Yes, New Jersey Students – prep for the SAT

By NJ

Students from New Jersey’s affluent suburbs should – or arguably – must prepare as vigorously as possible for the SATs.  The simplest explanation: most students from Princeton, Pennington, and Lawrenceville, among other leavy New Jersey town, do not have the demographics or the life stories that make them compelling candidates for competitive colleges.  Given grade inflation and the subjective nature of other aspects of the college application, the tests are one of the only ways that students from such backgrounds can stand out.

A well written article from:

https://www.ivyloungetestprep.com/blog/does-class-of-2023-need-to-take-sat-act

My Best Advice on the ACT or SAT for the class of 2023

For the class of 2023 and beyond, expect that you WILL have to take either the SAT or ACT for your college admissions.

Yes, as always, you will need to see which schools you wish to apply to and check out their specific admissions processes and requirements. There are several colleges and universities that have always been test optional, and a few will still be Test Optional or Test Blind/Test Free for your year due to the pandemic. But unless you’re 100% certain that—a YEAR from now—you are ONLY applying to Test Blind / Test Free colleges, you need to take the SAT or ACT. Why? Because you either will be REQUIRED to submit a test score with your application, or you can at least BENEFIT from submitting a stellar SAT or ACT test score (because Test Optional schools still look at and consider the scores you give them).

And if this “decision” means you ultimately end up doing more work (prepping and taking a test that, A YEAR FROM NOW, you realize you didn’t need to take), well…frankly, so what? When did learning reading comprehension, proper grammar and editing skills, basic math, and data interpretation skills ever hurt anyone? NEVER, that’s when.

SO MY BEST ADVICE TO YOU AS YOU NAVIGATE STANDARDIZED TESTING, CLASS OF 2023, IS THIS: TAKE THE TEST.

You might be one of the few who ultimately didn’t need to submit an SAT or ACT score in the end, but in all likelihood, your year is going to look pretty similar to pre-pandemic “normal.” So pick your testpick your Testing Timeline, and funnel any doubts and anxious energy into doing something that will actually get you into college—getting a stellar SAT or ACT score!