The acute stress of standardized testing is a feeling all too familiar for college students. Only a few years ago, USC students were high schoolers studying for the ACT and SAT with mounting pressure. One early morning in a crowded testing center, they each took the test that no doubt played a role in determining their future and acceptance into USC.
Already stressful and drawn out as it is, the coronavirus pandemic managed to transform standardized testing into an even more anxiety-inducing process. Due to current restrictions and regulations, the College Board cannot allow testing to take place in May and June, and it’s uncertain when in person tests will be offered again. Because of this, USC should drop the SAT and ACT requirement for Fall 2021 applicants.
Many students use their junior year to take the SAT or ACT, but due to the closures caused by the coronavirus, an estimated 1 million high school juniors are unable to take the exams as planned. With a future extremely uncertain and testing centers not reopening until after June, it is unfair to expect students to be able to take the test, let alone score as highly as they could under normal circumstances.
More than 50 universities have already dropped these standardized test application requirements for the next admissions cycle, including Boston University, all University of California campuses and California State University campuses, University of Washington and Tulane University.
College Board CEO David Coleman said that if schools do not return this fall, the SAT would be converted to something that could be taken at home, and a spokesperson for the ACT said the company would also be prepared to move digital for at-home testing. However, not all students have access to quiet spaces in their homes or adequate technology.
This possible at-home solution would only exacerbate existing inequalities in standardized testing. Universities such as USC can avoid these inevitable inequalities by simply not requiring students to submit standardized test scores with their applications.
Although the debate surrounding standardized testing has ramped up in recent years, a suspension of SAT and ACT scores for those entering college in Fall 2021 does not mean universities have to do away with testing forever. It could, however, provide USC with an opportunity to see what admissions could look like without the requirement of a test with results largely contingent on socioeconomic status.
After a company falsified test scores and gave other students unneeded extended time during the Varsity Blues scandal that surfaced March 2019, changing testing requirements for Fall 2021 also acts as a forced trial run of what the future of college admissions should look like in avoiding the potential for these practices. Standardized testing results oftentimes reflect expensive personal tutors and prep classes a family can afford to buy, rather than solely the student’s aptitude. Therefore, a year without standardized testing requirements is not only necessary during this time but also offers a great chance for schools to reinvent their admissions criteria and processes.
Many students take the tests multiple times to improve upon past scores and receive the best possible mark they can. This upcoming year, for merit scholarship consideration, the USC application deadline is Dec. 1, for the regular first-year application, the deadline is Jan. 15. These early deadlines combined with the cancellations caused by the pandemic give current juniors a narrow window to earn the score they are striving for before they must submit them with their applications. Again, it is not even guaranteed in-person testing will open once again in the fall making the uncertainty of this application cycle only stronger.
The decision about testing requirements is one the University must resolve now. By waiting out the situation and delaying a decision, USC increases anxiety for current high school students who are already dealing with an extremely uncertain future.
Given that standardized testing has already been canceled for May and June, USC should follow countless other schools and make standardized testing optional. In a time of complete chaos and change, ending the requirements for the SAT and ACT for the next admissions cycle gives high schoolers one fewer thing to worry about.
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April 20, 2020 at 10:18AM
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USC should suspend SAT and ACT requirements in the next admissions cycle - Daily Trojan Online
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