Staying ahead of the curve

About 1.7 million students in the high school class of 2022 took the SAT at least once, a 13+% increase from the previous year, despite the fact that nearly ~80% of colleges aren't requiring entrance exams for admission.

• The overall number of students taking the ACT is up, too, from 2.69 million → 2.71 million year-over-year.

⏩ Driving the trend… Competition. Many high schoolers said they took one or both of the exams to gain an advantage over their peers in an uber-competitive admissions environment, according to the WSJ.

• While overall college attendance has fallen in recent years, applications to America’s most selective schools have skyrocketed, causing acceptance rates at places like Harvard (3.19%), Stanford (3.95%), and MIT (3.96%) to hit all-time lows in the face of unprecedented competition.

☝️ One more thing: ACT CEO Janet Godwin also attributed a small part of the increase in test-takers to more school districts requiring standardized tests to graduate or receive state-sponsored scholarships.

👀 Looking ahead… The SAT is moving to an all-digital format in the US by March 2024, with the new test taking two hours instead of three.