Navigating the Critical Changes in Admission Testing

Webinar Transcription

2026-09-01-Navigating the Critical Changes in Admission Testing

Alison: [00:00:00] Good evening, everyone. My name is Alison Vincent. I’m the VP of Operations here at CollegeAdvisor, and I’m gonna be your moderator today. Today’s webinar is a special se- session from Revolution Prep on, “Navigating the Critical Changes in Admissions Testing.” It’s a question that we all get every day. To orient everyone to the webinar timing, we’re gonna take a quick poll here at the start, see who’s in the room with us, and hear advice from our presenter, and then at the end, we’ll open the floor for live Q&A. On the sidebar, you’re gonna see that you can start submitting questions in the Q&A tab here as we get started. The slides are gonna be available under the Handouts tab, and remember, we will send out the recording at the end of this. Without further ado, let’s meet our presenter, Gregg Murray. Gregg, before we get started, can you tell us a little bit about your background?

Gregg: Sure. Thank you so much. Um, so my current role is Director of Strategic Partnerships and Educational Programming at Revolution Prep, which means I get the [00:01:00] privilege of participating in events like this, sharing our content and our knowledge on test prep, tutoring, executive function, and all things student support. And prior to that, I was on the high school side serving as a director of college counseling, worked on school… at schools on the East and West Coast, and all the while, I was a UCLA application reader. Prior, prior, I was on the admission side fully as an admissions rep at Northeastern University and the University of Massachusetts Amherst. So I have kind of sat on all sides of the desk. I think the desk is starting to feel more round than square, um, given how many sides I’ve sat on. But I’m eager to kind of share what I know and what we know at Revolution Prep with all of you tonight.

Alison: Fantastic. All right. Like I said, we are going to start out with a, a poll. Um, so first thing I’m gonna do is get this launched so everybody can answer the question. Um, and if everybody who’s [00:02:00] logged in tonight can go ahead and, um, and answer that question, that would be fantastic All right. While we’re waiting for everybody to, uh, to start that We will go ahead and, uh, keep it moving here All right. So Looks like most of the, the folks we’ve got with us tonight are either juniors or seniors, just so you can, um, you know, kind of tailor your conversation here. And I’m gonna turn it over to you, Gregg, and go off camera so, um, you can enjoy the rest of the presentation.

Gregg: Great. Thanks so much, and welcome [00:03:00] everybody. Um, so as you know, the title of tonight’s conversation is, “Navigating Critical Changes in Admissions Testing.” I would say this has been a staple title for us because there have been changes every year since pre-pandemic that warrant updates annually for families and students so that you all can stay on top of what, um, approaches would be best for you as you build your individual college lists and navigate your own process. So today we’re going to have four main sections, and we’ll move through them at a, a brisk pace because there’s lots to get through, but first we’ll talk landscape. There have been, uh, quite a few changes, like I said, and so we wanna just give you some foundational knowledge about what it will look like in the current application cycle, what we anticipate in the next, and we can forecast some of the things that are coming your way in future application cycles. Then we’ll talk about what to look out [00:04:00] for, um, how to read a college’s policy and what applicants are doing. We’ll do a comparison of the SAT and ACT. It’s kind of the age-old question, especially for juniors who are gearing up and deciding which test to prep for, which test to sit for. Um, there are differences in the tests that can feel substantive enough for a student to go one way versus the other, and for many students they will feel fairly similar and you may not notice a difference. And then we’ll finish by talking about how to build your plan, and after we’ll have some time for Q&A. So without further ado, my goal is to just lower the temperature. This process can feel really intense, and if you read the headlines, it can feel like you’re supposed to start to reverberate with nervousness and be anxious the whole way through. And I’m here to tell you that with a well-thought-out plan, that doesn’t have to be the case. Um, [00:05:00] testing almost always feels bigger than it is because there’s a one-day sitting or one or two official sittings, and students put a lot of pressure on themselves where they don’t necessarily do that over the course of four years and multi-hundreds of days, um, where getting a B on a test doesn’t feel as heavy as getting a particular score on the SAT or ACT. But what I can share is that most colleges don’t require a test. Most at this point are test optional, and the ones that do require the SAT or ACT are knowable for current, uh, applicants and near future applicants. A score is one signal among several. This essentially means that your transcript is the most important thing. What is layered within your transcript, that includes rigor, your course selection, and really taking the most, uh, appropriately [00:06:00] challenging curriculum that you can at the high school you attend. So rather than thinking about what every other high school around you offers, talking to a friend at another school and saying, “Ah, they’ve got nine APs and I’ve got five,” or, “They have three honors to my two,” if your school caps or does not offer certain courses, those aren’t benchmarks against which you’re compared. So you are apples to oranges in most cases when you’re thinking about students from other schools and other, um, curricular offerings. There is help, uh, with the cost. I’m always very transparent in saying that students who are a little bit anxious about testing because they see a price tag associated with it, know that there are fee waivers for students who qualify, and you can seek that information out from your college counselor, a school counselor, or an administrator at your school, and that can cover the cost of sitting for an exam, sending official scores, and even with the application [00:07:00] fees themselves. So never hesitate to ask if there’s support. There is usually something offered, even if it’s not, uh, advertised. And then you get more than one try. So most students improve on a retake, and most colleges super score, meaning that they will take a combination of multiple test dates. You have to take the same test, but if you take the SAT twice and you do better on the math the second time, they’ll pair that with your reading and writing on the first, and they’ll pull that all together into one composite score. So nothing’s decided today, and nothing’s decided forever All right, so let’s talk landscape. Testing policy is in a constant state of movement, but I’d say it’s more like tectonic plates than traffic. It’s not moving fast, it’s this slow progressive change that’s happening. Pre-pandemic, most colleges in the country were test [00:08:00] required, and a small subsection were test optional. Pandemic happened, that flipped. So we have four main testing policies, and I’d say three of them are really the dominant ones. You have test optional. Test optional is the choice you get to reveal a score or withhold a score depending on your choice. Test required is going to force your hand a little bit. A test required school is saying that in order for your application to be deemed complete, you must submit a test score, either self-reported or an official score from the testing agency. Test flexible is the smallest portion of the school population. This would be where a school might consider an AP score, an IB, or a graded paper in lieu of an official SAT or ACT, and this is probably… You can count the number of schools on one hand that fall into that category, but it can be helpful [00:09:00] if that is a school on your list. And then test free is a process by which the schools are saying, “We’re not going to offer you the chance to upload a score. We don’t even want to see it because we know that some students who have strong scores will want to push that through, and we’d rather just evaluate you with the information we need and are asking for.” Some of the bigger players in that test free world are the University of California and the California State University system, and those constitute a huge number of applicants nationwide. Um, the UCs alone I believe are s- usually hover around eight or seven of the most applied to colleges and universities in the country. Then admissions is just one of four doors. So a college can be test optional to get in and still want a score for money, meaning merit, honors, or perhaps course placement. So sometimes an international [00:10:00] student can reveal an, uh- SAT Reading and Writing to prove English proficiency. In other cases, some of the southern states offer guaranteed scholarships with a specific GPA and an SAT or ACT score, and you can just drag your finger across the chart and figure that all out. So what does it, what does it look like? What does it shake out as? Well, optional has this side of nuance, I call it the messy middle. So 3% of schools do not use admissions or do not use testing in admissions at all. 83% are in this messy middle. You’ve got variations on test optional, so it’s always worth reading the fine print or just reading any of the print, um, on the admissions website. There’s true test optional, where a school says there’s absolutely no consequence either way. If you submit a score, we’ll consider it. If you don’t, you have an equal shot at being admitted. [00:11:00] They also have some schools that say not required but recommended. This is one where you should pause and really consider and talk to your college counselor. If they’re saying it’s not required but recommended, this may be an expectation that the not required is only if you have extenuating circumstances that prevent you from sitting for a test. So proceed with caution there. It’s not a free pass. But there’s also this test flexible, which I mentioned, and some also fall into this category of required for some programs, majors, or scholarships. This is the one that I think catches many students, um, particularly STEM students who in 10th grade hear the words, “83% of schools are test optional and 3% are test free. That means 86% of schools are not gonna ask me for a test, therefore, I’m gonna bypass this whole testing thing and it’s gonna be a breeze.” And then a [00:12:00] year and a half later, they visit a campus, fall in love, and realize, “Oh, they’re part of the test required,” or, “My major is strongly encouraging this.” So be mindful of your programs. It’s common in the United States for students to look at an institutional level for policies, but with testing, it is starting to filter into the programmatic and the major level, not just the institutional. And then not required to apply but requested once you enroll. I love this one. My students, they were very suspicious, always wondering if there was a catch, and their question was If they see my score after they admit me, are they gonna rescind? And it’s not a, it’s not a gotcha moment. This is for institutional policy. They’re asking for the score so that they can decide who did we admit, how well are they performing once they get here? Do we wanna keep our test-free policy? [00:13:00] Do we wanna reintroduce test required, or are we okay being test optional? And then the last is required to submit an application. And of this 13%, I’d say the vast majority are highly selective institutions. Um, I’m talking IvyPlus, the, some of the top 50, they have returned to test required, and we’re gonna get into some of the, the details of that next. So the question that always follows is, well, who requires a score? I need to know so I can look at my list and really calibrate accordingly. So those that held the line throughout and kind of never faltered or wavered from requiring tests, MIT, Georgetown, UT Austin, the Georgia publics, which includes Georgia Tech, Caltech, otherwise known as California Institute of Technology, Purdue, which is public although many misunderstand that, and then you’ve got the Florida publics, the Florida State University, University of [00:14:00] Florida, and US military academies. So if you’re looking at Coast Guard, uh, West Point, Naval Academy, you’re going to want to anticipate that you need to prep and you need to get a strong score. Some have reinstated, so Columbia announced that in effect of August 2027, the applicants to the ’27, ’28 admission cycle will be required to submit a score. Yale’s back, Claremont McKenna, University of Alabama, Princeton, Auburn, and then Harvard, Brown, Dartmouth, Cornell, Stanford, Penn, Rice reinstated earlier. So if you are a student who’s in the top 25% of your class or loosely understands that if your school doesn’t rank, you are going to want to seriously consider mapping out a plan so that you can effectively prepare for these tests For those of you who are unsure, I would say go ahead and prep, [00:15:00] sit for practice tests, and build a plan anyways because, you know, Notre Dame is a recent example of a school that said just two and a half weeks ago, “We are reinstating testing requirements for all applicants seeking to enroll in fall 2028.” So that would be next year’s cycle is now going to be required to submit scores. So we’re seeing these pop up here and there. Like I said, it’s this tectonic movement. It’s slow, it’s subtle. It’s one school here, a few weeks later, another. Um, it’s not a waterfall effect where tons of schools are shifting back. And so if you’re a current junior, this is helpful information. If you’re a sophomore, be mindful of that shift. Keep an eye on things. Join us for our presentations in the future, and if you’re a ninth grader, anticipate that there’s gonna be a fair bit of change by the time you get to your applications. So who doesn’t require testing? Who’s in this test optional category? And we’re using some of the bigger names, [00:16:00] some of the more applied to colleges and universities in the country here, but we have known names like Duke, UChicago, WashU St. Louis, Wake Forest, Colby, Smith if you’re looking at women’s colleges, Northwestern, Vanderbilt. Um, I’ll let you read through the rest, but those are going to end up on many students’ lists in some way, shape, or form if they’re in a competitive spot. And then in the test-free category, where a score does nothing at all, all nine of the UC campuses, the University of California, and all 23 of the California state, and just a few other schools like Loyola New Orleans, Merrimack, Minerva. Um, they’re just a handful that fall into this category of test-free. So California has been on the news a lot lately. I live in the state of California. Things have been buzzing as it relates to the UC system because in the news there are calls from the faculty, [00:17:00] particularly in the STEM side of the faculty, the professors who are suggesting that they want testing to come back to their test-free institutions. In 2021, they went test free Then 2026, 200 or 2,400 STEM faculty said, “Bring it back. We’re not sure what’s going on with math skills. We wanna vet students before they come in.” And there’s a lot of controversy around what that means, but there is an update that they have moved the deadline to June 2027, so the regents of the University of California are going to be making some decisions about the future of what test-free looks like for the UC system. So to put that into context for those of you who it might impact, there are 146,000 plus first-year applicants to UCLA alone. Over a quarter of a million applicants across the UC system in one cycle. So that does have the potential [00:18:00] to impact many students, so it should be on your radar if you are thinking of moving west, or if you are looking at any of those big name institutions. So, the headlines say the review was canceled. It wasn’t. Um, keep your eyes peeled for that. So a lot of parents will ask me as a, a former college counselor, as somebody who works in the test prep space, “Why are they going back? It didn’t seem like the, the whole university system collapsed when schools were all test-free coming out of the pandemic.” But one of the things that’s been impacting those decisions a bit is that there’s a pretty big degree of grade inflation happening nationwide. Um, if you look at this blue curve here- The average grade used to be a C. So the traditional bell curve was that a small percentage of students would get an A, a slightly bigger percentage would get a B, [00:19:00] the majority were in the middle, and then it would taper off again. Now, coming out of the pandemic, there were some schools that said an F at 50 points is low enough because every letter grade is about 10 poi- a 10-point spread, so why do we have a 50-point or a 60-point spread for an F? So they moved the bottom up. There was also some kindness being offered to students who were n- not performing as well with virtual learning, and so we saw this spike. And so right now, the statistics and data suggest that almost 80% of students who are coming out of high school have an A+, A, or A-, which in the context of some schools that are getting over 100,000 applications, that means nearly 80,000 of those applicants have an A, which means colleges and universities have to look to other metrics to make a decision on who to admit. Because activities can be highly subjective, because [00:20:00] grades are inflated, schools can look to tests to be the standardized metric by which they compare students across lots of different schools. That’s not to say it’s a perfect system, but it is one of many variables that colleges and universities will consider. A high test score with low grades generally isn’t going to bust the door open for you, but high grades with a decent score might push it open a little bit further. So it’s something to keep in mind for you, and they are also looking at your rigor, your academic context, your essays, and so there’s quite a lot that is taken into cons- consideration when they’re looking at the application in its entirety. Colleges and universities call it holistic admissions. So what to look for- out for The operates soared coming out of the pandemic, which is still having a lasting impact. Test optional policies changed the math of applying for everyone in the pool. So [00:21:00] optional policies first widened the applicant pool. A student who was interested in Harvard before and had a really strong GPA with academic rigor, but maybe only had an 1100, would opt out. Their counselors would say, “It’s not competitive enough. You don’t have the key data points to be in that pool, and farewell.” So that phased out a lot of students that otherwise might have been hopeful. When the testing got removed, any student with an A or higher, which you just saw is most of the country at this point, said, “Now’s my shot. I’m gonna give… I’m gonna throw my hat in the ring and hope for the best.” So what did that do? Skyrocketed those applications, but colleges didn’t add more seats, so they couldn’t, uh, they couldn’t absorb more students simply because there were more applying. So on the data points, that meant that they were rejecting more students than ever before. What happens when [00:22:00] it… something feels inaccessible to a high school student? Well, they just want it even more. Um, so that made it so that a lot of students were building really ambitious lists, hoping that they would get through the side and be admitted Applications per student also rose. So Common App shared that they’re up to seven as an average application number per student from five just a few years before. I think some of that uncertainty, the applicant pools sort of expanding meant that students felt this level of uncertainty where they thought, “I’d better add more schools.” My advice would be strategically add the right schools, don’t just add more to have a cushion. And then colleges were admitting fewer students to manage yield because they didn’t know where students were going to attend. They were using wait lists. They were deferring students because they wanted to see who was truly interested, and they needed to see if students they were admitting were accepting [00:23:00] spots at other institutions. So it kind of dragged the process out a little bit later into the spring. And overall, admit rates fell 30 to 40% at some of the most selective schools. So all to say that you should be really thoughtful, research your schools, and put in the time to make sure that you’re applying to places that you feel like you have a good chance. You’ll have some reaches, some targets, and some likelies that will hopefully shake out and present some options for you to enroll. So reading the room, at test-optional colleges, the share of admitted students who submitted scores varies enormously. So at… S- And one caveat here is that some of these schools have returned back to test required, so this is some data that’s lagging. So at Duke, 81% of students were submitting their scores. Northwestern, almost 80%. Princeton, 77. Princeton’s back required, so it’ll jump up to 100%. [00:24:00] U Chicago has long been a proponent of test optional, and yet 76% of students are saying, “I have a score that I want to show you,” which tells you that those are pretty good scores. And on the fewest submitted, and you could maybe call these schools ones that are Admitting at a higher rate or more receptive to students who are applying without scores, but at Wesleyan, they’re enrolling a full class even though 42% of students are submitting scores. Same for Middlebury, just a little bit lower for Colgate and Vassar. NYU is at only 39% of students admitting scores, and that’s a pretty big applicant pool. So this might tell you something about the way to maneuver, and for those who may be unfamiliar with how this looks on the application side, when you’re applying, you might apply on a Tuesday to Wesleyan, Wednesday to Middlebury, Thursday to Colgate. And so on each school, you [00:25:00] get the choice as to whether or not you’re going to self-report your score or send it officially. So you could choose to send to Wesleyan and then not to Middlebury, and then make a decision on Colgate. So the schools that are admitting students with fewer submissions on test scores might be ones where you could get away with not submitting a score, and it’ll be okay. Then at these other ones, it should be a really conscious decision for you. So you’ve got same policy with really opposite realities. So optional at one is not an optional in another Some schools, thankfully, are telling you the line. So Tufts and Tulane I wanna highlight here because they have been helpful. Tufts encourages applicants with a 1300 or higher on the SAT or a 2800… or 28 plus on the ACT to submit. So that will run counterintuitive to some of the advice that college counselors have been giving over the past few years. Most have said, “If you’re at the middle [00:26:00] 50% or above of last year’s accepted students, go ahead and submit. If you’re below the middle 50%, be cautious.” Tufts is 98% of their applicants had a 1400 or better, but they are saying that there are some applicants in the pool who are in this 1300 to 1400 range who would benefit by sharing that result with them. Tulane came with the same advice, same numbers. 1300 plus or a 28 plus will be something that they’d like to see. And then they go a step further and say, “While not required, the submission of the SAT, ACT, and/or AP exams,” blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, “will be a preferred credential for students seeking academic merit scholarship.” So you will need to present some sort of testing if you’re hoping to get merit scholarship at Tulane. And they also say an AP score of four or five may strengthen an application. And I’ve had students who have said, “If it’s not a five, [00:27:00] I’m not showing it.” They are telling you definitively, “Send us a four,” and many schools will be thrilled to see a three. So a college that publishes the number, a number, has told you what optional means, and so be thankful for these schools. They’re among the few that have started this trend, but we hope to see more. Going a step beyond, there are a couple of other variations that you should be aware of if you’re looking at highly selective schools. So Caltech, very small school out here in California, has some pretty strong STEM students if you know the school. At their institution, they’re using something called the bucket system. If a student is scoring 780 to 800, so at the very tippity top of a section or a 35 to a 36, the reader does not see your score. They simply see that you’re in bucket A. Then if you’re in the 750 to 770 range or a 33 to a 34, they’re gonna see bucket B, and [00:28:00] then below 750 they’ll see your actual score. So what they’re doing is giving you a little bit of room not to retest to try to squeak out another couple of points. They’re saying, “If you’re in bucket A or bucket B, you’re fine within that range.” They know that there’s a margin of error on the SAT and ACT, and so they have calibrated accordingly. So they’re saying chasing the last 10 points buys you nothing AP scores are now part of the conversation in a way that they haven’t been in the past. Stanford is saying if you’ve taken AP exams, you are required to self-report all of them. MIT says you should self-report scores from all exams taken, and while U- for- UCs are test free, they do ask students to self-report and, um, Berkeley calls AP scores a primary review factor. So while UCs are publicly test free, that refers to the SAT and ACT, but the AP scores are in the mix [00:29:00] So applying without a score, when would you do it? It’s, um, it’s an option. There’s a lot of hesitancy, but I’ll read the left side and the opposite will be true on the right side. So lean in favor of applying without if college admits more than half of applicants without a score, if your transcript is exceptional on both GPA and rigor, if the college explicitly says that not submitting will not harm you, if published data shows that a lower share of applicants submit, if you’re applying to a non-STEM program, so this is where that program level specification comes in, always refer to the admissions website for that, and if you’re a recruited athlete or applying to arts or music. So the one disclaimer on the recruited athlete is if you’re applying to IvyPlus, if you’re applying to military academy, just be mindful of that institution’s [00:30:00] specific policies. But if you’re applying arts or music, they’re gonna lean more on your portfolio than they are on testing in almost all cases. When opting-in helps, and I touched on this just a little bit but there’s a lot of merit money out there and my students that I’ve worked with in the past, parents, assume that in order to get merit money you have to have this super high tippity top score and I’m here to tell you that’s just not the case.

Gregg: At some flagship institutions, more and more schools are starting to say, “If you have an 1150 or above we will guarantee you a scholarship at a 3.0 or 3.3 or 3.5.” And they’ll have tiers of scholarships. So University of Alabama, U of Arizona, Wyoming, Ole Miss, Kentucky, Arkansas, they are offering merit money. Some presidential scholars programs also link to test scores. And then Honors Colleges. Sometimes you can get admitted to a really amazing flagship institution and they’ll offer an Honors College that gives you this small liberal arts feel at a bigger institution with research and their admissions offer may be contingent on test scores or maybe you might be advantaged by submitting a test score. And then lastly, course placement. Sometimes just having a strong score can get you out of a prerequisite course or advance you into a higher level. The reason I bring this up is many students will make this decision in 10th grade when they see their PSAT score. Maybe 11th grade when they see that PSAT score and they’ll make decisions that will have implications in fall and spring of senior year. So don’t rule yourself out before you know what those consequences are. Lots to be said for sitting for the test even if you don’t think you’re gonna get a super high score. I’ll breeze through this for the sake of time but there is some research that was done by Dartmouth that changed their mind that brought them back to Test-Required. They are suggesting that for first-generation and below-median-income applicants and for students from high-challenged high schools, a 1420 measurably improved admissions odds. So while counterintuitive to send a score that would be that low to Dartmouth relative to it so there applicants, that can be a benefit to certain students who may have other obstacles in their way. Test optional didn’t do what it was meant for according to Dartmouth, so the share of first year and low income students did not rise under this policy. So there’s, there’s a, a split, uh, perspective on this, this whole landscape issue. Um, one thing for probably our sophomores and freshmen who are watching, there’s something coming down the [00:33:00] pike called the Admissions and Data Transparency Act, and not to be mistaken with… Or they’re calling it the Admissions and Consumer Transparency Supplement, the acronym for which is ACTS, and we have the ACT. Two different things. But this was a presidential memorandum directing four-year colleges to report six years of admissions data, and what would be included in that is the admit rates for test submitters versus non-submitters. Currently, we don’t have visibility on that. The test score and GPA quintiles, so how did a student score relative to their GPA? Score bands tied to merit aid. So this is a huge level of visibility that has been missing, but this is fairly controversial because there’s also a lot of race and ethnicity data mixed into this, and so about 17 states have blockaded this with lawsuits. Um, a high-level admissions representative from the [00:34:00] South recently said most schools are revealing the data, so it’s gonna show up slowly, but it’s going to be stalled from some places. But for those younger year students, you’re probably gonna see a little bit more information to work with than the current year applicants. So moving on to SAT versus ACT. Um- Parents and guardians, if you’re watching, just hold onto your seats, it’s not gonna feel fair. Both tests have gotten way shorter. The SAT kicked it off. They shifted to a digital adaptive test just a few years back, and they brought the test from over three hours down to two hours and 14 minutes. The digital-only approach is facilitated through an app that they call Bluebook. The test is adaptive, which I’ll talk about in a moment, and their scale is 400 to 1600. So if you’re a parent and guardian in the millennial ages, you may be thinking back on a 2400 point scale and having a hard time [00:35:00] adjusting as your students says their score, and you gasp and say, “Well, we’ve gotta get that up.” But they’re on a 1600 point scale these days, and the content is covering math, reading, and writing. Every question has its own short passage, and no science section, so it’s not even an option, and math is about 50% of the total weight. This test really prioritizes critical thinking. It’s a faster test. There are more questions over those two hours and 14 minutes than there are on the ACT, so… Or fewer questions, but more challenging. So you’ve gotta use a little more firepower. They take a little longer to work through. They’re not easier or harder, they’re just different. For the ACT, they saw SAT shift to digital, and they said, “Us too,” and then they said, “We know our audience. Instead of two hours and 14 minutes, we’ll undercut them at two hours and five, or about three hours if students opt into science.” They are [00:36:00] keeping both the digital and the paper. Their test is linear, which means every question will remain the same no matter how you performed on the last section, the last question, and that’s different than what the SAT is doing. The scale ranges from one to 36, and they have the math, English, reading, and the optional science section. Science is only required by four colleges in the country right now, with a handful more saying that they recommend it. They have long passages, little bit longer, and five to 10 questions each The ma- or the science section is optional, but the one caveat on this is that it’s not included in your composite. It’s a separate subscore. So if you’re a little hesitant that it will impact your overall score, fear not, it will be a separate section. The math weights at about 33% of your total because you have math, English, and reading. And then this one because there are more questions in the test and the [00:37:00] timeframe is a little bit shorter, you’re gonna have to move at a brisker pace to get through those questions. Just like I’m gonna have to move through at a brisker pace to get through all these slides. Um, so I mentioned that the SAT was adaptive, and what that essentially means is the first module for reading and writing and the first module for math will track you into a more challenging second module or an easier module. So module one for reading and writing is 27 questions, 32 minutes, and then you shift to module two at 27 questions, 32 minutes. So if you do really well in module one, you’ll be tracked into a more challenging module two. If you’re not doing so hot, they’re not gonna keep clobbering you over the head with challenging questions. They’ll still give you some, but they’re gonna lighten up and that will impact the overall score. You then get a break, and then you shift into your 22 math questions at 35 minutes, and then the easier or more challenging module two. So [00:38:00] each section routes on its own, so if you do well in English and not so great in math, you could be in the higher module for English and the lighter module for math. So the score ranges overlap. There’s a, a misperception or a misunderstanding that you either get a great score or a bad score depending on the module you land in. They do overlap, so don’t worry if you don’t knock it out of the park in that first module, and here’s where the overlaps exist. So it’s a measurement range The College Board says you’re not disadvantaged by seeing a lower difficulty set, and my advice to students would be don’t try to anticipate the test, don’t read too much into it, and don’t psych yourself out. If you feel like the module two questions got really hard, don’t panic and say, “Oh my God. I’m in the more challenging module. Everything’s gonna be impossible.” And [00:39:00] conversely, if you’re feeling like the first few questions are easier than anticipated, don’t assume that your score is going to be a throwaway and it’s not worth trying anymore. You might be surprised, and most students aren’t adept enough at understanding the questions to gauge which module they’re in. So module one is where it’s decided, though. So come into that test ready, stretched, warmed up, and ready to go because your performance in that module will determine module two. So what’s changed on the ACT? Like I said, shorter with more time per question, so they did give you a little more time than they have offered historically, but it’s marginal. It’s seconds per question that may not be noticeable to most students. Science is optional, um- Test is linear, meaning there’s no adapting or adapting to how you perform. If you get every single one of the questions [00:40:00] right in the beginning, you’ll get whatever score you get, no matter what you do in the second half. And if you get every single one wrong, it doesn’t change the rigor of the test. And one nice change, I think, for a lot of students is that they shifted from five choices to four, so there’s one less thing to rule out. Um, and they had a difficult rollout. They, they rolled this out last year. There’s a lot of buzz online. Um, some schools are holding steady with the paper and pencil. Others are feeling better about the digital, the digital option. Um, so it’s the growing pains of rolling out one of the largest standardized tests in the world. Um, and I trust they’ll get there. Um, the science question, so if you’re a parent or guardian registering your student for these tests, just be mindful of what you’re signing your student up for. If you’re looking right now at Georgetown, Marquette, Pomona, George Washington University’s Bachelor of Science MD program, [00:41:00] um, or UMKC’s BS/MD program, so any BS/MD program, those are really advanced, and you should be, um, double-checking the science. Duke, Michigan State, and RIT recommend it, so if you’re taking ACT, I’d say go for that. Um, but surprisingly, Georgia Tech, I would have thought they’d be in the mix, but they’ve said they’re gonna ignore it. So these are the slowest to change, sometimes the least obvious on websites. I would say when in doubt, if you can’t find it on the admissions website, reach out directly to the institution and find out their policy. So- Which test is right for you? There’s a helpful way to figure it out. You can take a practice test, which we happen to offer. Um, Revolution Prep has, uh, practice PSAT, practice SAT, practice ACT, and after taking those, you can get a baseline score that will help you decide if one test might be favorable over the other. [00:42:00] So if you get a 30 on a practice ACT and a 1430 or to a 1450 on the SAT, the advice would be lean SAT. If you get a 32 and a 1230, then the ACT is the clear winner. For most students, it falls somewhere in that messy middle where it’s not clear. It might just shake out to be a preference for your student. They might have preferred one test or felt more comfortable with the interface, or quite frankly, for some of my students, it just came down to, “I’m free on the weekend that they have ACT, and the other weekend bumps up against our spring break, and we’ll be traveling.” So if there’s no decision that is consequential and your scores are pretty similar, you can kind of pick based on what works best for your calendar. But these concordance charts can be a helpful guide for you. So building your plan, um, one exam at a time. Don’t do two. Two is going to split you [00:43:00] across two formats, two pacing habits, half of the repetition in each, progress on both and mastery in neither, and it’s just twice the calendaring, twice the fatigue, and it’s the busiest time of year in junior, uh, when you’re a junior. So you don’t wanna fragment your time like that. You wanna enjoy high school. Um, so lean towards one test. Take those practice tests. I’ve had students come into my office every year that I’ve ever been a college counselor and look for somebody to tell them which test would be better without taking the practice test, and it really is the best way. There’s nobody that’s gonna give you a, a clear answer until you sit for both and then commit to a prep plan and move forward on it So prep for the format you picked, ACT fixed format, every student sees the same questions, practice your speed and accuracy, read or run full t- full-length timed exams. And then for the digital adaptive, maybe [00:44:00] it’s just focusing on module one, really trying to hone in. Practice using some of those embedded features on the Blue Book interface. They have a Desmos calculator. If you don’t know what that is, you should familiarize yourself with it. If you want to practice with that, um, Revolution Prep’s practice tests have the same functionality. Um, College Board will grant you access for free practice tests, but it’s good to learn how to use those before test day because they can eat away some of your time. So as we coast into the end here, my advice is practice first, prep, sit for an official exam, give yourself time for a retake so that you can get that super score, and submit or don’t submit. But if you’re submitting, know the difference between a self-reported and an official request. Some schools, I believe USC falls into this category, of if you’re going to submit a score, they want it to come officially from the testing agency, not just be [00:45:00] self-reported, and that’s on students to know those policies. So most schools do super score, so a retake can help and rarely hurts. There are just a few schools out there that say, “We want your highest single day test.” How much to prep and what kinds? Um, these are loose guidelines, but Revolution Prep suggests anywhere from six to 12 weeks, which in the framework of a school year is about one trimester plus a week or two. So if you’re prepping for six or 12 weeks, that’s about two hours per week. It’s a nice long runway. It’s best when you have real gaps and you want to really up your score. If you’re already in a strong position and you feel like you can plug away at two hours a week for six weeks, that gets you 12 hours of instruction. And there are different options. You’ve got self-directed if you feel disciplined enough to hold yourself accountable, do the practice sets, work through [00:46:00] problems you don’t understand, self-directed can be great. It’s also the cheapest. There’s small group, which addresses general things, is gonna help you with pacing. This is great for a student who kind of falls in that middle range score. There’s nothing specific that you need to work on, but all help would be good help. And then one-to-one is for students who are looking for precision. They need to up their math. They have a specific section of math that they’re working on, and they’re really fine-tuning their process. And all of these can either be, um, one-to-one, small group, self-directed, um- These six-week and 12-week frameworks are for our small group classes, but they’re still good benchmarks for you. So building backwards, I’ll let you all take a snapshot of this, but loosely speaking, these are the six week and 12 weeks ahead. You’ll want to have a practice test done before this in order to register and sit for an official test. So March [00:47:00] 6th is a busy test date for most juniors. Most schools advise students to sit for an official test by the end of junior year so that they have something to head into summer with. So that is a popular date, along with May 1, but May 1 sometimes bumps up against AP exams, so just be on the lookout for that calendar conflict. So where to start? Sit for a practice test. Get Revolution Prep Score Report Plus. Um, our score report is pretty astounding these days. It’s offering not just the what you got right and what you got wrong, it’s actually offering actionable insights on what you can work on, how to up your score, and we also offer a free score report review to go over that with one of our experts if you so choose. And there’s no purchase or obligation to these. They’re just information for students to get more comfortable with the test. So I know I’m closing in. I’m a few minutes over here, but, um, takeaways, most colleges still don’t require [00:48:00] a score, but they can be helpful to you for merit, honors college admissions, presidential scholarships, and, um, course placement. Optional means very different things at different institutions, so really unpack that term and don’t think that it’s a universal term. Pick one test and then commit, and then build the plan backwards. Identify your target test date, and then map out the course of when you need to start prep. Think about any holidays or school breaks that would interrupt that plan and work those into it. And lastly, if you’re interested, um, we’re happy to chat with you to help you develop your own personalized plan, talk through what prep might look like, official tests might look like, and different ways to support you along that journey. And if you schedule today, there’s an opportunity to get $200 off, which never hurts as you’re facing this process, which can sometimes feel a [00:49:00] little bit, um, costly. Um, so any little bit helps All right. So I think at this point we’re gonna open it up to questions. So Alison, I’ll let you maybe kick us off and we’ll see what’s in the Q&A here. Yes.

Alison: Definitely. Thank you. Uh, thank you, Gregg. It… Definitely a lot of great information. I know I wish I would’ve had that about 30 years ago when I was sitting for my SATs, so. I

Gregg: wish, I, I wish I would’ve had it. I sit here and-

Alison: Exactly, yes … give you the advice

Gregg: I never had myself.

Alison: Exactly. Awesome. Well, we’ve got a great question from Grace. Um, she’s talking about your quote about optional policies really widen the applicant pool for colleges.

Gregg: Mm-hmm.

Alison: And her question is, isn’t this what the colleges are looking for because they make money from application fees?

Gregg: Ah, you’re my kind of people, Grace. You have good discernment. Um, yes, I would say colleges and universities, without casting a [00:50:00] negative light on them, they are operating with a bottom line in mind. They are trying to generate revenue in ways that allow them to support recruitment and new facilities and new campus, uh, opportunities. And so they are looking to get the biggest applicant pool, and in some ways that can feel like they’re recruiting you and in a dishonest way or a misleading way. And having been on the admission side, what I’ll say is they’re looking to admit as many students as possible, offer as much insight, and let you find them, but in doing so, sometimes students will apply that maybe it’s way beyond their reach and they don’t understand that. And so that’s where starting early, coming to sessions like this will be essential to elevate your knowledge so that you can make informed decisions.

Alison: Awesome. Um, Sunil asked, “Can a 1550 SAT and straight fives on all the AP exams compensate for being outside the top 10% of a [00:51:00] class in a highly competitive public high school, um, when applying to Ivies and Ivy-plus universities?”

Gregg: Absolutely. I think you have so much with that holistic admissions review, especially at the, the higher range, they’re looking at supplemental essays, your story, the context of what resources you had, what you did with those accomplishments, um, and your sense of purpose. I’d say one of the things that I talk most with students about is just crafting your narrative and telling them what you’re gonna do with the opportunity if you’re afforded that, and if you can share a compelling story about what you’ll do with those resources, they may say you’re the right fit. We’re not just looking at a, a clear cutoff of top 10%.

Alison: Awesome. Fantastic. And then we also have a question from Joe, what do you best recommend for somebody, um, how someone is studying for the PSAT? What weight does it [00:52:00] carry? Um, is it, it, does it carry any weight with specific schools? And his- Yeah … Joe’s planning on taking it this year.

Gregg: Got it. So for 10th graders, no issues. It’s just a practice test in all the ways that your school’s probably telling you. For 11th grade, if you happen to be in the very small bracket of the top 1% of test takers in your state, you may be eligible for something called the National Merit Qualifying, uh, Scholarship, and that is a national competition that essentially is identifying the top test takers nationwide and offers a smaller scholarship. Some schools will match a bigger scholarship if you apply to their institutions. But I would say if you’re in the loosely 1450 plus range, go ahead and prep if you’re an 11th grader and see if you can squeak out those points to be in the top category. But for all other students, it’s just more feedback, more of a benchmark to see where you are in that moment in time, and more [00:53:00] information to prep for the next round of official testing. And the scores for PSATs don’t go to colleges traditionally. They may be asked of you for a summer program, but generally those are yours to keep and yours for informational purposes.

Alison: Awesome. Raman is asking, um, any recommendations either ACT or SAT if they’re applying to BS/MD programs in particular?

Gregg: Uh, not that I know of. I haven’t heard that there’s a preference one way or the other. Most colleges at this point have said pretty bluntly, “We’ll take either. We’re not gonna side with one or the other.” But again, this is the unfortunate it depends of college admissions, which if you haven’t heard it yet, you’re gonna hear it a lot as you move through this. Um, and Allison’s smirking because she knows it all too well. But always lean on the admissions website as your true source of information, and I’ll go a step further and say never rely on AI. It’s gonna pull [00:54:00] blogs and all sorts of random things, and it could lead you down the wrong path or misadvise you, so trust the source.

Alison: Awesome. And then another question from Grace. Um, for those of us entering college in 2029, do you see the test requirement landscape changing significantly for more of the top universities or top liberal arts universities?

Gregg: Uh, I’m gonna stick to my it’s moving at a glacial, it’s, it’s the tectonic plate analogies. Um, I… The, the Ivies have already all announced that they’re back, with Columbia being the most recent, so they’ve already said they’re test required. Who else falls into that top liberal arts category? It’s, it’s a mixed bag. Some really have a strong preference to stay test optional, and they are proponents of that, and others have said, “We’d consider it.”

Alison: Awesome. All right. And, um, Sankar [00:55:00] is asking, “Less than three goals in the first two years, straight As thereafter, top public choice school, 1560 SAT, a patent. Should we even try top schools with a poor unweighted GPA, or settle for tier two or tier two regional colleges?”

Gregg: Uh, that feels like a tough choice there. I feel like there’s something in between those two options.

Alison: Yeah.

Gregg: Um, depending on finances, of course, but I would say- Um- … don’t rule anything out too early. I’ve seen so many students and families kind of make these, uh, strong decisions about what the future holds two years ahead, and, um, an upward trajectory can change the outcome, the strong test scores, a patent can really have a positive influence on your application, so I wouldn’t say rule it out, but I would say build a balanced list that has options if those schools don’t admit you.

Alison: Awesome. And one last question here from Graham, “Can a [00:56:00] 1230 SAT with fours on AP ex- AP exams plus a capstone diploma from a public school get my daughter accepted to a top 50 college or university?”

Gregg: You all are looking for admissions decisions from me. I don’t work for these schools, folks. Um, not uncommon though, I’m just teasing. But I would say this, almost the same response. Your application is… It, it’s accounting for so many variables. I had one student who had maybe three APs going into senior year. He had one or two more going, uh, on his senior year transcript. He applied test optional. He was admitted to U Chicago. He was an incredibly interesting student. He didn’t have a lot of the conventional accolades, but he was a fascinating applicant who thought very differently and wrote stellar applications for that school. He had a lot going for him, yes, but I would say don’t rule yourself out based on one or two data points. It’s… They’re looking at hundreds, and many of you are only [00:57:00] looking at one or two, and give them the opportunity to review you as a complete applicant

Alison: Awesome. Well, thank you everyone for joining us tonight. Thank you very much, Gregg, for all of the great information and for your presentation. I hope everybody gained as much, um, from this as I did and gained some great strategies for navigating the changes in college admissions testing. We’ll hope you join us for future webinars, and until next time, take care and have a great evening, everyone. Thank you so much!