Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, standardized testing dates around the country have been canceled or postponed.
For many current high school juniors, this means that they will struggle to get the test scores they are seeking or be able to take a standardized test at all in time for the college application process. In response to this, many colleges have announced that they will be going test-optional for the high school class of 2021. As of now, over 1,130 schools around the country have announced they will be test-optional for next year’s admission. A list of these schools can be found here: https://www.fairtest.org/university/optional.
Charlie Laube, a college counselor at AHS, believes that the decisions by said colleges are in the best interests of the students.
“Schools always want to do what is in the best interests of the students and they really want to make sure that no student feels that they are at a disadvantage or left behind. That is why we are seeing this movement of colleges going test-optional in order to lift the stress of testing in this current situation,” Laube said.
However, Laube feels optimistic about this movement as a whole.
“On the other hand this is also going to force schools to start to reflect and rely more on the holistic view of the student, so in that respect, I am really excited that some admissions offices that haven’t gone test-optional before are going to be forced to do so, and hopefully will develop a system to equitably evaluate talent without the test score.”
Josh Berro, a counselor at AHS, oversees the scheduling of standardized tests hosted by AHS for current juniors.
“The state has taken standardized testing out of the school’s hands and just canceled it. There is no SAT, PSAT, or CMAS, and then in terms of the ACT, we usually offer one in June, which is still a go for now. The short answer is that these testing organizations are just canceling until they can figure out how to make it happen,” Berro said. “I am advising students to just wait and tackle testing in the fall, because the bottom line is, any college, when they get a transcript or test score from the second semester of 2020, is going to give kids a lot of passes.”
Will Madsen, a current junior at AHS, feels that the test-optional decision by a majority of colleges will be better for his classmates overall.
“I am really happy with the choices of these colleges. I think it’s a good way to get students focused more on extracurricular activities, as well as academic success, which will support their character instead of a number from a standardized test,” Madsen said.