Why Prep? Part 3: Course Placement

Why prep for standardized tests in the age of test-blind and test-optional colleges? The main reason you may think of to take the ACT or SAT is simple: to submit to colleges for admissions. However, there are many lesser-known benefits to these tests than just impressing admissions departments, such as getting a head start on placing into - or out of - your intended college courses.

Entry Requirements and Course Placement

Regardless of rigor, all colleges have course entry requirements. What you may not know is that some colleges will accept scores on specific sections of the ACT or SAT in lieu of the entry requirements for the equivalent college course. At the UC’s for example, you can satisfy your entry-level writing requirement by scoring a 30 on the ACT English section or a 680 on the SAT Reading/Writing section. Even though the UC’s were test-blind for this past admissions cycle, they still accepted scores to be used for course placement.

The added benefit of having these scores is that you can test into or completely out of certain classes. Once you’re at the point in your senior year when you’ve been admitted to college, you no longer have the ability to take additional courses through your high school to get into the more advanced college courses as a freshman. However, with SAT and ACT administrations throughout the spring and summer, you do still have the opportunity to take a standardized test to test into a higher-level course. Because higher-level courses have prerequisites that may prevent you from registering for courses beyond general ed classes as a freshman, entering college having already met course prerequisites could save you a lot of time and tuition. 

College Credit

If you want to start off college with course credit, AP scores aren’t the only way to accomplish this. Depending on the college, your ACT or SAT scores may qualify for course credit. At UCSD, a score of 22 on the ACT Math section or 600 on the SAT Math section will allow you to test into Pre-Calculus instead of taking the 4-credit Introduction to College Mathematics course. The same can be said for UC Berkeley, where a score of 650 on the SAT Math section will test you out of two 4-credit Math courses. Because these aren’t courses that can be taken concurrently, you could be saving yourself 2 full semesters of Math by testing out early.