STA News
Reporting Test Scores to Colleges
Most colleges require students to send SAT or ACT scores directly from the testing agency, while some increasingly will accept self-reported scores. Self-reported scores are a very recent trend in the college application process. Check to see which method is required for your applications.
Most colleges and universities require applicants to send their standardized test scores directly from the College Board or the ACT, and this is still the norm. In the past year, more colleges have begun accepting self-reported scores on a student's application. This trend aims to lessen the costs associated with the college process. However, when you eventually enroll at a college, you will be required to send your official scores from the testing agency to verify the accuracy. Make sure to research the requirements for the colleges to which you apply.
If you are sending scores directly from the College Board, there is an option called the SAT Score Choice policy, which is designed to allow students to have more control over which of their scores are sent to colleges. The policy is intended to give students the option to release and send SAT scores from specific test dates and to choose which SAT Subject Test scores he will send to colleges. Many colleges, however, do not support this policy and continue to require applicants to submit their entire testing history. When sending ACT scores, you may choose which individual tests to send. However, if a college requires your entire testing history, you should send all tests.
What you need to know now is this: plan on being diligent in researching the individual score-reporting policies of each college on your list. Do not assume that you will be able to self-report scores or suppress specific scores for all of the colleges to which you apply.
If you are sending scores directly from the College Board, there is an option called the SAT Score Choice policy, which is designed to allow students to have more control over which of their scores are sent to colleges. The policy is intended to give students the option to release and send SAT scores from specific test dates and to choose which SAT Subject Test scores he will send to colleges. Many colleges, however, do not support this policy and continue to require applicants to submit their entire testing history. When sending ACT scores, you may choose which individual tests to send. However, if a college requires your entire testing history, you should send all tests.
What you need to know now is this: plan on being diligent in researching the individual score-reporting policies of each college on your list. Do not assume that you will be able to self-report scores or suppress specific scores for all of the colleges to which you apply.
Please remember what has always been true about the way colleges view standardized testing: colleges will focus on the highest scores that you present to them. If you are able to suppress scores for a certain college and only send your highest scores, fine. If a college requires you to send your entire testing history, the college will focus on your highest SAT or ACT sub-sections, and your highest Subject Test Scores. Either way, colleges will focus on your strengths. Remember too that standardized testing is only one small part of a comprehensive and holistic review process.
Located in Washington D.C., St. Albans School is a private, all boys day and boarding school. For more than a century, St. Albans has offered a distinctive educational experience for young men in grades 4 through 12. While our students reach exceptional academic goals and exhibit first-rate athletic and artistic achievements, as an Episcopal school we place equal emphasis upon moral and spiritual education.