In an era when many colleges have shifted to test-blind or test-optional admissions policies, you may associate test scores merely with securing merit aid or scholarships. However, their significance extends far beyond financial assistance. In fact, because test scores remain powerful indicators of a student's academic potential, raising your SAT or ACT scores makes you a more viable applicant for admission, thus opening doors to a world of educational opportunities.

The College Board provides a sample PSAT score report, which is a helpful way to become familiar with the different components of your score. Each report begins with a cover page, including the student’s name, high school, and other identifying information. But the second page is where the real information begins..

College Board releases practice exams for the new test format, showcases onscreen test-taking tools, including a Desmos calculator.

College Board is taking seriously the role of students as primary users, and the Digital SAT represents a massive effort to make the test more user-friendly. If this effort is successful, the number of test-takers annually will increase, rather than decrease (as predicted by test-optional proponents), which may make deciding not to submit test scores harder to justify for many students.

At the National Test Prep Association conference in Georgia on the weekend of July 11th, ACT’s CEO Janet Goodwin articulated what changes ACT would make in response to the SAT’s tectonic shift to digital testing. What’s changing? Well, not much.

As a majority of universities implement test-optional policies for this year’s admissions cycle, students have been asking us whether it’s worth it to take the SAT or ACT. Our expert tutors weighed in on the most common questions we’ve received from parents and students this fall.

A roundup of admissions news and test-related changes, updated regularly.

With all public universities in the state adopting a new test-optional admissions policy, students and families need to understand the implications.

University of California faculty task force advises retaining the use of SAT and ACT in admissions, due to their role in advanced analytics and concerns around grade inflation.

NOTE: This is an updated post, originally published June 27, 2018.