Incoming freshmen at over 1,800 colleges did not have to take the SAT or ACT, report claims

1,830 colleges and universities did not require incoming students this fall to take the SAT or ACT tests.

That number comes from a report by the National Center for Fair and Open Testing (FairTest) and is up from 1,070 schools before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the organization. 

Going test-optional is “the new normal,” Executive Director of FairTest Robert Schaeffer told Campus Reform.

[RELATED: Stanford extends test-optional policy for third straight year]

“Schools are continuing to offer ACT/SAT-optional and score-free policies because they have proven to be effective,” Schaffer stated. “In most cases, admissions offices that did not require standardized exam score submission received more applicants, better academically qualified applicants, and more diverse pools of applicants.”

The lack of required test scores has created some speculation in the education sector over how universities will evaluate applicants. 

Harvard University recently told the industry publication Inside Higher Ed that, “[a]pplicants will be considered on the basis of what they have presented, and students are encouraged to send whatever materials they believe would convey their accomplishments in secondary school and their promise for the future.”

[RELATED: Judge orders UC to stop considering standardized test scores in admissions]

FairTest argues that “the SAT denies African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, and women equal opportunities for higher education.”

But that position is not a consensus in the sector. 

A 2021 Heritage Foundation report found that standardized testing gives a student from a “low-income family” a “ticket to college” if he can “demonstrate his [academic] promise” on the assessment. 

”The SAT and ACT, though flawed, are tools for identifying that ability,” authors Lindsey M. Burke and Mike Gonzalez concluded in their study. 

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