In 2020, two-thirds of four-year institutions of higher education went temporarily test optional or test blind in response to the exceptional circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although many schools may well switch back to requiring testing in the future, what this means for the time being is that if you’re applying to colleges right now, you’ve got a decision to make with regard to your standardized test scores.
As my past posts about what “Test Optional” really means point out, even if a given college doesn’t require ACT or SAT test scores, you MAY still benefit from sending them along with your application. After all, doing more than the bare minimum is usually a good thing, right? For that reason, many of you have proceeded to take the SAT and/or the ACT. But once you’ve received your scores…how do you know if you should send them? Will they help you or hurt you?
So, today’s article is going to help you determine if you should submit your SAT or ACT test scores—or if you should take a school up on its Test Optional policy. The caveat here is that there are no concrete rules about this—and no guarantees; after all, there’s WAY more to your application package than just the objective factoids of grades and scores. That said, I’ll walk you through three different ways to do the research. Every situation is different, but these are some loose guidelines that will help you get some answers…while making that decision significantly easier and less worry-inducing.
A quick note before we dive in: it might be best to look at a given college’s scores with ALL three of the research options outlined below. This is in part because CollegeBoard has changed the wording on its website to avoid explicitly stating that the test score numbers it’s providing are specifically “median” ranges. If you get conflicting data, go with the ranges that the majority of the below websites show you!
Here we go!
Researching Test Optional Scores with CollegeBoard.org
The College Board’s site can be thorny to navigate, and it has a lot of hidden tools. That’s why it’s important to have someone show you exactly how to use it to get the key info you’re looking for. In the upper right corner of the CollegeBoard.org website is a search field. In the screenshot below, I’ve highlighted it in a green box. You’re going to enter the name of the college you’re trying to research into this field.
A set of search results will come up, and you’ll click on the name of your target college (typically the first result). This will bring you to the CollegeBoard info page for that particular school. Click on the tab labeled “Admissions” and scroll down to “By the Numbers.”
Here, you’ll see ranges of SAT and ACT scores. Previously, the College Board had explicitly called these score ranges the median 50% of admitted students’ scores, but they have now changed their wording to say they're the score ranges of “most students” at that institution. That said, I’ve crunched these numbers on my own and found that they line up fairly well with other sources' median 50%, so we'll go about using this data the same way.
Now here’s what you DO with this information. If you look at the example above, approximately half of last year’s incoming freshmen scored between 1490-1570 on their SATs. That means one-fourth (25%) of the matriculating class scored ABOVE 1570…and also that 25% scores BELOW 1490.
KRISTINA’S ADVICE: if YOUR SCORES FALL within this (ROUGHLY) median 50% range or ABOVE it, YOU SHOULD SUBMIT YOUR test scores WITH YOUR application.
In this example, if I were applying to this particular school, and I scored 1490 or higher on my SAT, I’d go ahead and send my score with the rest of my application, even if this school is test optional.
Here’s where it gets tricky: if you scored BELOW 1490, I’d PROBABLY RECOMMEND NOT sendING in YOUR score TO THIS SCHOOL.
That said, if you scored just a smidge below the lower end of that range, like 1480, it might not damage your application to include your scores. But if you scored more like 1370?? Then it’s probably not doing you any favors to include your test score. In that case, it’s best to take advantage of the school’s test optional policy!
2. Using CollegeData.com to Calculate Test Optional Score Ranges
Good news: this website is easier to get around than CollegeBoard.org. Basically, the first thing you’ll see is a big search field in the middle of the screen that says “Enter College Name.”
Once you type in and click on the name of the college you’re interested in, the first page you’ll see is the “Overview” section. Scroll down to “Qualifications of Enrolled Freshmen” and you’ll see the middle 50% of SAT and ACT test scores for last year’s freshman class:
In the example we’re viewing here, half of the incoming freshman for this college scored between a 34-36 on the ACT or between a 1480-1560 on the SAT (add the lower SAT Math score with the lower SAT EBRW score for the lower total; add the higher scores for each Math and EBRW for the upper total).
We’ll take the same approach here as we did for Method #1 above: if you scored within that range or ABOVE it, definitely send in your ACT or SAT test scores!
If you’re quite close (33 on the ACT or 1460-1470 on the SAT) you can consider submitting your scores.
However, are you considerably BELOW that middle score range? Then your score is probably not going to help your case. Take the college up on its offer to consider your application without a test score.
3. Average SAT and ACT Score Research with Naviance
If your high school uses a program called Naviance to collect all your college application data—test scores, grades, student résumés, recommendation letters, and extracurriculars—then you’re in luck! Because you have access to a third method for figuring out whether you should give your scores to those test optional schools.
Log in to Family Connection by Naviance. Select the “Colleges” tab. Then, in the “College Research” section of the page, select “Scattergrams.” This will show you a graph of the application outcomes of students from your high school who have applied to that college in the past.
This sample Naviance scattergram plots students who have applied to a particular college. The graph shows the grade-point average (on the vertical y-axis) vs the SAT scores (on the horizontal x-axis). If you see a green check mark, that signifies a student with the corresponding GPA and score who got accepted. A red “X” signals the GPA-score combo of a student who got rejected.
As you can see from the scattergram screenshotted above, there are no hard-and-fast rules about a magic GPA-test score combo that will guarantee acceptance. However, there DO tend to be some trends. Basically, if you look at the dotted lines that form a rectangle, you’ll see that its borders correspond to a GPA of 3.50 and an SAT score of roughly 1320. There tend to be mostly green check marks OUTSIDE the rectangle (i.e. GPA higher than 3.50 and/or SAT score higher than 1320), but mostly red X’s INSIDE the rectangle (i.e. GPA LOWER than 3.50 AND SAT score LOWER than 1320).
So your takeaway is: if you’re applying to a Test Optional school this year, and you look up the college’s scattergram on your school’s Naviance: if your scores fall OUTSIDE that dotted-line box, go ahead and send them! However, if you are currently INSIDE the box, take the school up on its test-optional policy and DON’T send your SAT or ACT scores!
And that’s how to decide whether to include your SAT or ACT scores in your application to test-optional colleges!
As I noted above, this post constitutes basic guidelines, not a bespoke college application strategy catered especially to YOU. Nonetheless, I hope that it helps you make a more accurate assessment of this subtle question.
But wait—are you still working on college essays and finding yourself in need of some eleventh-hour help? If you just need a session or two to shape up your main or supplemental essays, I have a few time slots left this month. You can book a session easily right here!
