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Why are many universities eliminating the requirement for standardized tests that measure academic achievement?

Azor Ahai -him-
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Dara
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    Do you mean SAT or GRE? And how many is many? And you should probably specify the country (the US). – Moishe Kohan Feb 03 '23 at 20:22
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    Because things like the SAT and ACT really suck at their stated purpose? – Jon Custer Feb 03 '23 at 21:01
  • In the case of better universities that mostly attract better students I suspect that the applicants have other test information in the form of AP classes and exams. If a student has taken several of these and even if the university does not grant AP credit those test scores are useful and might even be better. Many universities now have placement tests for recently matriculated students, eg, for math, that are probably more informative than the standard, basic tests. – David Smith Feb 06 '23 at 21:31

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There are several contributing reasons, among them are the following

  • COVID made test taking risky,

  • The tests are seen as less predictive than they once were,

  • There are some barriers to entry for some students (poor, for example, or weak schooling),

  • Other predictors are seen to be sufficient to find able students.

There are probably others.

Buffy
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  • Is "weak schooling" not a part of what the tests are supposed to measure? If so, does that mean that if the school system has a problem, universities are the ones that will have to deal with it? – Lodinn Feb 04 '23 at 02:48
  • @Lodinn, in the US, many colleges and universities can compensate for this in the early program. I had to "make up" for not having had a secondary school trigonometry course as a math major due to schooling issues. – Buffy Feb 04 '23 at 12:43
  • @Lodinn the most commonly used tests in this category in the US are the SAT, ACT, and GRE represent themselves as testing aptitudes not knowledge of course content. They rely on reading short passages and answering analytical questions about those passages, and solving mathematical problems that don't involve math beyond simple algebra. This is in contrast to traditional college exams before WWII that would test for knowledge of Latin, history, science, trig, and calculus. Those tests were based on what students were learning in "good" secondary schools and high status prep schools. – Charles E. Grant Feb 04 '23 at 20:14
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    (cont) This meant that students who who didn't have access to this sort of education wouldn't have access to college, even if the they had the "intellectual horsepower" (whatever that means) to succeed in college. The goal was to open up colleges to students who were bright but not necessarily from well-to-do families. The aptitude tests have fallen into disrepute because it turns out they too have strong correlations to economic status and are not purely measures of aptitude. Coaching and tutoring programs available to those with the economic resources can significantly raise scores. – Charles E. Grant Feb 04 '23 at 20:22