1. Will you qualify for a “test-optional” application? Most require applicants who don’t have grades – such as home-schooled students – to provide test scores. And some, such as Arizona State University, only provide the no-test option to students with grades or a class rank above a certain cutoff.

2. Will you still have to take tests and submit scores? Some “test-optional” schools such as Bowdoin won’t look at test scores while deciding whom to admit, but then require those they do admit to submit scores, presumably for class placement uses.

3. Will you have to do anything extra? Many test-optional colleges require extra essays, or recommendations, or submissions of graded papers in lieu of scores. Temple University, for example, requires applicants who don’t submit test scores to complete some short online essays.

4. What admission factors replace the scores? Many schools, such as Providence College and Bowdoin, say they look very carefully at the difficulty of courses the student took in high school. They are looking for students who took the hardest possible courses available to them — not those who took easy courses to score an A. “Taking more difficult classes and taking on more work tells you about the applicant’s disposition toward learning,” explains E. Whitney Soule, Bowdoin’s dean of admissions.

5. Do you really have a chance if you don’t submit scores? Many colleges will accept applications without scores, but end up rejecting a disproportionate number of those applications, says Stone. But she says others, such as George Washington University, have released admissions data for applicants who haven’t submitted scores that shows they are treating both kinds of applicants equally.

6. Will the lack of test scores affect financial aid? Some colleges, such as Western Oregon University, are “test optional” for admissions — but still award at least some “merit” aid based on test scores, notes Stone.

Here is a link to Money’s story – http://time.com/money/4604917/test-optional-best-colleges/