For several years, standardized testing appeared to be disappearing from college admission. During the COVID-19 pandemic, hundreds of colleges suspended SAT and ACT requirements, and many retained test-optional policies even after testing centers reopened. But the landscape is changing again.
A growing number of selective colleges have reinstated testing requirements, while others remain test optional or have adopted variations such as test-flexible policies. Standardized testing is not simply returning to the system that existed before the pandemic. Instead, colleges are redefining the role test scores play in evaluating applicants. For students, this creates both greater complexity and greater opportunity to make themselves stand out from other highly qualified applicants
Why is testing making a comeback?
One important reason is the increasing difficulty colleges face in evaluating academic performance across thousands of high schools. Grades remain one of the most important elements of an application, but grading standards vary enormously. Grade inflation has further complicated the problem. As more applicants present transcripts filled with A's, colleges need additional ways to distinguish among academically accomplished students. Standardized testing provides one relatively objective point of comparison.
SAT and ACT scores are certainly imperfect measures of academic ability. Scores can reflect differences in educational opportunity, preparation, family resources, and familiarity with standardized tests. Those concerns were among the forces behind the test-optional movement. Yet colleges must also answer a practical question: when thousands of applicants have excellent grades and rigorous courses, what additional information can help determine whether a student is prepared for demanding college-level work?
Increasingly, some colleges have concluded that standardized testing provides useful information when considered alongside grades, course rigor, recommendations, activities, essays, and the circumstances in which a student has achieved.
Why does this matter to applicants?
The most important change may be that students can no longer think of testing as simply “required” or “optional.” At a test-optional college, a strong score may still improve an application. If a student's SAT or ACT score compares favorably with those of previously admitted students, it can provide another piece of evidence supporting academic readiness. It may be particularly valuable when a student wants to reinforce an otherwise strong academic record or demonstrate achievement beyond what a transcript alone reveals.
Conversely, submitting a score substantially below a college's typical range may provide little advantage. The strategic question therefore becomes not merely whether a college permits students to withhold scores, but whether submitting a particular score is likely to strengthen the application. That answer can differ from college to college.
What should students do differently?
First, students should investigate testing policies early. Waiting until senior year to discover that several colleges on a developing list require testing can severely limit opportunities to improve a score.
Second, students should consider taking the SAT or ACT even if many colleges on their initial list are test optional. Having a strong score preserves options. Not having one eliminates them.
Third, submission decisions should be made individually for each college. Students should examine the testing profile of admitted students and determine whether their scores add meaningful evidence to their academic case.
Finally, students need to recognize that the tests themselves are changing. The SAT has become shorter, digital, and adaptive, while the ACT has also evolved. The testing experience familiar to parents—and even to older siblings—may bear surprisingly little resemblance to the one students encounter today. All of this points to a larger transformation in college admission. Standardized testing is no longer governed by one set of rules, and “test optional” does not necessarily mean “test irrelevant.”
The old question was straightforward: “Does this college require the SAT or ACT?”
The better question today is: “Will my test score improve the way this college evaluates my candidacy?”
That subtle difference reflects something much larger about modern college admission. As colleges increasingly evaluate applicants using multiple academic, personal, demographic, and institutional factors, successful applicants will need to understand not only what information colleges collect, but how each piece of information affects the overall admission decision.