Washington Homeschool College Prep: SAT, ACT, CADR Requirements, and What to Do Each Year

Most Washington homeschool families hit the same wall in 10th or 11th grade: they have been teaching thoughtfully for years, but nobody sat down in 7th grade and mapped out what college applications would actually need to see. The curriculum was rich, the learning was real — but the documentation and course sequencing needed to fit a standard college application did not happen by default.

College prep for Washington homeschoolers is not harder than for public school students. It is just different, and the families who handle it well are the ones who know the specific requirements ahead of time.

What Washington Colleges Actually Want: The CADR Framework

The College Academic Distribution Requirements (CADR) are Washington State's framework for planning college readiness. For homeschool families, the UW/WSU CADR basket is the useful baseline to document.

Here is the CADR basket to use when planning a UW/WSU application:

Total: 15 credits

For homeschoolers, every single credit on this list must appear on your transcript. Public school students have a school counselor who tracks this and a graduation audit process. You are your own auditor. The fine arts requirement trips up more families than any other — not because they haven't done art and music, but because they haven't documented it as a formal course with credit hours.

Washington's HBI law already requires "appreciation of art and music" as one of the eleven mandated subjects. That instruction can support the CADR arts category, but CADR is a separate admissions-planning framework: document the required 0.5 credit on the transcript.

SAT and ACT: What Washington Homeschoolers Need to Know

Test policies vary by university, program, and admissions cycle. Check the current admissions guidance before registering or deciding not to submit scores:

UW Seattle: Homeschool applicants need SAT or ACT scores unless a current UW policy exception applies. Check UW's current homeschool admissions guidance for cycle-specific details.

WSU: Check the current test-optional policy and whether scores are needed for the program or for scholarship consideration.

Western, Central, Eastern, Evergreen: Each university sets its own current testing and homeschool-documentation policies. Verify the requirements for the specific application cycle.

For homeschoolers specifically, test scores serve a second purpose beyond admissions: they provide independent validation of the academic level claimed on a parent-issued transcript. An admissions officer reviewing a homeschool transcript with all A grades and a 1350 SAT reads that transcript very differently than the same transcript accompanied by a 980 SAT. The test score either confirms the transcript or creates a credibility gap.

This means even if a university is test-optional, homeschoolers benefit from submitting a strong score.

When to test: Most families take the PSAT in 10th grade for practice, the SAT or ACT in spring of 11th grade, and retake in fall of 12th grade if needed. For homeschoolers, there is no school counselor scheduling tests for you — you register directly at collegeboard.org (SAT) or act.org (ACT). Registration deadlines vary by provider and test date, so check the current deadline before planning around a test.

SAT vs. ACT: Both are accepted everywhere. The SAT has a higher ceiling in math for students strong in that area; the ACT has a science section and tends to favor students who process information quickly. Take a full practice test of each before committing. Many families choose based on which test their student scores higher on — that is the right call.

The CADR Course Sequencing Problem for Homeschoolers

The CADR mathematics category is three credits through Algebra II. Some students choose additional math, such as precalculus or calculus, for a target program or for Running Start readiness.

A common sequencing:

• 8th grade: Pre-algebra / Algebra 1
• 9th grade: Geometry
• 10th grade: Algebra 2
• 11th grade: Precalculus
• 12th grade: Calculus (AP or through Running Start)

If your student started a standard public school sequence, this is probably already your path. If you used a more spiral, non-traditional, or literature-based math approach, you may need to explicitly map courses onto this sequence for the transcript. "Math 9" is less useful to an admissions office than "Algebra II — covered quadratic functions, systems of equations, logarithms, and trigonometric identities using [curriculum name]."

The same mapping applies to science. CADR requires two years with lab. "Lab science" means you need to document hands-on experimental components. A dissection, a chemistry experiment, a controlled observation study — these qualify. A read-only curriculum without a lab component does not. Document your labs in your portfolio year by year so the evidence is there when you need it.

A Year-by-Year College Prep Roadmap

9th Grade

• Set up a transcript template and begin logging courses with credit hours
• Confirm your math sequence will reach precalculus by 11th grade
• Document all 11 required WA subjects (these overlap significantly with CADR)
• Consider starting a foreign language if not already underway

10th Grade

• Take the PSAT (practice) — register directly, there is no school auto-enrollment
• Assess foreign language: are you on track for two years minimum?
• Begin planning for Running Start: is your student academically ready for community college coursework? Verify actual dates with the participating high school and college.
• Research extracurricular activities to build out the activities section of college applications

11th Grade

• Take the SAT or ACT in spring; plan a retake if scores are below target
• Complete the Running Start RSEVF through the coordinated process between the local public high school and community college if doing dual enrollment
• Begin a list of target colleges with their specific homeschool admission requirements
• Request community college transcripts for any Running Start coursework

12th Grade

• Check each target university's current application deadline and supplement requirements; have your transcript finalized before submitting
• If a target college requests letters of recommendation, ask Running Start instructors, co-op teachers, or tutors early

Connecting Your HBI Documentation to College Applications

Washington's annual assessment requirement — the portfolio review or standardized test you complete each spring — creates a documentation habit that directly benefits college applications. Families who maintain organized portfolios year-over-year arrive at 11th grade with a complete course record rather than trying to reconstruct four years from memory.

The same materials that satisfy your annual assessment — reading logs, writing samples, course descriptions, standardized test results — are the raw materials for a college application. A curriculum table of contents, a reading list, a list of labs completed, test scores: all of it becomes evidence of a rigorous academic program when organized and presented correctly.

The Washington Portfolio & Assessment Templates is designed to produce both compliance documentation for Washington's annual assessment requirement and college-ready transcripts. The crosswalk matrix maps your activities to both the state's 11 required subjects and the CADR framework, so the same documentation serves both purposes.

If you are in 9th or 10th grade right now, the best time to build this infrastructure is before you need it. By the time your student is writing college essays in 12th grade, the transcript and course documentation should be a formality — not a months-long reconstruction project.

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