When the pandemic hit, national test centers closed which meant high school students were unable to take SAT and ACT. This significantly accelerated a trend in college admissions that had been gaining ground over the years. Without test scores for many applicants, many college admissions made the submission of SAT and/or ACT scores an optional part of a complete application. Even though test centers are back open, many schools have remained test-optional, so how is a student to know if they should submit their score or not?
For starters, I think a lot of students (but not all of them) undervalue their test scores. Maybe their friend has a better score, but that doesn’t mean their own is worthless. The truth is what constitutes a “good” score is entirely relative to what you are trying to do. Therefore, the first step in evaluating your own score and deciding if you should submit it or not is to pinpoint what it is you are trying to do. So, let’s say your main goal is to be accepted to State University. Colleges and universities typically publish a middle range of scores that their previous freshmen class had. Google around and you should be able to find this pretty easily for your desired school. So, let’s say that State U’s middle range of SAT scores last year was 1100-1270. This means that 25%-75% of admitted freshmen on campus had an SAT score in this range. Another way to say this is one in four freshmen had numbers better than this range, but one in four had a lower score than the range.
If your score is in the range of the school you want to go to–in this example let’s say you have an 1150–I think you have a good score. Perhaps the middle range of the State U in a neighboring state is 1380-1440. Well, suddenly your 1150 is kind of weak. Again, a “good” score is relative to what you’re trying to do. You have to figure this out before you decide whether to submit your score to a test-optional college.
I believe that if your score is in a given school’s middle range (or above it), then you have a “good” score, and submitting it can support your application. If your score is below that range, it might be best to withhold your score and attempt to highlight your other strengths on your application. You can make this decision individually for each college or university you are applying to. So, your score might be “good” for that school in your own state in which case I think you should submit it, but if the school in the next state over has stricter admission standards it might be best to hold back your score there.
Whatever the case, as a university admission rep once told me, “Once we see something, we can’t unsee it.” So, do your research on what kind of score a given school is looking for and make your test submission decision accordingly.
