✏️ Fill in the Bubble: Standardized Tests Are Back and Bolder Than Ever 🧑🏻💻
Few debates in American education have been as contentious in recent years as the role of standardized testing in college admissions. After a pandemic-era experiment with test-optional policies, the landscape in 2026 tells a clear story: test scores are making a decisive comeback, and for good reason.
The Post-Pandemic Reversal
When COVID-19 disrupted testing infrastructure in 2020, most colleges moved quickly to test-optional policies — and many assumed the change would stick. For a few years, it seemed they might be right. But the data has spoken. With Princeton's October 2025 announcement, seven of the eight Ivy League colleges (with the exception of Columbia) have returned or will be returning to testing requirements. Other notable schools that have reinstated the SAT/ACT (i.e, test-required) include Brown, Dartmouth, Harvard, Yale, Georgetown, MIT, Caltech, and the entire public university systems of Florida and Georgia. This reversal is not nostalgia; it is evidence-based.
💯 Why Scores Still Matter
At the heart of the testing debate is a fundamental question: what actually predicts college success? The data consistently points to standardized tests as one of the most reliable answers. A fascinating and troubling report from UC San Diego found that roughly 25% of incoming freshmen who earned a perfect, unweighted 4.0 GPA in high school math had to be placed into remedial coursework upon arriving at college. Grade inflation has made high school transcripts increasingly unreliable, which is precisely why colleges are leaning back into metrics they can trust.
When SAT scores are factored in, the predictive capacity for college performance jumps to over 19%, a meaningful improvement over GPA alone. This is why STEM-focused institutions in particular have been among the most aggressive in reinstating requirements. Johns Hopkins noted that its admissions office was “seeking to gain confidence in the math preparation of applicants who indicate an interest in math-intensive courses of study like engineering and natural sciences," while Cooper Union reinstated test requirements specifically for its engineering school applicants.
There is also a compelling equity argument for testing that often goes unacknowledged. As Dartmouth's President argued, standardized tests “can be especially helpful in identifying students from less-resourced backgrounds who would succeed at Dartmouth but might otherwise be missed in a test-optional environment." A first-generation student from an under-resourced high school may not have access to the polished extracurriculars, glowing faculty recommendations, or professionally coached essays that wealthier applicants can produce. A strong SAT or ACT score, however, speaks for itself.
Finally, scores carry weight even at schools that don't require them. Withholding scores may signal much lower performance to admissions officers than a student's actual score would suggest — meaning going test-optional can quietly backfire. A score above the 75th percentile for admitted students significantly improves a candidate's chances, and even scores between the 50th and 75th percentile are worth submitting. The calculus is clear: when in doubt, a good score helps — and silence on the matter rarely does.
📈 The Numbers Behind the Shift
The statistics tell a story that is hard to ignore. Student behavior has changed markedly: in the most recent admissions cycle, the number of applicants submitting test scores increased by 11%, while those applying without scores declined by 2%. Students are reading the room … and the room is saying scores matter.
At the institutional level, the reversal has been swift and sweeping. In 2024 alone, Dartmouth, Yale, Brown, Harvard, Caltech, Stanford, Johns Hopkins, and UT Austin all announced returns to test-required policies. In 2025–2026, the University of Pennsylvania, Cornell, Ohio State, Princeton, the University of Miami, and Louisiana State University followed suit. More than 20 highly selective institutions had either reinstated requirements or announced plans to do so as of early 2026.
Participation numbers, though recovering, reveal an underlying academic concern. About 2 million students took the SAT in 2025, compared to 2.22 million in 2019, and roughly 1.38 million took the ACT versus 1.78 million before the pandemic. More troublingly, scores have not bounced back either. The 2025 national average SAT score was 521 in reading and writing and 508 in math — 10 and 20 points lower, respectively, than 2019 averages. The ACT composite average of 19.4 also fell below the pre-pandemic score of 20.7. These declines give colleges even more reason to treat a strong score as a genuine signal of academic readiness rather than a formality.
The competitive stakes are also intensifying. Total application volume has surged by more than 40% over the past five years, driven in part by test-optional policies, demographic shifts, and the ease of submitting multiple applications. In that environment, a high score is not just a credential; it is a differentiator.
Artwork by @cherryfruitart, YUNiversity art intern
In 2026, SAT and ACT scores are not relics of an old gatekeeping system. They are increasingly recognized as reliable, useful data points in a holistic review process. As elite institutions recommit to testing requirements and student submission rates climb, the message is clear: preparing seriously for these exams remains one of the highest-return investments a college-bound student can make.
