Deciding Whether to Submit SAT or ACT Scores Under Test-Optional Policies
By Muntasir • Published Sep 18, 2026 • Updated Sep 18, 2026 • US College Admissions
Compare your SAT or ACT score to a college's published mid-50% range. Score at or above the 75th percentile, submit it. Score below the 25th percentile, leave it out. In between, weigh the rest of your application before deciding.
Test-optional means you choose whether to send scores, not that scores are ignored if you send them.
🎓 Find a college's mid-50% range on its Common Data Set or admissions website.
Above the 75th percentile: submitting usually helps.
Below the 25th percentile: skipping usually helps.
Test-blind colleges don't look at scores even if you send them.
Some scholarships and honors programs still require a test score at test-optional schools.
What test-optional means
Test-optional means you decide whether to include SAT or ACT scores with your application. If you submit a score, the admissions committee reads it as part of your file. If you don't, the college evaluates you on your transcript, essays, activities, and recommendations without a testing gap counting against you. Test-optional differs from test-blind, where a college doesn't consider scores even if you send them, and from test-required, where a score is mandatory.
Policies vary by school and change from year to year, so confirm the current policy on each college's admissions website before you decide, rather than assuming based on last year's rules.
What a Common Data Set is
Most four-year colleges publish a Common Data Set each year, a standardized document covering enrollment, admission rates, and testing statistics in a consistent format across schools. Section C of most Common Data Sets lists the 25th and 75th percentile SAT and ACT scores for enrolled first-year students. Search the college name together with common data set to find the current version, usually posted on the school's institutional research or admissions office website.
Find the college's mid-50% range
Most colleges publish a middle 50 percent range for admitted or enrolled students, showing the 25th and 75th percentile SAT or ACT scores. Find this on the college's own admissions or institutional research page, on its Common Data Set, or through tools like College Board BigFuture and the federal College Scorecard . A range like 1200-1400 SAT means half of admitted students scored inside that band, a quarter scored above it, and a quarter scored below it.
A simple framework
| Where your score falls | What to do |
|---|---|
| At or above the 75th percentile | Submit it. The score strengthens your file. |
| Between the 25th and 75th percentile | Weigh the rest of your application. A strong transcript and essays outweigh a mid-range score either way. |
| Below the 25th percentile | Skip it. Let your transcript and other materials carry the application. |
Apply this school by school, not once for your whole list. A 1350 SAT might sit above the range at one college and below it at another.
Public versus private colleges
Some state university systems use a formula combining GPA, class rank, and test scores for admission, especially for in-state applicants, and a strong test score offsets a lower class rank in that formula even at a test-optional school. Private colleges using holistic review tend to weigh a missing or mid-range score against the rest of your file rather than a fixed formula. Check whether your target state schools still factor test scores into merit scholarship formulas, since that differs from the general admission decision.
Reasons to submit even a mid-range score
A score in the middle of the range still adds information for colleges that use holistic review, especially if your transcript comes from a school without AP or IB courses, or if your GPA doesn't fully reflect your ability because of one weak semester. A solid test score gives admissions readers another data point that supports the rest of your file.
Reasons to leave a score out
If your score sits below a school's range, including it drags down an otherwise strong application without adding anything a reader can't already see in your grades and essays. Some students also test poorly under standardized conditions despite strong classroom performance, and a test-optional policy keeps that mismatch out of the file.
Watch for exceptions to test-optional
Test-optional for general admission doesn't always cover every part of a college. Merit scholarship committees, honors colleges, and specific majors like nursing or engineering sometimes still require a score even when the general application doesn't. Check each scholarship or program's requirements separately, since a missing score disqualifies you from an award you'd otherwise get through the regular application.
Deciding whether to retake the test
If your score sits below a target school's 25th percentile and a testing date falls before the deadline, retake it when the score sits well below your typical practice test performance or reflects a testing day clearly unusual for you. If your score matches your regular practice results, time spent strengthening essays and activities often helps your application more than another test date.
Steps to decide
Look up the 25th and 75th percentile SAT or ACT range for each college on your list.
Compare your highest score, using superscoring rules if the college allows combining section scores across test dates.
Submit scores at or above the 75th percentile.
Leave out scores below the 25th percentile.
For scores in between, weigh your GPA, course rigor, and essays before deciding.
Check scholarship and honors program requirements separately from the general admission policy.
Revisit this decision every time a college updates its testing policy for a new admission cycle, since some schools that were test-optional return to requiring scores.