Students spend all of high school preparing, spend hundreds of dollars on classes and books, spend hours taking practice tests, spend hours taking the test, only for it to mean nothing? Standardized tests are everything to some students. While others, regardless of intelligence or grades, do not regard them with any importance at all.

Test optional colleges and universities do so with the perspective that a single test, that test often being the SAT or the ACT, does not represent the entire career of a student. Schools are test optional to allow students to send in a more diverse, complete representation of themselves in their application.

According to insidehighered.com 80 percent of colleges and universities are now test optional, leaving grades, extracurriculars, essays, and other achievements to be much more important on a students application. In spite of this change, schools still require the test to be taken.

Countless hours are spent by teachers away from standard instructional time to prepare students for these tests, entire days of school are even dedicated to give students a practice version of these tests. This is all only for 43 percent of students to submit a test score on their college application, leaving many to wonder if these tests are needed at all (insidehighered.com). These tests still hold value, for those who put in the effort to take them seriously. 

However, a college being test optional does not mean that these exams are not valuable. Standardized tests are often the only level playing field for colleges to assess their applicants, and that’s why the top universities still do require test scores. 

Classes can vary in difficulty depending on many factors such as the curriculum taught to the students as well as the effectiveness of the teacher themselves to teach the students. Organizations such as the National Honors Society and others of that type are run by individual schools, so requirements and standards to receive membership to such an organization vary with each school.

These differences can become significant when considering students from across the nation. A school in Illinois compared to a school in California can differentiate in countless ways from classes offered, to class time, to the severity of grading students receive from their teachers.

With standardized tests, students across the nation all take the very same test regardless of what school they attend, providing colleges with a universal platform to assess their applicants. 

Standardized tests are taken for a reason, and while the test optional option exists for those who may have been impacted negatively by such a test, the option to submit a score still exists for those who put in the effort to benefit from such.