What Does "Test-Optional" Mean?

[This is a post that I wrote for the Penn State Undergraduate Admissions Office here]

Lately, many of the questions that I have been receiving from students, families, and school counselors alike center around the topic of Penn State becoming "test-optional". It seems that more and more I am having to explain, and more often re-assure that test-optional really does mean that test scores are optional as part of the application process.

As a result of all of these conversations I have found myself asking, "Why do I have to keep explaining this?"

After reflecting on that question, I think that there is one glaring reason for students and parents to question institutions of higher education on their test-optional policies and, even moreso, the motivations behind these policies. 

What I have long-referred to as the "Test Industrial Complex" (but cannot take credit for the creation of that moniker) pushes the underlying notion that "a student is only as strong as their test score". That test could be the SAT or ACT exam in high school, or it could be a state-based proficiency exam, the results of which determine funding for the test-taker's school. Either way, for generations the Test Industrial Complex has drilled into the heads of youth (from a very early age) that getting a "good" score on a standardized test is the key to a successful and prosperous future. Or at the very least has a significant influence on that future.

To that end, I have heard unbelievable stories about students traveling hours - even flying to other states - to sit for the ACT or SAT. They are doing this out of FOMOOA: Fear Of Missing Out On Admission to their chosen school or schools. 

As the COVID-19 pandemic picked up steam in late spring, many colleges and universities moved to a test-optional application process. As a result, in early August the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) created a statement called "Test Optional Means Test Optional". The statement reads, in part: 

Due to the cancellation of SAT and ACT testing dates, more than 1,450 US colleges and universities announced they are moving to a test-optional policy, and more will surely follow. By going test-optional, institutions are making a definitive statement that they will not need test scores to make admission decisions this year. Despite the change in policies, high school students and their parents are asking, “Does test optional really mean test optional?” The answer, simply put, is: YES.

My emphasis. 

Penn State signed onto that NACAC statement on August 5th, only a few short days after it was released. Why? Because this year is different. We have been watching as the ACT and SAT exam cancellations have been piling up. March. May. August. September. Thousands of students who wanted to take a test were unable to do so. And those that did get to sit for an exam did so under circumstances that were less than ideal, and very different from previous years.

This year is not like any other that I have seen in my 20 years working in higher education. If you submit an application without exam scores it will not in any way disadvantage your application. Test-optional is not a gimmick or some way to dupe students into applying. Seriously. Look around; more than two-thirds of institutions of higher education in the United States have moved to a test-optional admission policy. 

Let me put it another way: if you were to submit an application without test scores, there will be no assumption that you got a bad score and don't want to submit it. In fact, we are not making any assumptions of any kind when we evaluate an application. Rather, we are looking at the contents of the application file - the data that is submitted by an applicant - to make that admission decision.

Bottom line: optional means optional. 

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