Taking the SAT or ACT is often a source of stress for students, as some spend weeks or months prepping to try to earn a score high enough to land at their ideal college. But many schools are placing less emphasis on these standardized test scores in the admissions process and are instead focusing on other factors, like GPA and essays.
More than 2,000 four-year U.S. colleges, the vast majority, are test optional or test blind for fall 2026, according to the National Center for Fair & Open Testing, a nonprofit advocacy group commonly known as FairTest. This trend, while not new, was accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, when many students were unable to access testing sites.
However, some colleges — particularly more selective institutions — have reverted to requiring tests.
“?I think a lot of schools will have found that being test optional or even test blind is beneficial for a lot of students and they’ll continue in that mode,” says Sue Corner, dean of undergraduate admissions for Willamette University in Oregon. “And for those schools that do return, that’s not to indicate that that’s a bad choice or not good to do. I think it really is up to the institution. But those of us that can eliminate a credential that can be a true barrier to a student who absolutely is demonstrating proficiency and readiness and potential in every other way, I think that feels pretty good to a lot of institutions who post-pandemic have discovered that’s kind of the scenario.”
[Read: A Complete Guide to the College Application Process.]
Test-Optional vs. Test-Blind Admissions
A test-optional policy — implemented at schools such as Appalachian State University in North Carolina, William & Mary in Virginia and the University of Chicago in Illinois — typically allows first-year students to decide whether to submit their SAT or ACT scores to a college.
Far less common are test-blind or test-free policies, which are in place at the University of California system and schools like Boise State University in Idaho and Whittier College in California. Those policies mean that even if a student submits SAT or ACT scores, the school won’t consider them during the application process.
Test-blind and test-optional policies often come with caveats. For instance, a college may claim to be test optional, but still require scores for certain programming or out-of-state applicants. Some test-optional schools consider test scores when determining merit scholarship recipients.
“It varies from school to school, like anything else,” says Bari Norman, co-founder and head counselor at Expert Admissions. “At some schools, they’re really genuinely test optional in the sense that it’s not better or to any significant advantage whether you submit scores or not and you can really do so with a clear head. And at other schools where the information is released, you can actually see there’s a significant advantage of submitting scores, good scores for that school. You need to dig and do your research to understand, ‘How does this impact my chances for admission or not?'”
Students can also reach out to admission officers at institutions of interest with application-related questions, including about test policies, Corner says.
Communicating with admissions officers “helps demonstrate interest in an institution,” she says. “It helps them start a conversation with the person who may or may not be in a position to actually make a decision for them. So reaching out with legitimate and important questions is always a good step in the process to connect with the admission team.”
[Read: How Parents Can Help Prepare Their Students for the SAT, ACT]
How Colleges Review Applications
Colleges generally look at applications holistically, which means they pay attention to all parts of the application, including extracurricular activities, class rigor, recommendation letters and answers to essay prompts.
“The holistic review is something that a lot of schools have committed to,” says Kelly Adams Fraser, owner and consultant at Green Apple College Guidance & Education Enrichment. “So I think that keeping test scores optional enables students for whom that is a strong aspect of their application to submit, while also allowing students who don’t consider the test score to be a strong part of their application to withhold.”
Transcripts are evaluated on case by case, since some high schools offer varying types of advanced classes. This means that if your high school didn’t have Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate courses, it won’t be held against you.
“?I would rather see students, during the course of the school year, focusing their time on making sure that their transcript is tended to, that they’re taking rigorous courses, that they’re putting their energy there rather than diverting energy that should go into their class performance toward test preparation,” Corner says. “That’s a time suck away from the actual learning and preparation that they should be laying.”
Should I Still Submit My Scores?
College admissions experts encourage students to take a practice SAT or ACT, and Fraser suggests doing so “?once they’ve had the curriculum to support those practice tests.”
“That usually happens for students either at the end of sophomore year or toward the spring of junior year,” she says. “It’s usually really their math curriculum that sets the timeline. We usually have our students try the tests and see where their scores come in at a baseline before advising whether they embark upon test prep or even take the tests.”
For those who decide to take an official test — which experts often recommend, barring significant access barriers or test anxiety — fee waivers are available for eligible students. Those who qualify may also receive waived application fees at certain colleges.
?”We definitely don’t advise students to pursue both tests, but to pick the one that’s going to best display their potential,” says Lindsay Tanne Howe, founder and CEO of LogicPrep, a global college admissions consultancy.
[Read: 11 Apps to Help High Schoolers Organize Their College Search]
Based on how well you perform, you can decide whether to submit your scores. Both the SAT and ACT have an option to cancel scores if the test didn’t go well, such as if the student filled out the answer sheet incorrectly or didn’t finish the exam.
If a student takes the SAT or ACT more than once, some colleges require all of the results on the respective test to be submitted. Others automatically superscore, meaning that a student’s highest scores from each section on all test attempts are combined to create a new composite score.
Experts recommend looking up the “middle 50” — the range of scores between the 25th percentile and 75th percentile for the last admitted class — on each college’s website to see if your score falls within or above that range.
“If the score falls in that range, for the most part, we encourage our students to share those scores,” Howe says. “But like so much else in the college application process, it’s highly contextual. We’re looking at the broader applicant and their story, their curriculum, their grading system, their extracurricular profile to determine whether testing should be submitted.”
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How Important Are SAT and ACT Scores in College Admissions? originally appeared on usnews.com
Update 11/11/25: This story was previously published at an earlier date and has been updated with new information.
