New SAT No Better Than Old

By Robin Hutchison

Posted: Jun. 19, 2008

The much ballyhooed revised SAT has proven to be no better predictor of college success than its predecessor. The SAT was updated three years ago to include a writing section with the promise of improving the test's effectiveness as an admissions tool. The College Board added the writing test, including the 25-minute essay, to help colleges make more finely tuned decisions about students' skills.

The College Board also claimed the test would elevate the place of writing in high school classrooms, though critics argued the exam encouraged formulaic writing and was susceptible to coaching.

The recent findings are the most comprehensive study yet of the new exam, covering over 150,000 students. The analysis measured the connection between SAT performance for the high school class of 2006 and college grades. A correlation of 1.0 represents a perfect connection between scores and grades.

The study found high school GPA had a 0.54 correlation with college grades. Individually, all three SAT sections had lower correlations, but taken together, they were 0.53. Combining high school GPA with the three SATs scores was stronger still--0.62, but that is just 0.01 higher than if the writing exam weren't included.

For more information on the analysis of the new SAT, visit the College Board Web site at http://collegeboard.com.

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The SAT can help middle-of-the-pack students from great schools to stand out. Fifteen years ago, I graduated from a magnet high school that was the crown jewel of a big district. Not in the top 25% of my graduating class, had it not been for my 1400+ SAT score, I would have been overlooked by most competitive colleges.

As it turned out, my college grades were much better than my high school grades, because I was extremely well-prepared, despite making a lot of B's and C's in high school. By age 21, I had earned a master's degree; my SAT score was the only predictor of that future success.

ncgator
June 20, 2008 12:50 p.m.

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We still need a form of standardized test, even with the flaws. I went to a much harder high school and performed better in college than many of the people that had higher GPAs than me. The same thing happened in grad school because I went to a hard undergrad. Some of the people that had 4.0 GPAs in college were a joke. That leads me to my next point. I think this research on SAT scores has a flaw. Many people with low scores probably go to easier colleges, and therefore have an eaiser time excelling. I think makes invalid the conclusion that SAT scores are not a good predictor. The study should only examine results within one school. I'll bet the correlation is much higher.

readme
June 20, 2008 11:27 a.m.

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. . . and 376 US universities/colleges do not even require SAT or ACT. . .

nggeoteach
GOLO member since May 28, 2008
June 19, 2008 3:06 p.m.

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yea college was a wake up call to me. i made great grades in highschool and rarely ever had to crack a book. it was hard having to learn to study once i got to college. having known how to study beforehand would have saved me spending the next 4 years recovering from my freshman college GPA.

m0nky
GOLO member since September 23, 2008
June 19, 2008 2:46 p.m.

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New SAT No Better Than Old

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