For a few years after 2020, “test-optional” was close to universal and the advice was simple: take a test, submit it if it helps, skip it if it doesn’t. That advice needs updating.
What changed
A number of selective colleges have reinstated testing requirements over the last two cycles, citing their own research that scores helped them identify strong students from under-resourced schools. Others remain test-optional. A few are “test-free” and won’t look at scores at all. And some that say “optional” quietly admit a higher share of students who submit.
The practical upshot: there is no longer one policy. There is each college’s policy, for this cycle, on its admissions page. Check it. Don’t rely on what a friend’s older sibling did two years ago.
For juniors: the spring plan
Plan to test. Even if every college on the eventual list turns out to be optional, a good score is a tool; a missing score is a constraint.
- The digital SAT is shorter than the old one, adaptive, and returns scores in days. Spring dates (March, May, June) are the natural window.
- The ACT has also been shortened and now offers an optional science section. Some students do noticeably better on one test than the other; a free practice test of each in February is the cheapest way to find out.
- Take one spring sitting. Review the result honestly against the middle 50% of the colleges being considered. Decide on a second sitting in June or August based on that, not on reflex. Scores plateau; a third attempt rarely moves much.
Many schools in Bucks and Montgomery counties offer an in-school SAT day in the spring. Use it.
For seniors deciding what to send
By now the scores exist. The question is whether to submit them to the test-optional schools on the list.
A simple rule: submit if the score is at or above the college’s reported middle 50% for admitted students. Below the 25th percentile, don’t. In between, consider the rest of the application — a strong transcript and essays can carry a middling score; a middling score can’t carry a weak transcript.
Scores are submitted per college, so the decision can differ from school to school. That’s allowed and sensible.
Score choice and superscoring
Most colleges superscore the SAT — combining the best section scores across dates — and a growing number superscore the ACT. Check each. Where it’s offered, send all dates; where it isn’t, send the best single sitting.
The honest frame
A test score is one afternoon. A transcript is three years. Colleges weigh them that way, and so should families. Test on purpose, submit on purpose, and spend the rest of the energy on the parts of the application that are actually about the student.
By Jeff Thompson, Phortex Campus · February 10, 2026 · ← All posts