No, I didn’t get to the payment part to see if it would take it, I need to talk to my son and look at his marching band schedule before we commit to another testing date…from the first week of September all the way to end of October every Saturday is busy for him, that’s why I’m hoping the school has testing day in September on a weekday.
It sounds like I was very lucky yesterday with registration. My DS has no SAT scores yet, and I was able to register him for Aug, Sept, and Nov without any problem. He was also signed up for every possible SAT starting in March, but all of the previous tests were canceled. (I originally registered him only for March, but a friend recommended that I add later dates in case March was canceled, which it was). His ACT test for June was just canceled, too, so we’ll have to wait and see when he’ll finally be able to take a standardized test.
Are most of you guys having kids register for these tests because you think they will really need to have a score for merit opportunities or public universities? Or are you having them take them to put them on apps for schools that have gone test optional?
I think all of D’s schools are now TO. I’d like her to take the tests to just see how it goes. If she hits certain scores, she will send them but neither of us are stressed about it anymore. That’s kind of nice. Makes me wonder how it will affect her test taking though. Maybe it will be a good thing?
@flyingmouse You were able to get three registrations completed? Wow.
I know the test is optional for Fall of 2021 applicants, but if you plan to submit the optional score, did the UC’s state they won’t look at the essay score? And what if you want to transfer later (or ask for a gap year), will 2022 UC applicants need to have an essay score?
Thank you so much for your reply. Yes, we will have to wait until the 3rd now.
Excellent. Thank you. Now, I assume I can switch to a “no essay SAT” for August.
@homerdog D is registered (July ACT and August SAT) because her main interests are public schools- one we are aiming for substantial merit. She will also apply to some local privates that are TO mainly to have some local options in case she decides to stay closer to home- they are not her first choice.
SMU announced TO today. I have to wonder/assume they’ve been following the ACT and SAT debacle. TCU and Baylor announced they would be TO more than a month ago. I was surprised that SMU hadn’t gone that direction. Locally, I feel these three schools have serious overlap of applicants. Has anyone else noticed new announcements of TO in the past day or so?
I think up until recently , only the UCs were requiring essay part in SAT/ACT, since they dropped this requirement, I guess future SAT/ACT with essay may cease soon.
S21 is in the “already has an SAT, was cancelled in June category.” I was able to change the June SAT to Sept, but as others have said, wasn’t able to register for Subject Tests in August, which he had just started studying for. The speed and glee with which he packed away the study guides was stunning.
I reminded him that if I can register June 3, they all come back out…
He is only doing it because he wants to apply to Georgetown (a reach), which has yet to ditch them. However, on the virtual webinar GT said they would likely accept AP scores in lieu of subject tests this year if needed, so we are crossing our fingers for July 15. I kind of think only 5s would be worthy.
Here is information from the College Board blog that is helpful.
https://blog.collegeboard.org/2020-sat-dates-need-to-know?excmpid=SM48-ED-CB-tw
Here’s the registration schedule for the upcoming 2020 SAT and SAT Subject Test administrations:
Students in the high school class of 2020 or 2021 who don’t have an SAT score: You can register now for any 2020 SAT administration, including the August, September, and October test dates.
Students with an active registration (did not cancel) for the June SAT or SAT Subject Test: You can transfer your June registration to only one of the upcoming administrations.
All other students: You can register now only for the November and December SAT or SAT Subject Test administrations. Beginning at approximately 8 p.m. ET on June 3, registration will be open for all students for all upcoming administrations, including the August, September, and October test dates.
My son is only applying to instate publics where sat/act scores are still very much needed. And since we’re in Texas with it’s top 10% rule (which he is not), scores will still play a big factor for admissions to the top two flagships (UT & TAMU). He’s on the fence about applying to SMU (it won’t be financially feasible for us without a big amount of financial aid) which just announced that it is waiving all test requirements for 2020-21 admissions cycle.
With the score he got for the November test he took
He’s already an assured admit at 3 of the state publics he’s applying to, but a higher SAT score will get more him merit aid so that’s what we’re gunning for.
I feel the same way about my D’s ACT. She will take a bunch of practice tests, so we will know what she is capable of and she will most likely have that score.
I think this is all of our kids. Both of my older boys quit with lower scores than they were capable of with a bit of study. As soon as they hit their minimum target, they stopped. D21 knows she would help herself a lot if she could get a couple more points, so she is still trying, although I think everyone is so off of their regular schedule they are struggling to find motivation. I’m guessing it isn’t just my kids.
I have been pushing back against standardized tests since her older brothers were in elementary school. I think by and large they don’t measure much useful, they are a huge time waster, and they drain students of the desire to learn. I don’t think in this regard there is much difference between the stupid tests they take for the state and the ACT/SAT.
FWIW, I have always been a great test taker. I cannot really say that my skill at multiple choice tests has benefited me in adulthood, although I can probably blast through my continuing education classes faster (and while learning less) than my counterparts. Which is probably more of a negative than a positive actually.
I’ve started following Jon Boeckenstedt from Oregon State on twitter. Based on the last several pages of this thread, I think many of you would enjoy reading his stuff. Lots of (intelligent) poking his finger in the eye of College Board. This morning he has a very long and well written article about why the CEO of the College Board needs to be fired.
I agree, I am a member of his fan club 
His blog, highered data stories, is also great.
S21 has an ACT score he’s pleased with. He had been registered for the May, then June, now August SAT Subject tests, now on his birthday. He’s working a 40 hour a week summer job, will have scarce time for essay writing, at a guess. I feel he should probably bail on the tests and focus on essays in August instead.
An conceivable reason to take these tests? Will schools want to see AP scores instead? His school does not offer AP, and he did not self study this year.
I’m so sorry about all the College Board nonsense everyone’s been dealing with!
My son’s list of schools is all TO. He has an LD and does not test well. We wont be submitting his scores to the TO schools. It would be great if he gets some merit but not counting on any. Our reason for making him test is because we want to have an instate public financial safety as a backup in case anything changes with our financial situation that would impact our ability to pay for the private schools he is applying to. Unfortunately all of our publics require a test score WTE of one, but you need to have a 3.5 to apply w/o test scores and he only has a 3.4.
This is laughable. I awoke this morning with a bunch of emails from CB reminding me to finish registering for the August, September, and October test dates. If only I could! CB’s IT department is a joke.
We’re taking the SAT for the test optional UC’s, a few CSU’s and a few private schools. But D’s school list is always subject to change and also other students in our Silicon Valley location will certainly have SAT scores, which D will be competing against.