No SAT, ACT required: University of California to drop need for tests

Students who are applying to the University of California are in luck. The college is dropping the requirement for students to submit SAT and ACT test scores through 2024.

The standardized tests will be fully eliminated for any California residents after 2024, KNTV reported.

The Board of Regents’ vote was unanimous, CNN reported.

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The move will help phase out the tests to be replaced with a university-specific test.

Part of the debate over whether the tests are needed is if the SAT and ACT discriminate against disadvantaged students.

Many say the tests usually have questions that are skewed to privileged students who also can take expensive prep courses. Minority and low-income students do not have the experiences and the money to do the same, putting them at a disadvantage.

The decision by the University of California applies to all of the schools in its system and it is based on two years worth of research, CNN reported.

The tests will be optional for the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 school years for all applicants. In 2023 the tests will only be used for course placement and scholarships. Then in 2025, the school plans on either offering its own standardized test or fully eliminating the requirement, KNTV reported.

It is also dropping the writing portion of the SAT and ACT as an admission requirement effective for fall 2021, the university announced in a press release.

Other schools are also looking at dropping the testing requirement and the University of California’s move may be used to influence the decisions facing administrators, KNTV reported.

So far more than 50 universities and colleges have done away with the ACT and SAT requirement for at least 2021 admission, CNN reported.

Cox Media Group