Let us clear up the biggest question fast: the NCAA does not use your SAT or ACT score anymore. Not as a requirement, not as part of a sliding scale, not at all. For anyone enrolling in college since August 2023, initial eligibility comes down to your core courses and your core GPA, full stop. So if you have been stressing about hitting some magic test number for the NCAA, you can let that go.
Here is the part that trips families up, though: that only settles the NCAA. A test score can still matter a lot for two other things that have nothing to do with eligibility. A test score can matter in three separate places, and they have nothing to do with each other.
Who actually cares about your score
Before you decide whether to test, know who is looking.
| Who is looking | Does your test score matter? |
|---|---|
| NCAA initial eligibility | No. Dropped for anyone enrolling since August 2023. |
| College admissions | Sometimes. Test-optional at many schools, still required at some. Check each one. |
| Academic scholarships and honors | Often yes. A strong score can unlock money the NCAA rules do not touch. |
| NAIA eligibility | It can. The NAIA still counts a test as one way to qualify. |
See the split? The NCAA is done with it, but admissions offices and scholarship committees are not. Skipping the test entirely can quietly cost you money or a spot, even when your eligibility is already locked.
So should you still take it?
For most recruits, yes, take it at least once. Even in a test-optional world, plenty of schools still want a score for admission, and academic scholarships often ride on it. A good score is leverage: it can turn a partial offer into a bigger one, or get you into a school that would otherwise be a reach. You do not have to chase a perfect number, but walking in with nothing takes options off the table.
What you do not have to do
You do not send your scores to the NCAA Eligibility Center. Since the NCAA does not use them, there is nothing to report there. If a college wants a score for admission or a scholarship, you send it straight to that school, which is a completely separate process. Set up your account and transcripts through the Eligibility Center, but leave test scores out of that lane.
D2, D3, and the NAIA
Division II made the same move as Division I: no test score for initial eligibility. Division III never had an NCAA test rule in the first place, since D3 schools set their own admissions standards, so whether you need a score depends entirely on the school. And if you are looking at the NAIA, know that it still counts a test as one of the ways to qualify, so a score can carry more weight there. We break that down in our NAIA guide.
The plan
Keep it simple:
- Take the SAT or ACT at least once, ideally junior year, with enough runway to retake it if you want a better number.
- Send scores to the colleges and scholarship programs that ask for them, not to the NCAA.
- Let your core courses and core GPA carry your NCAA eligibility, because that is all the NCAA is grading now.