College Entrance Exam Taking
Key Issue Overview
College entrance exams, such as the SAT and ACT, can pose significant barriers to college access, particularly for students from underrepresented or low-income backgrounds. These exams are required for admission by many four-year colleges and are used to assess academic readiness, in some cases determining what courses students can take when they first enroll. However, students may face logistical challenges in sitting for the exam, such as paying registration fees and traveling to testing centers.
In recent years, many states have adopted universal testing policies that offer free, in-school testing for all students. Advocates of universal testing policies argue that standardized college entrance exams can play a crucial role in expanding college access by helping students appear on the radar of more selective schools. Students who might not have otherwise taken the exam may earn scores that qualify them for competitive colleges they hadn’t previously considered. In this way, college entrance exams provide valuable information, broadening students’ awareness of college options and connecting them with opportunities they might have overlooked (Dynarski, 2018). Here, we discuss the evidence on what expands access to college entrance exams and what can prepare students for these high-stakes tests.
Multiple studies have tested strategies aimed at increasing access to the exams and improving scores. These interventions include policies that expand the number free score reports test-takers can send to colleges; policies that increase access to the SAT and ACT by mandating testing or enhancing access to testing centers; and interventions aimed at increasing student test scores through test retaking or preparatory courses. There is evidence that each of these strategies helps increase college enrollment rates, particularly for low-income students, and helps increase the likelihood that students attend more selective colleges.
Increasing Free Score Sends
What the Studies Tested:
- These studies examined the effects of a series of policy changes that increased the number of colleges that ACT- and SAT- takers can send their test reports to for free. In 1997, the number of free ACT score sends for all students increased from three to four. In 2007, SAT fee waiver recipients experienced an increase in free SAT score sends from four to eight.
What the Studies Found:
These relatively minor policy shifts were cost-effective in increasing the number of score reports that test-takers sent to colleges. For low-income students, these policies led to an increase in college enrollment immediately following high school graduation, as well as an increase in the selectivity of the college that students attended.
Click the dropdowns below to read summaries of each study included in the overall synthesis. Unless noted otherwise, all reported effects are statistically significant at the p<.05 level. Studies are linked (see author name and publication date). When available, we link an open access version of the study. Explore our methodology
Study: Surprising Ripple Effects: How Changing the SAT Score-Sending Policy for Low-Income Students Impacts College Access and Success (Hurwtiz et al., 2017)
Intervention: A College Board policy change in fall 2007 provided low-income SAT test takers (those who used a fee waiver) with four additional free SAT score sends. This increased the number of free SAT score reports for low-income students from four to eight.
Context:
- This study focused on low-income high school students throughout the U.S. who took the SAT in the years immediately following the 2007 policy change.
Research Design: Difference-in-Differences
Findings: Increasing the number of free score sends available to SAT takers who received fee waivers...
- Increased the number of SAT score reports sent by fee-waiver recipients by 0.4 on average.
- Increased college enrollment rates in the fall following high school graduation among low-income students by 2 percentage points.
- Increased bachelor’s degree completion rates within four years by .8 percentage points and within six years by 1.7 percentage points.
Subgroup Findings:
- The policy change had larger effects among students who scored in the top tercile of fee-waiver recipients’ SAT scores (SAT > 880).
Study: Small Differences That Matter: Mistakes in Applying to College (Pallais, 2013)
This study was published as “Small Differences That Matter: Mistakes in Applying to College” in 2015 but is behind a paywall.
Intervention: A 1997 policy increased the number of free score sends that ACT takers received from three to four. At the time of the policy change, each additional score send cost $6.
Context:
- The study focused on high school students throughout the U.S. taking the ACT exam in the years following the 1997 policy change. The authors examined how effects varied for students from low-, middle-, and high- income families.
Research Design: Difference-in-Differences
Findings: After the policy change that increased the number of free score sends available to low-income ACT takers...
- Students sent more ACT score sends. On average students sent approximately 0.8 more score reports.
- Students sent their ACT score reports to a wider range of colleges in terms of college selectivity level, driven by increased applications to more selective colleges than prior to the policy change
- ACT-takers completed more college applications in the years following the policy change, though this effect was of a lower magnitude than the increase in score sends.
- Low-income ACT-takers attended more selective colleges as a result of the policy. There was not a change in the selectivity of colleges attended among middle-/ high-income students.
Improving Test Scores: Test Preparation and Test Retakes
What the Studies Tested:
- These studies examined efforts to increase students’ college entrance exam scores. The first study measured the effect of SAT retaking, and the second study estimated the impact of taking a SAT preparatory course.
What the Studies Found:
- SAT retaking:
- One study found that SAT retaking led to a 14-percentage point increase in four-year college enrollment, with even larger gains for low-income students (30 percentage points) and URM students (20 percentage points). Retaking led students to attend colleges with higher bachelor’s degree completion rates than they otherwise would have attended. Descriptively, the authors found that SAT retake rates were higher among students with higher initial scores, higher incomes, and those using fee waivers. Female and Asian-American students were more likely to retake than male and white students, while underrepresented minority (URM) students were less likely to retake. On average, students improved their SAT scores by 46 points after retaking, with larger gains for lower-income and URM students.
- SAT preparatory course:
One study found that participating in a commercial SAT preparatory course led to an increase in SAT math score of approximately 11 to 15 points. There were no statistically significant effects of the preparatory course on SAT verbal score.
Click the dropdowns below to read summaries of each study included in the overall synthesis. Unless noted otherwise, all reported effects are statistically significant at the p<.05 level. Studies are linked (see author name and publication date). When available, we link an open access version of the study. Explore our methodology
Study: Using Linear Regression and Propensity Score Matching to Estimate the Effect of Coaching on the SAT (Domingue and Briggs, 2009)
Intervention: Participating in a commercial SAT preparatory course.
Context:
- The authors used data from a nationally representative survey conducted by the U.S. Department of Education. The study compared outcomes for students who had taken both the PSAT and SAT, specifically measuring differences between those who had and had not participated in a commercial SAT preparatory course as part of their test preparation.
- In this study, the “treated” students were any students who reported on a nationally representative Department of Education survey that they had participated in a commercial SAT prep course. Additional specificity on what these courses entailed are not provided, and likely vary in content and length.
Research Design: Propensity Score Matching
Findings:
- Participating in an SAT preparatory course led to an increase in SAT math score of approximately 11 to 15 points.
- There were no statistically significant effects of the preparatory course on SAT verbal score.
Study: Take Two! SAT Retaking and College Enrollment Gaps (Goodman et al., 2019)
This study was published as "Take Two! SAT Retaking and College Enrollment Gaps” in 2020 but is behind a paywall.
Intervention: Retaking the SAT
Context:
- This study looked at over 12 million students in the high school classes of 2006-2014 from across the U.S. who had taken the SAT at least once by the fall of their senior year.
- The analytic strategy relies on the observation that students whose initial SAT score is just below a multiple of 100 are more likely to retake the exam than students whose score is at that multiple of 100 or just above. For example, students who score a 1690 on their first test are more likely to retake the SAT than their peers who score a 1700. To measure the effect of SAT retaking, the authors compare students whose first scores are just below a multiple of 100 with those students whose scores are at or just above the multiple of 100.
Research Design: Regression Discontinuity
Findings:
- SAT retaking led to a 14-percentage point increase in four-year college enrollment among the full sample of students. Effects were larger for lower-income students (30 percentage points) and underrepresented minority students (20 percentage points). Retaking also led students to attend colleges with bachelor’s degree completion rates that were 6 percentage points higher than those of colleges they would have likely otherwise attended.
- Students’ scores were, on average, 46 points higher (on a 2400-point scale) their second time sitting for the SAT, with larger improvements among students with initial scores in the bottom half of the SAT distribution. Score increases were also larger among underrepresented minority students and low-income students relative to their non-minoritized and higher-income peers.
Subgroup Findings:
- Descriptively, the authors found that SAT retake rates increased with initial SAT scores and were higher among students with higher incomes and those using fee waivers. Female and Asian-American students were more likely to retake the SAT than male and white students, while underrepresented minority students were less likely to retake.
Increasing Access to Taking the SAT or ACT
What the Studies Tested:
- These studies examined the impact of policies that enhanced students’ access to the SAT or ACT, including state and district testing mandates and the effects of opening or closing testing centers.
What the Studies Found:
- Across states, universal testing policies increased exam participation, encouraged more students to send score reports to colleges, and increased the likelihood of students enrolling in both four-year colleges overall and selective four-year colleges.
- Findings from multiple states underscore the potential for universal testing policies to eliminate barriers to college entry, particularly for students who might not take the exam without such mandates. These students often score well and may have previously underestimated their competitiveness for selective colleges.
- Having a testing center located at a student’s own or nearby high school substantially increased college entrance exam taking rates.
Click the dropdowns below to read summaries of each study included in the overall synthesis. Unless noted otherwise, all reported effects are statistically significant at the p<.05 level. Studies are linked (see author name and publication date). When available, we link an open access version of the study. Explore our methodology
Study: The Effect of Access to College Assessments on Enrollment and Attainment (Bulman, 2015)
Intervention: Change in access to SAT either due to (1) the opening or closing of a SAT testing center at an individual’s high school or nearby location or (2) the adoption of a district policy that provides free in-school SAT administration with default registration.
Context:
- Examined the opening and closing of SAT centers across the U.S. between 2001 to 2011. To study the impact of adopting a district policy, the authors focused on three districts that were among the earliest to adopt such policies: Stockton Unified School District (CA), Palm Beach County School District (FL), and Irving Independent School District (TX).
Research Design: Fixed-Effects
Findings:
- The opening of a new testing center increase SAT participation at the host school by 3.8 percentage points. It also increased students’ likelihood of sending SAT score reports and attending a four-year college.
- The opening of a new testing center increased SAT participation at neighboring schools by 1.4 percentage points.
- The closing of a testing center decreased SAT taking at the host school by 2.5 percentage points.
- The adoption of a district policy that offered free in-school SAT administration increased SAT taking at adopting districts by 31 percentage points. This policy led to an increase in newly induced test-takers who sent SAT score reports, enrolled in four-year colleges, and completed at least two semesters of college, with particularly strong effects among those who scored in the top third of SAT takers (SAT > approximately 990).
Study: Learning from the Test: Raising Selective College Enrollment by Providing Information (Goodman, 2013)
This study was published as “Learning from the Test: Raising Selective College Enrollment by Providing Information” in 2016 but is behind a paywall.
Intervention: State mandates in Colorado and Illinois that required high school juniors to take the ACT.
Context:
- This study examined the effects of policies adopted in 2001 and their effect on 2002 public school graduates in Colorado and Illinois.
Research Design: Difference-in-Differences
Findings:
- The policies increased the number of students taking the ACT in the adopting states, with about half of all juniors being newly induced into test-taking.
- Many of the newly induced test takers (40%-45%) earned scores qualifying them for competitive colleges. Enrollment at selective colleges increased as a result of the polices, with approximately 10% of the newly induced test takers attending a selective college that they would not otherwise have attended.
Study: The Maine Question: How Is 4-Year College Enrollment Affected by Mandatory College Entrance Exams? (Hurwitz et al., 2015)
Intervention: A state mandate adopted in Maine that all public-school juniors take the SAT.
Context:
- The mandate was adopted in 2006. The intervention included several components aimed at facilitating SAT test-taking including transforming high schools into testing centers, providing transportation, offering makeup test dates, providing online SAT preparation materials, offering meals on exam day, and offering a day off for test-takers during the week following the exam.
Research Design: Difference-in-Differences
Findings:
- The mandate increased SAT participation rates across the state, with particularly strong effects in rural areas. At high schools in rural areas and small towns, SAT test-taking rose by nearly 30 percentage points.
- The policy increased four-year college going rates by 2 to 3 percentage points, driven by students attending high schools in rural areas or small towns.
- There was no effect of the policy on likelihood of bachelor’s degree attainment within five years of high school graduation.
Study: ACT for All: The Effect of Mandatory College Entrance Exams on Postsecondary Attainment and Choice (Hyman, 2017)
Intervention: State mandate in Michigan that required high school juniors to take the ACT.
Context:
- This study examined the effect of the mandatory ACT policy adopted in 2007 on Michigan public high school students.
Research Design: Difference-in-Differences
Findings:
- The policy led to a small increase (approximately 1 percentage point) in four-year college enrollment, with larger effects for low-income students, male students, and students from high-poverty schools.
Study: The ACT of Enrollment: The College Enrollment Effects of State-Required College Entrance Exam Testing (Klasik, 2013)
Intervention: State mandates in Colorado, Illinois, and Maine that required all high school juniors to take college entrance exams (SAT or ACT).
Context:
- This study examined the effect of mandatory ACT testing policies adopted in Colorado and Illinois in 2001 and a mandatory SAT testing policy adopted by Maine in 2006.
Research Design: Comparative Interrupted Time Series
Findings:
- State level (based on data about enrollment at in-state schools):
- In Colorado, there were no overall changes in in-state college enrollment, but there was an increase in enrollment at private four-year colleges and at “more selective” four-year colleges.
- In Illinois, there were no overall changes in in-state college enrollment. There was an increase in enrollment at four-year colleges, driven by private four-year colleges. There were decreases in enrollment at public in-state colleges, both two- and four-year institutions.
- In Maine, there was a decrease in students enrolling at in-state colleges, driven by a decrease in students enrolling at Maine community colleges. College enrollment increased at in-state schools that required entrance exams for admission.
- Individual level (based on data about in-state students, regardless of whether they attend college in- or out-of-state):
- In Colorado, there was an increased likelihood of students enrolling at a two-year college as well as an increased likelihood of students enrolling in college full-time.
- In Illinois, there was an increase in likelihood of overall college enrollment, driven by an increase in four-year college enrollment. There was also an increase in full-time college enrollment.
- In Maine, there were no statistically significant effects on individual-level likelihood of college enrollment.
Study: Testing the Way Forward: The impact of Statewide ACT or SAT Testing on Postsecondary Outcomes (Swiderski, 2024)
Intervention: A policy implemented in 29 states that required or allowed all 11th graders to take the ACT or SAT at school, for free.
Context:
- This study examined the overall effects of the policy across all 29 states that adopted a universal testing policy between 2002 and 2018.
Research Design: Difference-in-Differences
Findings:
- The universal testing policies increased enrollment at selective four-year universities by 2%.
- There were no effects on enrollment at in-state selective colleges in states where a universal test policy was adopted.
- There were no effects on the number of bachelor’s degree completions at in-state colleges among states adopting a universal testing policy.
- Opportunities for District Innovation: Many of the interventions discussed are policies enacted at the state level or changes made by the testing organizations. However, your district can explore opportunities to adapt and innovate from these strategies to implement interventions within your schools to enhance student access to college entrance exams.
- Assess Current Testing Access: Take stock of how many and which students in your district tend to take—and do well on— the SAT or ACT to identify areas for enhancing access and success. If free, in-school testing is already available to all students, consider interventions that focus on expanding test preparation resources, educating students on score-sending strategies, and ensuring awareness of retake opportunities, including eligibility for fee waivers.
- Connect Students to Resources: Identify ways to build on the strategies discussed in this section to provide students with information, preparatory activities, or mentoring to expand access and improve performance on college entrance exams. For example, many students may be unaware of fee waivers available for both initial and subsequent ACT/SAT tests. Additionally, your staff could advise students on strategic score-sending practices to ensure they send scores within the required time frame and use all available free score sends.
- Current Use of College Entrance Exams: Over the past few years, particularly since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, some selective colleges have adopted test-optional policies for admissions. While some institutions have made taking the ACT / SAT optional, many still require them as part of the application process (and some that temporarily went test-optional once again are requiring the exams). Further, these tests are often used in consideration of merit-based financial aid opportunities. College entrance exams remain a relevant part of the admissions process for students interested in attending a four-year college. While students attending a community college do not need to take the ACT or SAT for admissions, they may need to take a similar standardized test for placement decisions. Equipping all students with the skills needed to succeed on these types of tests can shorten time to degree and save students money