why do universities care about the date you wrote the test?

Applying to College
1

i honestly don’t get it , can anyone explain?

2

Which test are you writing? Do you mean when you took your standardized tests?

3

@Jpgranier yes, on common app there are questions “sat test date” , “toefl/ielts test date”? why do they wanna know it

4

I’m not sure. They probably use it for statistics of some sort. They probably want to know future test dates in order to know when they can begin looking at your application.

5

They use this to compare you to other students. Especially with IELTS or TOEFL, if your score is an old one it might not be a good evaluation of your current language skills.

6

Why do you care why colleges care about the date you wrote took the test?

7

@marvin100 To be fair, not everyone who speaks English speaks American English. “Write an exam” and “sit for an exam” are quite common outside the US.

8

Sure, @skieurope , and I know–and as an expat myself (who often teaches about sociolinguistics), I’m well aware of and sensitive to linguistic differences even within a language. It’s also fair to say that the SAT is an American test, though.

9

Some tests - like the SAT - change/are updated over time.