Akil admissions, Admissions Tests, college admissions

Should You Take the SAT/ACT in 2025?

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Four years ago, I first answered this question, but since 2021 might as well be the Age of the Pharaohs an update is due. This question still looms large and seems particularly confusing given that more than 85% of colleges remain test optional but news outlets obsessed with certain highly rejective colleges, test prep companies with revenue goals, economists at Dartmouth trying to justify their president’s wishes, and far too many educational consultants keep screaming that “testing is coming back.” So let me step once more into the void and venture to give some guidance on whether (and when) to prepare for and take the SAT or ACT.

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Akil admissions, Admissions Tests, college admissions

Should You Take the SAT/ACT or Not?

For parents of 10th, 11th and 12th graders, the question of testing looms large (especially this fall as the test optional movement has really taken hold), so let me try to help you out and give you the lowdown to help you make decisions. I’m not going to do a detailed discussion of testing policy, overuse, misuse, or the like (that’s my day job and this is my side gig), rather I want parents to come away with the tools to make the 3 binary testing decisions on the road to college application:

  1. to prep for tests or not to prep
  2. to test or not to test
  3. to submit scores or not to submit

Also I might update this post like I do my College Admissions Resources post, so check back periodically.

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