The New Age of Testing
Starting Monday, high school students all over the world will be at home, taking an AP test unlike any other. The sands are shifting underneath the SAT and ACT, too.
The AP Test
The modified Advanced Placement tests will be 45-minutes, at-home, and open-book, leading many to question the validity and security of the results. College Board has been upfront about some of their cheating deterrents, but they have also said that they are “keeping some of these protocols confidential to maximize their effectiveness.” The price for cheating will be steep — notifications will be sent to home high schools as well as to any colleges to which students have sent any College Board scores in the past or will send scores in the future.
The AP Testing Calendar reflects the enormity of the task of offering these tests: students all over the world will test at the same moment, regardless of time zone. (If your kid is complaining about taking the test here, show them the testing times for students in Japan and China!)
Students with doubts about taking the test should be encouraged to do so. Colleges want to give students credit for working hard and learning the content in an AP class; the test is validation of that work. It would be a shame for a student not to take the test and miss out on the credit that they really worked for all year — not just on the test. (And if there were ever a year for a little leniency in grading, this would be the year.)
The ACT
The ACT has June and July dates planned although whether these will happen in any given area will depend on local shelter-in-place conditions. They have also scheduled tests for September, October, and December. By late fall, ACT plans to start offering their at-home test which has been in the works for many years. Expect similar test security measures as the AP tests or even live remote proctoring like that used for the GRE, GMAT, and LSAT tests.
The SAT
The future of the SAT is less certain although they are making every effort to make the SAT possible for all students to take in the fall. They have canceled the June test date; instead, they have promised increased opportunities for students to take the test from August through December, with priority given to students who had registrations canceled this spring. (Check here for updates.) They are not currently prepared to move to an at-home model, so they will need to make socially distanced testing centers available for some time to come.
Test Optional Admissions
The lack of testing opportunities this year has caused many schools to abandon testing requirements, some for the short term, others permanently. The University of California (UC) system and most out-of-state and private schools will be test optional for current seniors applying in the fall; this means that students may choose to send scores but their applications will still be considered if they do not have any. Colleges have made clear that, without test scores, rigor of the high school program, GPA, activities, and essays will all weigh more heavily in admission decisions.
Other 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.
For a full list of test optional schools, see Fairtest.org. They are also keeping a list of Fall 2020-only test optional schools.
The California State University (CSU) system has taken a bolder approach by announcing that they will become test blind for the fall, meaning that they won’t consider scores for any students. (Here’s a full explanation of test blind versus test optional.) Unlike in other years, CSUs may consider program rigor and extracurricular activities, especially for students who fall between the 2.0–2.5 GPA range. (These factors are already considered for impacted programs but are not generally part of the CSUs general admission matrix.)
A Cal Poly spokesperson, however, confused the issue a bit by telling a local paper that “even though the university will not use the standardized test scores in the admissions process, it still is advising students to submit them.”
What This Means for Students
In the early days, it appeared that students were going to get a reprieve from college testing this year. While some students may truly need that grace (and those who do should take it), students in stable situations should take the tests they had planned to take. College Board and ACT have provided enough opportunities for fall tests that, unless a student’s family is in crisis or taking the test in the fall would be a hardship, students shouldn’t miss the opportunity to add a solid test score to their college application.
