With Covid19 and all of the uncertainty in the educational space, it’s nice to see that some accommodations are being made to ensure that students don’t fall further behind. One recent development broke last week regarding standardized testing. If you’re a student or parent in high school, this is for you. It’s imperative to understand options to make sure that you’re doing all you can to hit the ground running once everything returns to normal.
The SAT announced last Wednesday that they are committed to ensuring all of their fall dates are met, regardless of circumstances. With the potential to meet in-person is unlikely, they’ve committed to provide testing options remotely for at-home exams. This will be the first time that Collegeboard has ever administered SATs remotely, but will be founded on the same methodologies used for at-home AP exams, which are being provided to all AP students in the coming weeks. The best way to prepare for remote testing is through remote tutoring. We’re now providing 100% of our SAT and ACT packages remotely, and we’re still offering 30% off all tutoring due to the crisis.
For students that were planning to take the June 2020 SAT, due to its cancellation, Collegeboard will provide them first access to the upcoming tests (August 29, October 3, November 7, December 5). Other students that plan to graduate high school in 2021 will have prioritized access as well to ensure that no student falls behind on their plan for college.
Many have reached out to ask our team about test optional programs. There have been some discussions about schools making temporary, or even permanent switches to become test optional (meaning students aren’t required to submit ACT or SAT scores to be considered for acceptance). While some schools are opening up options for test optional applications, this doesn’t mean that their accepted applicants choose to follow this route. For instance, the University of Chicago, one of the national’s most competitive universities, instituted a test-optional policy but only 10% of students apply without scores. Their acceptance rate for these students is roughly the same as the rate for those submitting scores. Even schools that boast complete indifference to testing scores like Bowdoin (often touted as the leader in the test-optional philosophy) only see 30% of total applicants choosing to apply without scores. In short, there are options that don’t require scores but boasting strong scores always makes for a stronger overall application. The more data you can show telling your “academic story,” the better.
If you have any questions about any of the topics covered here, from the remote SAT option to discussing test-optional schools, don’t hesitate to reach out directly at Mark@brainsandbrawnllc.com.
- Mark Wilson, Director of Curriculum Development and Design