NACAC Says to Chill on the SAT and ACT Scores, UC Schools Say, "You Can't Make Us"

For all of you who thought the SAT and ACT really blew (or that you really blew it on the exams), good news: the National Association for College Admissions Counseling recently conducted a study which found that the standardized tests are not accurate ways to gauge the success of potential students (phew!). The NACAC discouraged the heavy reliance on SAT and ACT scores in college admissions, which has been the prevalent method of choosing students since back in the day when Michael Jackson was still black.

The LA Times reports:

The National Assn. for College Admission Counseling issued a report that did not advocate ending standardized testing altogether. But the association’s commission on such standardized exams did say that more schools should consider doing without these traditional exams so dreaded by teenagers.

Instead, colleges and universities could switch to such tests as the College Board’s subject exams that are based on specific academic subjects, the report suggested. Or perhaps the testing world should consider developing a new curriculum-based exam, it said.

The study noted that many U.S. students pay for extensive coaching and prep courses before taking the SAT or ACT. Those classes can be expensive, leaving students who can’t afford them at a disadvantage in the college entrance race.

"Despite their prevalence in American high school culture, college admission exams — such as the SAT and ACT — may not be critical to making good admission decisions at many of the colleges and universities that use them," declared the commission, which was chaired by William Fitzsimmons, Harvard University’s dean of admission and financial aid. Harvard still requires the tests.

While the NACAC gives out these suggestions, the University of California schools have decided to go maverick and are increasing reliance on the SAT and ACT over subject tests. Remember, this is the state that chose the Kindergarten Cop as their governor, much to the chagrin of media-types pitched into the depths of self-loathing for making witty title mash-ups like The Gubernator.

But despite the silicone and collagen and, yes, the Gubernator, we'd come to expect a bit more from the the UC school system, which turned out brilliant minds like Joan Didion and Francis Ford Coppola. Now, as the UCs rebel by sticking to the traditional, number happy, pi-r-squared admissions process, the only thing to do is make an analogy: standardized tests are to UC schools what the European backpacking trip is to the rebellious WASPy kid.