When college admission boards look at a student’s application, the major turning point on acceptance is their standardized test scores like the SAT and ACT. This does allow for a cut off to who should be accepted into a college regarding to academics, but should the SAT be the main focus of college admittance?

The SAT and ACT are two major tests that take up a chunk of a student’s day, and the testing process itself determines the success of a student’s score. Thankfully, there is no limit to the amount of times you can take the test. Unfortunately, this test does not always accurately gauge a student’s capability. The poor test taker could be the one with most participation and effort in an actual classroom setting.

Over the past couple of years, many colleges and universities throughout the country have been offering a test optional policy. Basically, a student may decide to opt out of turning in their SAT and ACT score if they so choose.

This is good for many reasons. For example if you decide to not turn in your test score, the college has no choice but to focus on your GPA in high school and extracurricular activities. This may be good for many students who received good grades and participated in sports, clubs, teams, etc. But what about the student who kept to themselves in high school and did not participate in much? Is a college allowed to accept and decline two students just based on if they played on a team? How does an extracurricular make one student’s “A” differ from another’s?

The majority of high school students will participate in at least one extracurricular activity. And yes, colleges do look at these clubs/organizations that a student takes part in, but should this be a more important factor in college decision? There has to be an ability to work together in college, and if admissions primary focus is on a score on a test, there is no way to distinguish who is going to contribute positivity to a campus.

All in all, yes there needs to be a cut off to college acceptances, and SAT scores is a great way to narrow down an admission office’s options. But, a test that a student takes for five hours on a Saturday morning does not usually accurately portray a student’s academic ability. There is a need for more standards in college admissions. After all, standardized tests are not good do not work well for non-standardized minds.