I am curious…is anyone aware of a student who, in 2021, wanted to take the SAT or ACT but was unable to do so?
I’m unaware of any, although the number of sittings for the SAT at our LPS were limited this year and they didn’t offer the ACT at all (they usually do). That being said, my observations are only relevant to my local area (MA). Other people may have different experiences. I’ll add that I think TO is here to stay irrespective of Covid. Quite a few schools had TO policies prior to Covid and that number was growing. In my view, covid just accelerated the process. I believe some schools - particularly among the Top 50 - will probably go back to test required next year, but we will have to wait and see.
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I’m really hoping this thread can remain open and that the usual suspects do not turn this into yet another debate on efficacy of testing / test-optional.
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No. Everyone in my circle who has HS juniors or seniors, all over the country (US), were able to sit for multiple tests at this point.
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I am not aware of any senior who wanted to take an SAT/ACT who couldn’t. With that said, that’s not why many colleges have chosen to remain TO. Read the umpteen other threads on the subject for the reasons many colleges are choosing to remain TO.
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I know a couple of students whose tests were cancelled. I don’t know the reason why.
We need to bear in mind that there are a LOT of students whose lives are still being negatively affected by covid. There are still plenty of people dying or getting seriously ill, or their livelihoods have been upended and parents may not be able to afford tests. I don’t think colleges were just concerned with test centers being unable to operate.
Many students’ lives are going to continue to be disrupted this winter and the coming spring. I don’t think testing availability will be an issue, but rather, personal family circumstances.
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My daughter had three tests canceled. By the time her test rolled around (late October), she was over it and did not want to re-do her prep.
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Thanks for the info.
In what part of the country did this happen?
Were tests canceled because of Covid?
Couldn’t that apply though to any part of the application?
My son sounds like yours except he bailed on taking the SAT again. I was ok with it. Given the amount of AP summer work they hand out, plus having a job, he didn’t have a lot of time to prep anyway (and forget it once the school year started). To me the biggest boon of TO wasn’t the chance to get into a “better” school than his scores would allow (not applying to any top 50s) it was the freedom from yet another stressor and time suck.
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My son was in quarantine and missed his first test date. He did manage to take one in school this past October and did not do very well. So yes, I’m sure there are kids who hit unlucky and never got to take it or that didn’t perform well because they only had the opportunity to take it once.
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A few decades ago, the time cost of taking the SAT beyond the time taking the test was 15 minutes or so doing the practice questions in the test booklet and filling in the test signup form. The way people write about it now, intensive test preparation for weeks or months is the norm now, at least among the forum demographic.
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Whatever the reason, the test-optional horse has left the barn and I would not be surprised if the majority of selective colleges make it permanent, with the real tension going forward being between test-optional and test-blind.
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That was my experience, but not so today. The intense prep probably accounts for the fact that the # of kids scoring a 1400 or better on the SAT and 31+ on the ACT has doubled in the last decade or so. Meanwhile, the average SAT score (around 1050) hasn’t changed much.
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Hi – we are in Colorado. No reason was given, the rumor was staffing honestly as different test locations nearby were not canceled.
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To be clear on concept, since this thread took all of 7 posts to go down the rabbit hole, the OP asked, and I’m paraphrasing, “Were SAT/ACT tests cancelled in your area?”
So inappropriate responses are (and this is not all encompassing):
- Sports were cancelled
- Test prep is expensive
- SAT favors the (fill in the blank)
- Colleges should/should not go test optional forever.
- My kid decided to sleep in
- My kid decided not to send his scores.
All of the above are valid on the other threads discussing the topic, but are off-topic here and future posts that stray will be dealt with in accordance with ToS and/or result in thread closure.
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My DD22 had 3 ACT tests cancelled last spring. One was rescheduled automatically to a test site 1,000 miles from home -She had to reschedule that one- hahaha. She finally secured a seat in a in a different state 1.5 hours from home at the end of the summer. It made for a very long day of travel and her scores showed.
She applied to all but one college as test optional. Her grades, rigor and activities reflect her abilities and she has been admitted to 4 out of 5 schools so far. She is waiting to hear on the one school she was required to submit scores and I assume that will be her first and only rejection.
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We live in California. My D22’s SAT was canceled 3 times this year. Unclear why as only some sites in our area canceled so some of her friends took it the same day just at other local sites. She had been doing some Khan Academy prep and a couple of practice tests but stopped trying after the first or second cancellation.
Her school finally offered a “school day” test for seniors in October I guess because lots of kids never got to take it. She went Test Optional for her Early Action applications since she had no score to report (didn’t even try to take it in 2020 since it was canceled all over the state last year and never thought to take it before 2020).
Got her score just after EA applications submitted so she updated her applications. If her school hadn’t had a test day, not sure she would’ve had the chance to get any score in time for RD.
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When we registered for ACT, the nearest open seat was in a regional city about an hour away. We registered him anyway and decided to think about whether to go (worrying about future chances to test at all). In the meantime the test was rescheduled to a (much smaller) town only 30 minutes away. This benefited my S because we didn’t need to spend the night in a hotel and was much more convenient. BUT for the kids from that regional city it moved father away so they had more of an obstacle to get there. No reason was given for the switch, but on test day the parking lot in this school was jam packed, so maybe test dates were scarce or people feared they would be.