Over 1,900 colleges no longer require SAT or ACT

An organization that advocates for limited application of standardized assessments announced that over 1,900 colleges are no longer mandating SAT or ACT scores to be admitted to college in the Fall 2023 semester.

FairTest claimed that test score requirements have “a negative disparate impact on Black and Latinx applicants” that create a barrier to entry into a college education.

As enrollments declined due to the coronavirus pandemic, colleges began waiving test scores as a part of the college admissions process. It appears that a decent chunk of institutions continue the pandemic-era policy.

As an aside, the organization should recognize that the term “Latinx” is only used among academics and liberals, but not among actual Spanish-speaking native people.

In response to growing pressure to discontinue test scores, a test-maker for the GRE (usually used to apply to graduate programs) said it slashed existing exam times by half from four hours to two hours.

But there is an issue with the push to eliminate, if not limit, standardized tests for college admissions. The SAT and ACT provided a baseline for college admissions officers to determine, among various factors and criteria, whether the college applicant met the college’s standards.

It will be interesting to see whether the waiving of test scores will change the new, post-pandemic college landscape.

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