‘Iolani is a place of academic development and for many a stepping stone to the next major step in one’s academic career. For decades, standardized testing and applications have been a major part of a student’s journey toward college. However, since 2020, many colleges have made standardized tests like the SAT optional for applicants. Now, many students are questioning whether taking the SAT is necessary or even worth their effort when applying to college. The SAT was first established in 1926 and has been taken by millions of students every year since. According to the College Board, 1.9 million students in the class of 2023 took the assessment. Adoption of the optional testing policy among many colleges was accelerated during the Covid-19 pandemic when colleges needed to find a way to create more opportunity for students who could not physically attend testing centers. Now, according to a Harris poll, in 2024, 60% of Americans believe that colleges should drop the SAT. Nevertheless, many current high school students, including those at ‘Iolani, are contemplating if not taking the SAT will have any effect on their applications, while there are benefits in testing their application process.

During and after the pandemic, many colleges made the SAT optional for their applications. According to The Wall Street Journal, more than 1,900 colleges have made the SAT optional since 2020. However, other major schools, including the entire University of California school system, have established a “test blind policy” rather than a “test-optional” one, meaning they won’t consider test scores at all in the application process even though they are submitted. FairTest’s 2024 studies indicate that at least 1,450 colleges and universities have made test-blind or test-optional a permanent policy. Many of the teachers and advisors that support students in their college application process feel indifferent about the change, while still acknowledging that they believe the trend towards optional testing policies will continue. 

Mr. Todd Fleming, the director of college counseling at ‘Iolani, expressed his passion for guiding students through the change of the application process by saying, “Taking a test is just one part of the application process… there is no one part of the application process, it is everything and that is the nature of holistic admissions.” Regardless of a school’s testing requirements, Mr. Fleming believes tests are just one small part of a student’s application, especially in holistic admissions. Holistic admissions is practiced by many schools today and is when a school considers a wide range of areas in a students application including personal experiences, extra-curricular activities and context, in addition to academic performance.  Still, among students, there is an ongoing discussion on the plus sides and downsides of test-optional and test-blind policies.

Katie Chan ’25, a junior who has already taken the SAT, shared, “I like how we (students) are given a choice to send [our SAT scores] in because some have good and bad scores. It is very helpful and somehow gives me hope when applying to colleges.” Moreover, the test-blind policies, in many aspects, have provided students with an opportunity to exhibit strengths in more specialized areas, rather than just testing. Students who might not perform well on tests due to anxiety or testing pressures are now able to provide a more fair picture to colleges of  their strengths and abilities. While discussing the mindset during the test taking process, Mr. Andrews, English teacher and Test Prep Coordinator, says in regards to the new policies that, “Those who have test anxiety can take some of the edge of the anxiety of testing. You can surprise yourself without the fear of having to carry the weight into the admissions.” There is also the plus side of leveling the playing field for applicants with disadvantages. According to the New York Times, for students from lower income brackets and those that lack support from their schools, the ACT or SAT have been a threat in the application process. While many preparatory schools such as ‘Iolani strongly recommend students take the SAT, public high schools may lack the amount of educational and staff support for individual students to do their best on tests. Due to these gaps, keeping the SATs optional or “blind” will provide many students with a fair opportunity to fully express their strengths to colleges.

On the other hand, for students that have strong academic records, the SAT can be the key to proving their abilities to a college admissions team. Mr. Fleming explains, “The SAT helps find what they call the diamonds in the rough – the students who, despite those circumstances, do really well on the test.” Schools are able to use test scores to find exceptional applicants who do not only well in the other areas, but in testing as well. These are the students that excel under the pressures of standardized testing. Without standardized tests like the SAT, schools would have a harder time identifying these exceptional applicants. Additionally, John Friedman, an economics professor at Brown states in his studies on the benefits of test taking that, “Test scores have vastly more predictive power than is commonly understood in the popular debate.” Even though test taking may be a challenging part of the application process, there are still those who believe that requiring standardized testing scores for applicants is still important for colleges.

For many students, including those at ‘Iolani School, the college application process can be daunting and overwhelming, especially due to all the competition and uncertainty. Although the SAT had been a key requirement of college applications for a very long time, perspectives have changed. What once was a mandatory, widely accepted requirement that weighed down many students, is now largely seen as one part of a larger picture in holistic admissions. Students have found ways to showcase their talents and abilities in other ways. Others are not so fond of letting go of something that is “standardized” and being a part of the process for so long. Nevertheless, with the new changes that have taken place in college admissions, students can approach both the testing and college application processes with a little less anxiety and more freedom on how they want to present themselves to the colleges they are applying to.