Do Standardized Tests Scores Really Matter?

In the last decade, the idea that colleges no longer care that much about standardized test scores has become prevalent in admissions discourse.

- Dave Bergman, ED.D.

Many schools like to brag about how they view test scores as just one of a multitude of factors in the admissions process.

Yet, like a seventh-grade boy who spends two hours in front of the mirror every morning trying to perfect his Justin Bieber bangs while simultaneously proclaiming that he “doesn’t care what anyone thinks,” the facts about test scores quite simply belie the claim.

Despite media talk, and institutional reports of the SAT’s and ACT’s diminishing roles, the data suggest that standardized test scores have actually become more important in recent years. Rankings are still driven, in part, by test scores. The admissions process at most institutions (with few exceptions, like Reed College) is still beholden to and driven by the almighty rankings.