Dubai: There has been a rise in early applicants to US universities as many of the universities are not requiring SAT or ACT scores from students, UAE-based education consultants said. This year, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, many students were not able to take standardised US university entrance tests such as SAT and ACT. As a result, many universities have gone “test optional”, meaning they don’t require the scores as part of securing admission. Education consultants in Dubai said the development had allowed many students to apply early for 2021, before November 2020, to receive the response from their first-choice university by December 2020.