The Antelope Valley Times

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CSU scraps SAT, ACT tests in admissions process

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The California State University system will abandon the use of SAT and ACT tests in its admission process, permanently adopting a policy that was implemented on a temporary basis during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The CSU Board of Trustees voted unanimously Wednesday, March 23, to scrap the use of the standardized tests in admissions decisions, following the lead of the University of California, which abandoned the tests in 2020.

The CSU suspended use of the tests for the 2021-22 and 2022-23 academic years due to the pandemic. Earlier this year, the CSU’s Admission Advisory Council — including faculty, students and administrators — recommended that the tests be discontinued permanently in admissions decisions. A Board of Trustees committee on Tuesday, March 22, approved the idea, advancing it to the full board Wednesday, March 23.

Acting CSU Chancellor Steve Relyea said in a statement that the move is in line with the university system’s “continued efforts to level the playing field and provide greater access to a high-quality college degree for students from all backgrounds.”

“In essence, we are eliminating our reliance on a high-stress, high- stakes test that has shown negligible benefit and providing our applicants with greater opportunities to demonstrate their drive, talents and potential for college success,” Relyea added.

Critics have challenged the use of the standardized tests for college admissions, questioning their effectiveness and suggesting they create further hurdles for disadvantaged students. The CSU will “utilize a multi-faceted admission criteria to determine student eligibility in lieu of standardized test scores,” according to the system. The criteria focus primarily on students’ performance in core subject classes, referred to as A-G courses, their grades in those classes and their graduation from high school.

Students can still take the SAT or ACT tests, and scores can be used to place them into appropriate-level math and English courses.

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4 comments for "CSU scraps SAT, ACT tests in admissions process"

  1. “…..and provide greater access to a high-quality college degree”

    And the photo they selected was Cal State Bakersfield. Hilarious

    The Cal State system has shown itself to simply be an extension of high school. With the exception of a small group of campuses/majors (i.e San Luis Obispo and Pomona’s engineering programs) and the Maritime Academy’s program, the rest of the system is trending downwards.

  2. There are Fortune 500 companies who have found that the SAT is a better predictor of success in the corporate world than university GPA.

  3. The SAT/ACT has been sacrificed in the altar of wokeness, because God forbid groups that study more outperform others. Now we get to rely on high school grades, which are inflated and have turned high school diplomas into participation trophies. Hey, fear not, I suppose we can rely on placement tests at colleges and universities to see if a student is ready for college-level English and math. But oh wait, placement tests and remedial courses have been scrapped as well. The attempt to make college entrance more subjective is a backdoor to bypass the will of California voters who rejected raced-based affirmative action on the ballot in 2020.

    We are living through a unique experiment where we cast doubt on the very notion of merit because of the erroneous and illogical idea that a discrepancy of outcome is evidence of racism itself.