The SAT and ACT have long been criticized as weak indicators of a student’s potential performance on the college level. Furthermore, many colleges and universities believe that the SAT is downright discriminatory against certain students, including minorities and those who come from low-income families. In order to attract a more diverse community of scholars, more and more schools are waiving the test requirement in favor of a more holistic application review.

Like other standardized tests, the SAT and ACT were designed to be quantifiable ways for students to prove their mettle for college. However, many students would agree that the only thing these tests do is cause a sense of dread that starts long before they pick up their #2 pencils and remains until the scores are released. Test prep programs can certainly help mitigate anxiety, but what happens if you can’t afford to pay for one? As a result, the daunting SAT and ACT has turned away many students who have poor preparation for the test or who simply do not test well—and many schools have suffered from a lack of diversity on their campuses.

It’s not surprising, then, that schools adopting the test-free policy have enjoyed an increase in application pools. Research has shown that the level of academic performance of incoming classes has increased at public schools that do not require the SAT or ACT. However, this might not happen at some elite private colleges that use high scores as benchmarks for narrowing down the application pool. 

Proponents of the no-test policy, including the National Center for Fair & Open Testing, say that it pushes schools to look more closely at the student’s GPA, school activities, and recommendation letters, which are better assessments of academic prowess. Critics of the no-test policy say that between grade inflation and different curriculum standards, it is impossible to use grades as the only quantifiable aspect of a student’s application.

An interesting note is that the schools enforcing the no-test policy are finding that many of their applicants are still submitting test scores with their applications. This could be because students have to take the test for other schools, and so they just submit another score report. It could also be that students are not ready to back down from the SAT and ACT, which are both steeped in the tradition of being a major part of a competitive application process. Only time will tell how much longer the SAT and ACT will cast a shadow over college-bound students.