UC’s going test blind for SAT/ACT

By Woohyun Song

Valencia High School

Standardized testing has been a rather normalized part of students’ lives, with many spending hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars on test preparation for the SAT and ACT tests. Recently, many colleges stopped requiring tests and instead, became test-optional, test-blind, or other variants of this policy. However, with the pandemic, an increasing number of colleges have made standardized test less necessary, most notably, the University of California system. The UC system has made especially radical changes so that it will be test-optional for students coming in the fall of 2021 and 2022, and test-blind for the fall of 2023 and 2024.

Many have praised the timely action of the UC system, considering how a large number of students who are applying to college this year (largely comprising of graduating high school seniors) are unable to take or improve scores on the SAT. This has greatly equalized the playing field for many students who are choosing to apply in the coming years for college as well. However, these decisions do bring up the question of whether standardized tests are necessary in the first place, or if they are even good indicators of academic ability. Many academics have often disputed the fairness and effectiveness of tests and a fair amount of educators have called for outright removal. Students are often the most vocal about problems with standardized tests. Joseph Kim, a student in 9th grade attending Cypress High School expressed, “Affluent students can better prepare for the test because they usually have more resources,” but has also noted that other factors of the college application process, such as extracurriculars or GPA could also be similarly affected, potentially in a greater manner. Similarly, Daniel Kong, a student in 11th grade attending Sunny Hills High School said, “The tests test how good a test taker you are instead of your intelligence. This would give an advantage to those that have learned how to take the test from tutors and other academic institutions.” These perspectives bring into question the practicality of the tests.

There have been several studies observing the effectiveness of tests and various test-optional policies. One notable study was a 2018 study co-authored by Syverson, Franks, and Hiss and hosted by the NACAC This study found that test-optional schools saw an increase in applications from traditionally marginalized communities, such as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color), gender minorities, and impoverished communities. The study also revealed that while tests were useful in predicting first year GPA, they were not useful in final years, which is arguably when the numbers matter more. Instead, the most consistent indicator for success turned out to be high school GPA, especially for applicants who did not submit scores for standardized tests. Instead, tests turned out to only measure family income. Based on these statistics along with my personal experience preparing for and taking these tests, I believe that standardized testing is not just not necessary but overall bad for many students and further disadvantages historical minorities.