NCAA Drops Mandatory Standardized Testing For Class of 2023 and Potentially For Good

• 27 January 2023

The NCAA Eligibility Centre has just recently announced that they will not be requiring incoming student athletes to take the standardized tests to be eligible for NCAA Division I or II athletics. The SAT or ACT were previously mandatory standardized tests that all incoming students must have taken in order to compete at these levels. 

In April 2022, the Standardized Test Score Task Force recommended the permanent removal of the test score requirement. Its recommendation will be voted on at the NCAA Convention, which will take place from January 11-14, 2023, in San Antonio, Texas.

The NCAA is quick to point out that students may still need to take the SAT for admission to a particular college or university or for an academic scholarship that might complement an athletic grant, so it is up to the student to determine whether or not to take the test.

Without the SAT or ACT, together which with a student’s GPA used to be the basis of a sliding scale of academic eligibility, the NCAA will now determine academic status by the GPA alone. Prospective student-athletes must achieve a GPA of 2.3 in the 16 core courses for Division I and a 2.2 for Division II.

All student athletes should be aware of their current GPA status and check the requirements of the institutions they are looking to get in to. Always refer back to the NCAA Eligibility Centre for details and always reach out if you have questions!