floating around that their admissions numbers would have a substantial impact on the data if their scores were reported.</p>
<p>You are also ignoring the fact that many colleges that do not require test scores for purposes of admissions are nonetheless gathering the data post-admission and including it in their common data set --which reports numbers for enrolled students, not simply applicants.</p>
<p>I would assume that a test-optional or test-flexible policy would encourage more students to apply to particular college, but that doesn’t mean that the applicants with weak or nonexistent test scores are necessarily being accepted.</p>
<p>It also is a mistake to assume that all non-submitters have weak scores – there are other reasons that students don’t take or don’t submit test scores, including financial. (It costs money to take the tests, it costs money to submit he scores.) </p>
<p>While financial cost is an issue with standardized exams, it’s not in the test itself or sometimes even submissions as lower-income students can and did get fee waivers for those even back in the early-mid-'90s.</p>
<p>However, this is an issue when it comes to familiarization and prepping…like a lower-income student not having adequate time to prep because he/she works an afterschool/weekend job to help support the family or being in an academically mediocre and/or slacker/crime ridden high school where academics and college aspirations weren’t taken very seriously or inadequately addressed by a critical mass of students and sometimes…even the teachers/admins who were burned out or overwhelmed with that critical mass. </p>
<p>Cobrat – I would consider my family to be middle and not lower income – but I have to say that the fees for submitting test scores to a large number of schools were a substantial dent on my finances. My daughter did get fee waivers for most of her application fees, but did not qualify for waivers of test fees or the fees for submitting to colleges. (I don’t remember details and things might have changed, but there were some differences in income limitations that applied at the time). It’s one thing if a student is applying to 6 colleges-- quite another if the student is applying to 15 or 20. </p>
<p>At the time my kids applied, the schools they chose required test scores (though some on their respective lists have now gone test-optional) – so I ponied up the funds as needed. But in the test-optional context-- I can see a benefit to conserving resources. Test scores that are close to a college’s median or average level don’t add benefit in the test-optional context: it is just a data piece that shows the student to be the same as the others, and once the school has announced that it doesn’t need those funds, I can see many students becoming more selective when it comes to apportioning out those score reports. $12 for a score report doesn’t seem like a lot of money - but it adds up when there are 10 or 15 schools to consider.</p>
<p>Also, as this thread indicates, there are probably many students with perfectly respectable - and in-range- scores who simply have been led to believe that their scores are bad. I had a so-called professional college adviser tell me that my daughter should forget about applying to Barnard, because they"wouldn’t even look at an applicant with less than 1400" (out of 1600). I could see from the common data set that it wasn’t true, so I ignored the “advice” (which is quite consistent with comments regularly posted on chances threads here.) But perhaps in a test-optional setting that sort of perception would have lead to our withholding scores that hindsight shows were clearly acceptable to my daughter’s reach schools. </p>
<p>To answer your question, the evidence can be found in the Journal of College Admission - Summer 2009 - Pages 9-18. </p>
<p>Quoted:
… direct contact with each undergraduate admission office revealed that only one of the 32 institutions […in U.S. News’ Top 100 Liberal Arts Colleges 2009 that are SAT-optional in some form] asserts that they report a full and honest SAT average, requiring students who took the test to submit scores after enrolling and reporting their SAT average inclusive of those scores. Two others declined to respond to repeated inquiries, though these institutions assuredly report biased averages (both have shown marked increases in their reported score range in only two years since the introduction of their SAT-optional policies).
Publicly available and privately shared data reveal that SAT scores for non-submitters average 100-150 points lower than submitters. Eliminating those scores for 25 percent to 50 percent of enrolling students results in manufactured SAT average increases between 25 and 75 points. These results imply that 31 of the 32 SAT-optional institutions in question are the beneficiaries of SAT average boosts. In the hyper- competitive space of the U.S. News top 100, there is no way to believe that such an outcome is an accident.
End quote</p>
<p>What part of my assertion do you want to challenge? </p>
<p>I will have taken 12 AP classes by the end of my senior year, and I have around a 1700 on my SAT. I only took it twice, but the test is really not a true indicator of much. Try not to worry, it is only one aspect of the application overall. </p>
<p>I wouldn’t assume that every test optional/flexible college collects SAT scores for non-submitting students. Some do collect the information for research and evaluation, but I’d expect many do not. If they don’t have the scores for all of the entering class, it is awkward to report the scores of non-submitters to US News. The ones who do have the scores certainly don’t want to be at a disadvantage to other LACs who aren’t including non-submitting students in their averages.</p>
<p>It’s certainly possible that a college could try to boost their average SAT by going test optional, then increasing emphasis on scores for the applicants who submit scores. This would allow them to achieve a higher SAT average to assist with an increased US News ranking, while still allowing desirable lower scoring students to be a part of their entering class, including less academically qualified hooks. If this was happening, then I’d expect to see SAT scores rapidly increase following going test optional, particularly at the low end, in 25th percentile score. I listed how test scores changed upon going test optional at some colleges in my earlier post. Some more colleges are below. I have only included high ranked colleges that went test optional during a period for which CDS score reports are available. Smith is the only college with a large enough increase to look suspicious to me, although a 40 point SAT increase in 2 years is not large enough to be a smoking gun. Some SAT/ACT required colleges have had similar increases over 2 year periods and a similar trend over the past 6 years. The others all had little change in 25th percentile score upon going test optional/flexible.</p>
<p>Went Test Optional in 2008 – 2007 to 2013
Wake Forest - 1240/1410 to 1230/1420
Smith - 1150/1380 to 1220/1450 (1190/1400 in 2009)
Sewanee – 1130/1330 to 1170/1350</p>
<p>Went Test Optional in 2009 – 2008 to 2013
Colby – 1280/1430 to 1240/1430
Bryn Mawr – 1200/1410 to 1210/1470
NYU --1250/1440 to 1260/1460</p>
<p>For some students in lower income disadvantaged environments (e.g. high schools where counselors are trying to keep students in school and out of juvenile hall and have little time for the few who have the ability to go to college), perhaps it may just be that additional tests, forms, etc. are more hurdles that the student may not realize have to be done until after the deadline has passed. The forum demographic may be well aware of SAT/ACT, SAT subject tests, college applications, supplements, recommendations, transcripts, FAFSA, CSS/Profile, etc., but if a student is in a school where few go to college, and the counselors are not advising the student well, essential things can easily be missed.</p>
<p>On the other hand, it is not necessarily the case that most of the schools reducing testing requirements were motivated by the desire to put fewer hurdles in front of disadvantaged high school students who may not know of all of the things that need to be done to go to college.</p>
<p>I think it is the reason that the UC’s dropped the SAT II requirement. Historically they had found the SAT II scores more relevant to college admissions decisions – but getting those extra tests was just another hurdle.</p>
<p>Or, to put it another way: wherever the OP’s daughter applies, the admissions staff can safely predict that her college GPA will end up being roughly the same as her high school GPA. So what added value do they get from a test score? </p>
<p>Good news to report. D got her SAT subject test scores and is happy with the result. One test was in a math/science area and she got a 700. The other test was in a humanity/social science area, and she got 710. I know that the percentiles for the subject tests are a lot lower than percentiles for the same scores on the SAT I. But I think these scores show that she is competitive for the types of schools she’s interested in. At least she’d feel good submitting them to a “test flexible” school.</p>
<p>Based on recommendations here, she is preparing for ACT. If she is happier with her ACT score than her SAT score, then of course she won’t need to use the SAT subject test scores at all (as far as I know).</p>
<p>So, D is signed up for the June ACT and has been working with a tutor and taking practice tests. It’s looking good. Her latest practice test scores are:
English: 34
Science: 33
Reading: 28
Math: 33</p>
<p>How do they come up with the composite? Average the four sections?</p>
<p>Anyway, she is not getting too excited about it because she feels that she always does worse on the day of the exam than on the practice tests. Any advice on helping her relax and not psych herself out on test day?</p>
<p>Also, what’s doing with the Reading score? Same on SAT – couldn’t break 630. And this is a girl who had taken multiple history AP classes and gotten As. And gets As in honors English (will take AP Lit next year). And is in the top 5% of her class. It’s mind-boggling that she can be at the top of her competitive HS with a reading score that lags.</p>
<p>Brantly, read Erica melter’s blog, the critical reader. Look through the site’s collected posts. She has at least a few about why kids don’t perform well on the reading sections of these exams.</p>
<p>Yep, they just average the scores, so the individual scores above would average to 32 (98th percentile), which is roughly equivalent to 2120 on the SAT. Very good! </p>
<p>The ACT is often about time management, especially in Reading and Science. So taking the tests in “real time” seatings is an important part of the prep. </p>
<p>My guess with the reading would be one of two things. Either she is a slow / methodical reader and is running out of time. Or, she doesn’t have enough experience with the question types and what they are really looking for. </p>
<p>I would recommend getting a Princeton review or Kaplan strategy or reading strategy book. They break down the question types and really hep with the tactics needed to do well on those types of questions. </p>
<p>If she is too methodical, she needs to convince herself that she doesn’t have to read every word of the essays as though she is writing a term paper on the contents. He goal should be to answer the questions not to understand the passage. For example, in the more technical essays they may spend an two or three paragraphs on difficult to process technical jargon explaining several details of the topic. </p>
<p>In normal HS life, she would correctly feel she needs to be prepared to answer questions on all three detail. In ACT/SAT land, she already knows what the questions are (hint they are next to the essay). If the questions may only refer to one of the three details then don’t bother reading all three paragraph. </p>
<p>In the first pass through the essay. Get the main idea, and locate the important parts. Then get to the questions and figure out how best to proceed. </p>
<p>This can take some practice to master, and there is more to it than above, but if she gets a practice book she could easily be able to add a few points.</p>
<p>Just a thought to allay some fears - many colleges focus on the English and Math sections of the ACT (just like they often just focus on the CR and Math sections of the SAT). So while a 32 composite is very good indeed, her Math:33 and English: 34 scores are even better. </p>
<p>@SlackerMomMD - The English section of the ACT is not compared to the CR section of the SAT. The Reading section of the ACT is comparable to the CR section of the SAT. The English section of the ACT is grammar.</p>