If you’re feeling like the college admissions process is a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure book with half the pages missing, you’re not alone. Test-optional policies were supposed to bring relief, but they mostly created an educational Upside Down where no one is entirely sure what the rules are. Families hear “optional” and assume “doesn’t matter,” but admissions is never that simple.
Even now, strong SAT or ACT scores still help. Grades aren’t standardized—weighted, unweighted, 4.0, 5.0, an A = 93 here and 89 somewhere else—so tests often remain the cleanest comparison point. Research shows SAT/ACT scores can predict first-year college success as well as, and sometimes better than, four years of high school grades. Colleges know this, even if they aren’t shouting it from rooftops.
I’ve worked with Belmont students whose scores were right in the middle 50% for a college—perfectly solid numbers—yet they talked themselves out of submitting because they didn’t seem “impressive.” It’s like refusing to wear perfectly good shoes because they’re not a designer label. Why not use what you already have?
We’re also seeing colleges reinstate testing requirements—Dartmouth, Yale, MIT—because too many students in the test-optional era actually limited themselves by not testing at all.
The real question isn’t “Should I test?” It’s “When should I start?” For most students, starting in sophomore spring or early junior fall gives time to make calm, informed decisions instead of scrambling when only one or two test dates remain. Even if a student doesn’t ultimately submit scores, prep builds reading stamina, problem-solving skills, and academic confidence that carry far beyond test day.
Test-optional was meant to create flexibility, not remove strategy. Optional doesn’t mean unimportant—it just means the choice is yours. Just make sure it’s an informed one.
Curtis Eames, Lewis Road