The darker side of the SAT

The SAT and ACT are such simple words that can provoke such fear and frustration in students. But how can a standardized test measure educational ability, and thus educational potential that colleges are seeking? It seems that the College Board has been haunted by this question, and will be for some time.

A chief purpose of your test score acts as a measurement of your ability to succeed in college, but the accuracy of such a prediction is debatable.

"The SAT, according to figures compiled by Ford and Campos of [Educational Testing Service], ranges in accuracy from 8 to 15% in the prediction of [college] freshman grade point average," said Midwood science teacher Glenn Elert. "This means that, on the average, for 88% of the applicants a SAT score will predict their grade rank no more accurately than a pair of dice."

The argument is that the SAT fails as a measurement on how you will do in college. High school GPA and class rank have a better correlation with college graduation.

But that has not been the only controversy over the SAT.

In the late 1980's the College Board sued coaching programs because they advertised that they could bring up someone's SAT score by 100 points. According to the College Board, since the SAT tests innate thinking skills, the coaching programs were deceiving the public. But the coaching courses, on average, were found to raise scores more than 100 points, and thus were effective.

"The effectiveness of SAT preparation programs remains very much an open question," said College Professor of Mathematics Jack Kaplan in 2006, according to fairtest.org. "The College Board [and independent researchers who agree with them] point uncritically to studies that support their conclusions, paying little attention to those studies' flaws and limitations." The College Board has a history of trying to cover up scandals, often rejecting research that questions their tests effeteness.

In addition, the SAT is biased towards children of professionals and whites, according to author Junius Davis. He says that "while SAT score means for blacks were lower than those for their white counterparts, their mean high school ranks were higher." Even though African Americans had a higher class rank, they had lower SAT scores than the Caucasians.

The College Board responded that the SAT does not discriminate, and the scores reflect the "fundamental inequality of American society."

However, the logic that is used to create the test questions is also puzzling. In every test there is an experimental section, which looks like the other sections, that is not scored. It is used to test questions the College Board is thinking of including.

According to hypertextbook.com, an item writer for Educational Testing Service explained the process: "There is no correct answer to any of these questions; it's all determined by the statistical performance of the question as it relates to other questions. If students who do well on the exam generally tend to pick the same answer, then [that answer] must be pretty good." However, if low and high scoring students pick the same answer, then the question might need to be rewritten or thrown out.

The correct answers on the experimental section are determined by a statistics formula. If many high scoring students say the answer is "B," and many low scoring students say the answer is not "B," then the correct answer must be "B." Statistics determine the correct answer, not a group of experts. In short, the SAT maybe penalizing students who think differently than everyone else.

We are reminded that the College Board has a shady past, and are left to contemplate how much importance should be given to one test, to one number, in determining intelligence and collegiate ability. Luckily, colleges look at many things, such as GPA, class rank, personal statement, activities, and volunteering in determining the "perfect" application.

Any one test that claims to measure cognitive ability is bound to have errors. Nevertheless, the SAT and ACT remain important.