Should You Take the SAT in 2026? Here’s What the Data Says
If you’ve been operating on “test-optional means it doesn’t matter,” it’s time for an update. The data this cycle says otherwise, and it’s specific enough to actually change your strategy.
Common App data shows the number of applicants submitting test scores rose 11% year over year this cycle, while non-submitters declined. Families are adjusting to something real: Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Brown, Cornell, MIT, Caltech, Stanford, and Penn all require scores again. Columbia, the last Ivy holding a permanent test-optional line, is reinstating testing starting with the 2027-2028 cycle.
Why schools are walking this back
The reasoning isn’t vague. Dartmouth’s own research found test scores predicted academic success better than high school GPA, especially for first-generation and low-income students. Yale ran its numbers and found students who skipped submitting scores were, without realizing it, hurting their own odds. Once they looked closely, students without scores were getting in at roughly a third of the rate of students who submitted them.
Part of this comes down to grade inflation. More than half of college applicants now report an A- average or better, which makes transcripts harder to use for actually comparing students. Test scores became one of the few data points still doing that job.
“Optional” was never “irrelevant”
Here’s the distinction that trips people up: test-optional was never test-blind. If you submit a score, it gets read and weighed alongside everything else. Skipping it doesn’t remove a variable from consideration. It removes a variable that might have worked in your favor.
So should you submit?
The real answer isn’t a blanket yes or no. It’s about where your score actually falls. If it’s within or above a school’s published middle 50% range, submit it, even at schools that don’t technically require it. If it’s well below that range, it’s usually smarter to skip it and let the rest of your application carry the weight.
This decision goes better when you make it early, ideally before senior year starts, with an actual testing plan in place. Scrambling to register for a fall test date after already committing to skip scores is the position you want to avoid.
Where to start
Our Vol. 3 EXECUTE workbook helps you build a school-by-school testing strategy based on your actual numbers, not a guess.
Test-optional was never really permission to opt out of being evaluated. It was a choice about which parts of your application you get to control. Know your number, know the range, and decide on purpose.