Score At The Top Blog

The SAT and ACT have long been considered crucial parts of the college application process. But when the COVID-19 pandemic made it difficult to safely administer the tests, many colleges adopted test-optional admission policies, waiving their standardized testing requirements. Today – nearly three years since the pandemic struck – many colleges are still test optional. In fact, according to the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, more than 1,800 colleges aren’t requiring test scores for fall 2023 applicants.

Topics: Test Optional

Read More

In the wake of a “year like no other,” the numbers are starting to trickle in and we’re learning more about how the widely implemented test-optional college policies affected admissions. Already, the data bear out what we’ve been telling our students all along: it’s in your best interest to submit a competitive score in the optimal range of your top-choice school.

So, before you start throwing your application at all of the test-optional colleges with high acceptance rates, here are our top three reasons why your scores still matter at test-optional colleges:

Topics: College Admission, ACT/SAT, Test Optional

Read More

We’ve gotten several questions from students confused about test-optional and whether or not to submit scores to schools with November deadlines. Keep reading to hear what we propose.

Topics: ACT, Coronavirus, SAT, Test Optional

Read More

In light of all the recent ACT testing center cancellations, we wanted to reach out to you to make sure that your registration was up-to-date for the September ACT Exams. Below is a list of schools that are currently hosting the ACT exam for September 12th, 13th, 19th, and/or 20th. 

Topics: ACT, Test Optional

Read More

Colleges are businesses, and they like to get lots of admission applications because that makes it easier to fill classes with in-coming students. One way that a college can increase its number of applicants is by improving its ranking in the annual US News College Rankings.

In fact, a study published on the Harvard Business School’s blog found that “When explicit rankings of colleges are published in U.S. News, a one-rank improvement leads to a 1-percentage-point increase in the number of applications to that college.”

Topics: ACT/SAT, College Counseling, Test Optional

Read More