THE VALUE OF STRONG TEST SCORES

​With all the information about SAT or ACT scores being optional when applying to college, some may get the idea that it’s less important now to have strong test scores to support one’s application. However, there’s good evidence that strong test scores can still be very important either for getting admitted to college or for getting substantial scholarship money from a college.
 
I’ll cite here two examples to illustrate this point.
 
With regard to getting admitted to a strong college, the information released by University of Georgia for the just-admitted class of 2029, is interesting.  

​Three-fourths of admitted students had SAT scores of 1350 or greater or ACT scores of 31 or greater (the graphic only reports about students who were George residents; typically, out-of-state students admitted at UGA have SAT scores 30 points greater or ACT scores one or two points greater than in-state students).

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​Now, looking at scholarship awards, typically schools that offer generous scholarships consider test scores heavily in their calculations. The University of Alabama is an example:
 
Scholarships awarded were based on high school GPA and either SAT or ACT scores. The test scores made the difference.

​One of my tutoring students last year improved their ACT scores by five points and was awarded the presidential scholarship at Alabama: $28,000 per year. Note that the awards above are for out-of-state students – Bama is very interested in attracting strong students from out of state and uses scholarships for this purpose.
 
For information on how to improve SAT or ACT scores, contact Perry at 910-528-5595 or [email protected].