Should colleges stop requiring the SAT/ACT? The admissions exams are now optional at many four-year colleges.

• Author: Hiss, William C.
• Position: Debate

YES

Thirty years ago, Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, stopped requiring standardized tests like the SAT or ACT for admission. Since then, 850 colleges and universities have followed and made the tests optional.

A colleague and I recently completed a national study of 123,000 students at 33 public and private colleges and universities to evaluate the effectiveness of optional-testing policies. Our basic question was simple: Do students admitted without SAT or ACT scores succeed in college?

In a nutshell, yes. About 30 percent of the students in our study were admitted without SAT or ACT scores. Our study found no significant differences-in either college GPA or graduation rates-between students who submitted standardized test scores and those who did not.

High school grades, not test scores, are the best predictor of college success. Regardless of their income level or race, students with strong high school grades in tough courses generally perform well in college, even if they had average or even poor SAT or ACT scores. In other words, research shows that hard work and good grades in high school are what matter most. It's more important to show what you can do over four years, not in four hours on one Saturday morning.

America must find paths to higher education for students who have proven themselves to everyone except testing agencies. Making standardized tests optional improves the chances of success for more students. *

--WILLIAM C. HISS

Former Dean of Admissions, Bates College

NO

When it comes to making important decisions, more information is better than less. It's true in your life, and it's true when it comes to college admissions.

Decades of research show that the...