Are the SAT and ACT Making a Comeback?

KQED's Forum

KQED

News Commentary, News, Politics

4.2 • 727 Ratings

🗓️ 8 April 2024

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Reversing pandemic-era admission policies, more universities, including MIT, Yale, Dartmouth and Brown, are again requiring that applicants submit SAT or ACT scores. Research has shown that high scores on the tests are a good predictor of college success, and proponents say that the tests are a more equitable metric than a student’s GPA. In California, public colleges – including the UCs and Cal State schools – remain “test blind” and will not consider a student’s scores, even if submitted. We’ll look at arguments on both sides and get tips for prospective students who are navigating testing issues. Would you like to see the SAT and ACT come back in California? Do you think the tests helped or hurt your college application? Guests: Anna Esaki-Smith, author, “Make College Your Superpower: It's Not Where You Go, It's What You Know;" co-founder, Education Rethink; contributor, Forbes Jeff Selingo, author, "Who Gets In & Why: A Year Inside College Admissions," "There is Life After College" and "College (Un)Bound: The Future of Higher Education and What It Means for Students" Eddie Comeaux, professor and associate dean of graduate education, University of California Riverside Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:42.8	From KQBD in San Francisco, this is Forum.
1:02.6	I'm Mina Kim.
1:03.8	Some universities, including MIT, Yale, and UT Austin, are requiring applicants to submit SAT and ACT scores again, reversing their
1:13.0	pandemic-era admissions policies. And the LA Times editorial board last month called on UCs to do the
1:19.8	same, citing research suggesting the tests are good predictors of college success, and even a more
1:25.5	equitable metric than a student's GPA.
1:28.4	The UCs in Cal States are so-called test-blind,
1:31.4	meaning they won't consider scores even if submitted.
1:34.7	We take a closer look at why the tests are beginning to make a comeback and hear from you.
1:39.2	Do you think California's universities should reinstate them?
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