Q&A: Which matters more, SAT and ACT test scores, or GPA?
Given the pandemic difficulty of securing standardized tests, we have to question how much they really matter in a student’s application.
The Current Testing Landscape
Standardized testing is quickly losing traction as a data point in college admissions. Colleges have been aware of the problems with standardized tests for years, including the powerful influence of the test prep industry in exacerbating inequity. COVID-19 caused mass test center closures last year, forcing colleges to become test optional at least temporarily; many of these colleges have made multi-year commitments to test optional policies. Here’s a quick status update:
UC campuses —Thanks to a court injunction for discrimination, the system was unexpectedly test blind for 2020. The final settlement (just in on May 14) has made the campuses test blind until 2025, when they plan to implement their own testing system.
CSU campuses — CSUs are test blind for Fall 2021 through Spring 2023 applications. With admissions typically based on a simple GPA/SAT matrix, elimination of a standardized test will be challenging for the CSU system to adjust to.
Out-of-state and private schools have used this opportunity to convert their admissions to test optional permanently. Oregon’s seven universities have decided to make that leap. Santa Clara University will try test optional for the next two years. A full list of test optional schools can be found at fairtest.org.
Back to the Question…
From an admissions standpoint, tests will matter less and less. But what about for an individual student’s application to a particular school which does include test scores?
Think of the student’s application as a puzzle. The student’s GPA, the rigor of their courses, their activities, and their essays fill in many pieces of the student’s puzzle. The benefit of testing is to provide a piece to that puzzle that the rest of the application does not add. If the student’s test scores mirror their rigor and GPA, the test scores only confirm what is already known. A great GPA with a high test score? No surprise there. No value is added.
Now imagine a student whose test scores do add detail — let’s say, a student whose GPA isn’t so great, or a student who goes to a school without many opportunities for rigor, or a student who has homeschooled and and doesn’t have a cohort to compare their skills to. A standardized test score can add a piece to their puzzle that the GPA and transcript doesn’t reveal. These are cases in which scores will matter more.
Another case might be a student who has a dream school which is out of their GPA reach, or if they are reaching for a scholarship or other target that requires a high test score. These are often the students who take extensive test prep and take the test multiple times — they are, essentially, trying to become a competitive applicant for a school they think that the rest of their application isn’t good enough for. (A wise decision? I’ll let you decide.)
What Should We Tell the Kids?
It’s a time of transition in testing, and it is hard to know what kind of time and energy to invest into these tests. In the short term, colleges have been very clear that they do not want students to risk their own safety or mental health worrying about how to get a test score. It is important not to pressure students into testing situations which they aren’t comfortable in — they likely will not perform very well anyway. For a rising senior, there is always fall. For a sophomore or younger, there is plenty of time.
In the end, colleges know that these tests are only one piece of the puzzle, and a student’s whole story is much more interesting than what they can bubble in for 3 hours on a Saturday morning. Worry less about performing well on these tests and invest more in helping teens develop their story into a complete puzzle that they will be proud of.
