Testing
Should You Submit Your SAT or ACT Score? A Decision Guide
Decide whether to submit a test score for each college on your list. One answer for every school can miss important differences.
Decide whether to submit a test score for each college on your list. One answer for every school can miss important differences.
A score may be required at one college, optional at another, and relevant to a scholarship somewhere else. Your student’s entry year matters, too.
Start with the policy. Then decide what the score adds to the application.
Check the entry year before the headline
A statement that a college is “bringing back testing” is incomplete until you know which students it affects.
A college can announce a testing change that applies to a future entering class while keeping its existing policy for current applicants. Read the effective enrollment year before deciding whether the change applies to your student.
A senior and a junior may therefore face different requirements at the same college. Neither should make a testing decision from the headline alone.
Open the college’s current admissions page and look for the intended enrollment year. Record the policy in your application plan.
Required, optional, and other policies need different decisions
When a school requires an SAT or ACT score, follow its instructions. Check accepted tests, deadlines, reporting methods, and any stated exceptions.
When submission is optional, the decision takes more judgment. Read how the college describes its review of applicants who don't submit scores.
Some schools have policies involving other accepted examinations or specific applicant categories. Don’t compress those rules into “optional.” Verify what applies to your student.
Then check separate scholarship and program requirements. An admissions policy doesn’t necessarily answer every testing question.
Ask what the score adds
Consider the score alongside the transcript, course rigor, school context, and the college’s published guidance.
A strong score may provide another useful piece of academic evidence. A score that doesn’t strengthen the application may be less useful at a test-optional college.
Published score ranges can help you understand the students represented in a college’s data. They aren’t admission cutoffs, and they may describe only students who submitted scores.
Avoid automatic rules such as “always submit above this number.” They flatten differences that deserve a closer look.
Here’s a practical example. A student considers two colleges with different testing policies and different published score profiles. The same score could be required at the first and discretionary at the second. The task is to make two informed decisions.
Reporting details can change the plan
Check whether the school accepts self-reported results or requires official reports. Confirm which test dates it will consider.
Also check superscoring. Colleges can differ in how they combine or evaluate multiple sittings. Don’t calculate a favorable combination and assume every school will use it.
A college’s SAT and ACT reporting instructions belong in the decision, not in a last-minute scramble after submission.
Know when another test is worth the time
For a senior, another attempt has to fit the college’s timeline and the student’s workload.
Ask whether the result can arrive in time, whether preparation has a realistic purpose, and what work would lose attention. A retake that derails essays and coursework needs a stronger reason than anxiety.
For a junior, build a testing plan before senior-year deadlines force the choice.
Turn the question into a clear decision
Write one sentence for each school: what it requires, what your student will submit, and what still needs to happen.
Carney College Advising’s Application & Essay Support helps families organize application choices and next steps. If score submission is holding up the application, let’s look at it in the context of your student’s full plan.
Let’s find your starting point