Covid-19 and standardized testing: Second Scenario
In the second scenario, if state clearance is not in place in time to permit the administering of the August SAT, it is entirely possible that colleges will not want their application season contingent upon students’ opportunity to take the SAT and ACT. In this case, colleges will waive standardized testing for that admission cycle, essentially going Test Optional nationwide for the class of 2021. In place of the SAT/ACT, the colleges will impose some other requirements such as a graded writing sample or extra essays. Either way, there will be additional hoops to jump through. Graduate school programs are already setting precedent for this scenario with universities poised to announce their waiving of GRE and GMAT scores for admission for Masters and MBA programs.
The impact of this scenario could, of course, be devastating for the College Board and ACT Inc.. Once we get used to something, we are likely to stick with it, and both testing bureaus could find their positions precarious for future admission cycles. In an effort to avoid this, the testing bureaus may be driven to a third scenario.
Marlee Napurano, BA Yale University, is Co-founder of WaveLength tutoring and test prep, a test preparation and college consulting company in its 19th year serving Monmouth and Ocean counties.
