The SATS are cancelled

Reports around the world inform us that all schools and communities have been impacted by the pandemic of COVID-19. The SAT’s and ACT’s too have cancelled their examination dates (the new dates are in the beginning of June). The May SATs have been cancelled, as well as the makeup exams for students who missed the March exams. The College Board will provide future additional SAT testing opportunities for students as soon as feasible in place of canceled administrations. 

The ACT exams have been postponed from April to Mid June as well in the hope of some semblance of stability by then. 

The admission cycle for this year seems to be immensely impacted. But do you think, once the world is back to a state of normalcy, everything would return to status quo?

Going forward 

Studies have shown that an applicant’s high school record – grades plus course rigor – predicts undergraduate success better than any standardized exam. By going test-optional, colleges increase diversity without any loss in academic quality. Eliminating testing requirements is a ‘win-win’ for both students and schools. As of January 2018, over 1,000 colleges and universities had stopped requiring SAT or ACT scores for undergraduate applicants. The future of standardised tests was already being questioned and a process of phasing them out had begun. 

In the short term however, there will be greater focus on harder metrics: GPA and class rank because they are more easily verifiable. Although this means that there will be constant academic pressure and there will be little to no chance to redeem your scores in a sure-shot magical SAT score, it also means that students will be relieved of the additional pressure that standardised tests tend to bring with them. Profile building exercises will take on more importance to add better weightage to the application. 

The application process at UChicago for example, talks about applications in a holistic way: 

“There’s no one piece of information—academic and extracurricular records, essays, letters of recommendation, or SAT/ACT scores—that alone determines whether or not you would be a good fit for the College. Instead, we want you to, through your application, show us who you are in your own voice. What is your story? Why did you choose to pursue certain opportunities? What activities are most meaningful to you? The very best way to approach your UChicago application is to simply be yourself and write in your own voice. We care about you and who you really are, not what you think we want to see in an application.”

It is probably time to accept the fact that standardised tests may soon be a thing of the past. The pandemic may well be the Great Pause, or the Reset Button that we are looking for in order to bring change into the most essential aspects of our lives, be it education, the way we do business, or the salaries we pay to the key workers of our society. But that’s a story for another day!