As a senior and incoming senior, you have many things on your mind, due dates, college events, info nights, and test scores. In the unprecedented time we know that many colleges have taken the liberty to cancel and or make their applications test optional.

This can be beneficial but also an added stress. Many students depend on test scores to be their saving grace but when that importance is taken away, it is difficult to discern whether this is a beneficial or detrimental amendment. For class of 2021 over 400 colleges being applied to will not require you to take the test or submit a score, but will the rules remain the same for the next years to come?

It has been an ongoing debate in how much importance these tests should carry. Now that we have the opportunity, people are not sure how to respond. Currently, many colleges have decided to not only enact this solution during this current year but continuing in the next years to come.

UC schools are suspending the standardized testing for the years 2021 and 2022 in an approved plan and currently are trying to completely omit them within applications for 2023 and 2024 according to the Washington Post.

More schools are taking the opportunity to start a chain or eventually bring less power to these tests.

Institutions such as Harvard, Princeton, and Yale also dropping the test for this year but continue to emphasize that this policy will only apply to the graduating class of 2021, states theatlantic.com.

As suspending these tests for one year is mandatory, it continues to raise questions by college officials if this policy should be implemented for a longer-term states the Washington Post. Colleges all debate upon how they will continue after the virus stops and whether this test should be such a contributing factor within applications even in the future.