I don’t think it necessarily puts some at an advantage over others. It just means if you have a score and want to send it, great. If not, the UCs will just rely on the other elements in the application. They have a lot of essays in their app, so I’d imagine grades, essays and letters of rec will all just carry more importance if you don’t have a test score to send in.
Having a solid test score is the preferable position to be in.
It will be interesting to see how UCs do their evaluations next cycle, and if they are transparent at all about the process.
The problem with UCs is that they don’t even have recommendation letters in their application…I assume they would rely mostly on GPAs and ECs then
Also, if they made SAT optional, I would like to check with them if they accept SAT score without essay (earlier it was mandatory that SAT or ACT has to be accompanied by an essay part) if that’s the case, my son would be so happy as he is not up for essay 
And essays.
I would think that would also be on the table for UCs. Suppose there were students who took it with essay and weren’t happy with their essay scores, and then were subsequently prevented from taking it again? Or those who took the test without essay and didn’t get a chance to take it with essay yet? It would make sense for the UCs to accept scores without essay.
I would hope that the CB could reschedule those March and May tests that they didn’t use for late summer or fall. It may be that there would be testing dates every 2-3 weeks if we get a breather from some of the restrictions on group size currently in place.
I suspect they may be trying to figure out how to administer the SAT online securely.
I also wonder if there will be any changes in super scoring policies as many students won’t have the opportunity to take the tests multiple times, if they get to take it at all.
But mostly I hope that we all remain healthy!
@mamaedefamilia I agree. From that quote I posted from the CB’s website, it does seem like they are considering some sort of online option. I think they have to be working on that. What if they can’t get a sitting going in person until October or later? That’s a real problem for juniors. It’s not just the six foot rule that they might need to have during a test. There could very well be a rule against large groups for quite a while. That’s why parents are worried about school in person for the fall. If that happens, then no SAT in person. CB is not going to want to lose the money from all sittings from March through who knows when.
@homerdog
Unfortunately, some teachers/counselors do not know how to write a good letter of recommendation or have the time. I would hate for student to be penalized because due to the quality of the letter.
In Georgia, the governor just decided to keep the schools closed for the remainder of the school year (online learning continues, but no going back to school this academic year). Our schoolyear ends in late May…exact date varies by county, but generally sometime the week of May 18th give or take a few days.
I haven’t seen any official word yet on grading policies, though for now, my daughters’ (D23s) school is grading as usual…though they skipped midterms, and there will have to be some kind of policy about their End-of-Course exams which are usually required to get credit in a handful of particular courses (my guess is they won’t require that this year).
My S21 homeschools, and his hybrid school decided that if a students attends the online discussions and turns in all the work, their grade will not fall from where it was before this happened.
My heart hurts for my S21 now. He got back his school ACT from Feb. and it’s a 29. He was hoping for 32 or higher. It was his first test but he’d done a lot of prep and was getting 33-35 on his practice tests. I think he has test anxiety.
Up until now he’s been a 4.0 student but his Pre-calc grade is a B right now and b/c of the school closure he’s not sure he can get it up. It’s a block class he started in Jan and then his teacher left the end of Jan and they’ve had a sub. I think my S was blowing the class off a little figuring he’d have time bring his grade back up.
The district has not decided on a grading policy for this semester, but he’s ‘hearing’ they are going to allow 3rd quarter grades but not have 4th quarter grades?? I don’t know. If so, his B would most likely be ‘stuck.’ I’ve encouraged his to reach out to the sub but my S says he’s very tough (he teaches other math classes at the HS – so he’s not really a true sub, more like pinch hitting) and doubts he’ll offer any recovery plan. I will make him do it anyway.
This is a double blow b/c my S wants to do engineering and feels like 1) state schools might not go test optional and, 2) even if they are test optional if he doesn’t submit a test score and has a pre-calc grade of B his chances are not good at his target schools b/c they see math as the most important grade. If he had an A (or a pass) in that class I think he’d feel more ok not submitting a score.
His peer group is very high achieving and he seems to be the only one who is struggling with standardized testing. 
He’s registered for the June ACT but is supposed to be in the mountains working at a camp that day. He was really hoping to hit his target and be done. But he also realizes waiting until late summer or Fall to test again is stressful. Of course, June ACT, camp – or both – might be cancelled anyway.
I told him it’d work out, but he’s so down on himself right now. Was pretty close to crying and then went to his room and closed the door.
I hate kids putting so much pressure on themselves! Put it in perspective - a 29 is about 91st percentile. A B in pre-calc is great - very few get an A in pre-calc in D’s school - and almost nobody has a 4.0 unweighted. It’s almost unheard of. And we get about 40 into Ivies every year. And scores more into other top colleges. It’s so much more than that!
Chin up!
@AlmostThere2018, I’m sorry to hear that. Is it possible that your son would do better on the SAT (when and if it resumes)? Has he tried an SAT
practice test? So many kids do better on one or the other… my D definitely did better with the SAT. I would think the ACT could be especially anxiety-producing because the timing goes so fast, and although ACT questions are supposed to be more straightforward, my D didn’t feel that was the case for her. Plus, SAT gives the basic formulas (though the student has to know in which situations to apply them, of course) whereas the ACT does not.
@NJWrestlingmom – I know – you’re so right about perspective. I will try to help him see it.
@inthegarden – He did a mock SAT through his test prep tutoring and ACT is the better test for him. But who knows, maybe he’ll do a hail mary SAT this Fall just to see…
@AlmostThere My D mentioned that classmates were taking ACT/SATs in fall/winter of junior year. I didn’t have her test because I thought the optimal time would be spring junior year. She took the Pre-ACT in fall of sophomore year at school and had a decent score, then took a one day practice test through school in the fall or winter of junior year and went down a point! EEK! She took the February ACT this year as a junior and was back to her Pre-ACT score, which was solid, but hoping for better. We planned to have her test at school with all juniors in her class in April, but that is cancelled and not rescheduled. We are still deciding whether to stay with current score and be done or try again. I’m not as concerned about her getting into the schools targeted, but chasing merit. She is also interested in Engineering/Physics. She is focused on studying for the APs now and if she took either ACT or SAT, she would do minimal to no prep. Her school is also deciding what to do about the 2nd semester grades. My son’s college has allowed students to choose regular grades or satisfactory/non-satisfactory grades…they must choose by a certain date and I think anything below C- would be counted as non-satisfactory. My S is trying to raise his gpa and opting for grades.
@AlmostThere2018 I’m sorry this is happening. As you might remember, D21 also started with the ACT and was scoring in the low 30s on practice tests but ended up with a 29 superscore. Bleh.
I would say this- I do think there will be other tests. I don’t think they will be in June. Put a plan together for how he will tackle the ACT at a later test date towards the end of summer or fall. Did he have sections that were particularly low? He could take them one at a time and focus on studying for those.
If money isn’t a concern, I would also sign him up for the Aug SAT when registration opens in late April. Tell him to take a deep breath. He’s got time and he really can’t do anything about it right now because the tests won’t happen for a while. He will have more perspective after a breather.
As for his B, I agree it’s not a big deal. S19 got six Bs in his first three years of high school and did pretty well in admissions. I truly do not think (1) that AOs look for straight As - even if it’s a larger university, a few Bs will not be the reason for a denial and (2) this is an unprecedented time and I think that even kids who get all As this semester will have their grades looked upon with an asterisk. High schools are going to be wary of giving kids lower grades for this time period and I think that’s going to result in some grade inflation that AOs will be aware of.
So the 29 stings now but he’ll be ok!
@homerdog – tks so much. I really appreciate your pep talk! He came down and made himself lunch. He’ll be okay – it just would have been sooooo nice to hit his goal his first test and be done. With all the craziness more test prep is not what he was hoping for.
His English was great. Reading pretty good. Math okay and science was the subsection he really didn’t do well on.
But you’re right – there’s no reason to do anything right now. I imagine ACT won’t announce anything about the June test until early May. I think he could get on board with another month of serious test prep in May if he thinks the June test were to happen.
As for summer testing – he’s supposed to be working at camp until early Aug and it’s a 24/7 gig as an assistant counselor so no prep then. But he could come back and do prep for a Sept test date…cutting it close. But, again, camp may very well be cancelled…
I think he can explain the B in pre-calc in his college app – in addition to the teacher switch he was in the middle of very intense robotics season (coming home at 7:00 every night) and really just figured he could bring his grade up later in the semester. He’s done that b4. He had no idea the grade as of mid-March might be the one he’s stuck with.
@AlmostThere2018 If you son is worried about having a strong foundation for precal. I highly recommend these videos, his site is really easy to navigate by topic in Algebra, Trig, Calc, etc. patrickjmt***com
Hello @1Lotus, I am a merit (auto) chasing mom of D who also plans to major in engineering. Just like @AlmostThere2018 's son.
@AlmostThere2018, I seriously doubt a summer camp will be happening, especially as early as June. Even if we’re successful in flattening
the curve and life opens up somewhat by summer, I think people will be too jittery about recurrences to send kids to something as socially-intensive as summer camp. Plus, what camp owner would want to be held responsible for a risk like that?
I agree that one B, as disappointing as it is for a 4.0 student, is not going to be any kind of deal-breaker, especially now. Many schools are just not able to offer the same level of online instruction as they did in the classroom, and even if most of your son’s third marking period was in the classroom, I don’t know that admission’s officers will have the time to scrutinize the complete situation for every applicant’s school response to the virus. The whole second semester will be viewed in a more forgiving manner, I think.
@AlmostThere2018 Ugh- I’m dreading seeing D21s score if he didn’t do well on science.
She hasn’t gotten anything yet- how did he get his scores?
Remember the ACT will superscore in September, so he could just work on his math and science.