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BOARD OF ADMISSIONS AND RELATIONS WITH SCHOOLS (BOARS) Assembly of the Academic Senate
Eddie Comeaux, Chair 1111 Franklin Street, 12
th
Floor
Phone: (510) 987-9466
Fax: (510) 763-0309
June 19, 2019
ROBERT MAY, CHAIR
ACADEMIC COUNCIL
RE: BOARS Recommendation to Eliminate the ACT/SAT Essay Requirement
Dear Robert,
While the UC has appointed a Task Force to examine the utility of standardized testing this year,
the Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools (BOARS) has engaged in a more narrow
review of the requirement for all applicants to the UC system to submit scores from the SAT Essay
or ACT Writing Test. We recommend that the UC eliminate this requirement as soon as is feasible.
Three key considerations led to this recommendation.
1. Nationally, the ACT/SAT essay exams have been virtually eliminated from the college
admissions outside the UC. The UC campuses represent 9 of the 12 remaining institutions
that still require the ACT Writing Test or SAT Essay. The need to sit for this exam adds
time and cost-related burdens on California’s students, and, and such, adds to other access
barriers for students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
2. ACT/SAT essay exams, at present, do not adhere to BOARS’ general principles for use of
admissions tests by UC. We received uniform feedback from Admissions Directors across
all nine campuses that scores from the ACT Writing Test and SAT Essay are not, and have
not, been used for admissions decisions. Although the College Board has produced data
showing that SAT essay scores may be associated with academic performance indicators,
a case has not been made that there is incremental utility of the essay over and above other
data available in the application.
Moreover, there remain concerns about scoring criteria
and validity of the tests (described below) that have dissuaded UC admissions officials
from giving any weight to these scores. Ultimately, the essay examination requirement is
serving no purpose in helping campuses make decisions about which students are best
prepared to excel in the UC system.
3. The UC strongly values the ability of students to write well. Well-developed skills in
written expression serve as a foundation for achievement in all areas of study, and the
evaluation of writing competence should remain a priority in UC admissions. However,
samples of writing produced within a time-limited, single sitting examination may not