By Robert Salonga
Daily Bruin Staff
Students will no longer decide how to present their SAT II
scores to prospective colleges, the College Board announced last
week.
The board eliminated its “score choice” option that
allows students to decide which of their test scores appear on
their permanent academic record and are submitted when they apply
to college. Now colleges will have access to all of an
applicant’s scores.
“Colleges look at the best scores anyway,” said
Catherine Baxter, college advisor for Santa Monica High School.
Board officials said they removed the policy for several
reasons. First, the board already encouraged admissions officials
to focus on the highest test scores submitted, making
students’ efforts to mask poor scores unnecessary.
“Score choice played into people’s fears,”
Baxter said.
It also put students in poorer schools at a disadvantage since
they lack the available counselors to show them how to use the
service, officials said. In addition, score choice helps more
affluent students since they can afford to take the tests more than
once.
The date to eliminate score choice has not yet been determined,
and the board is concerned that students will not take the SAT II
tests if they cannot withhold possible bad scores.
But admissions officers at UCLA said prospective applicants
should not worry about one bad score adversely affecting their
admission into college.
“The SAT II is just one of many elements considered at
UCLA,” said Vu Tran, director of undergraduate
admissions.
Tran said that UCLA does not calculate a numerical index for
admissions, instead evaluating test scores in the context of other
possible elements, including personal experiences and life
challenges.
Baxter recommended that students take the subject tests upon
completion of the relevant course, when they are naturally
best-prepared. She added that Santa Monica High has long encouraged
its students to skip the score choice option.
“It’s just a moneymaker for the College
Board,” she said.
Baxter said she has had students who filled out the score choice
process incorrectly ““ either on the day of the test or later
by phone ““ and had their applications thrown out as a
result.
“They release scores that never go through,” Baxter
said. “It’s all automated, so if they don’t push
the right key, they’ll send blank scores.”
College Board officials said they have never received a report
of such an instance.
Tran said he understands why students use a service like score
choice, but emphasized that how a college campus uses the scores is
more important than their presentation.
“We would not want to penalize students who take a lot of
classes and SAT tests,” Tran said. “We’ll take it
into context.”