SAT Vs Sat Research Paper

After innumerable hours and even months of studying and stressing, the future of many high school students lies in the hands of a highly dreaded, pointless three hour and forty-five minute test none other than the SAT. There is no other word that evokes more stress, more agony in high school students than a simple three letter word that measures absolutely nothing at all. The SAT plays a pivotal role in college admissions throughout the nation, but should a test that lasts for less than four hours a sitting determine whether or not students are accepted into the college of their dreams?

According to College Board, the organization that creates the test, the SAT is “designed to assess [a student’s] academic readiness in college” and “keep

pace with what colleges are looking for today, measuring the skills required for success in the 21st century.” But what exactly does the SAT measure? Les Perelman, director of writing at the Massachusetts Institute, conducted a study that revealed the absurdities of how the essay portion of the SAT is graded. He found that longer essays correlated with higher scores. SAT essays are scored so arbitrarily that factual accuracy is completely irrelevant. “You can tell them that the War of 1812 began in 1945”, Perelman told New York Times. Not only does lengthening the essay and fabricating details easily increase ones essay score, but embellishing the essay with advanced words such as “plethora” and “myriad” instead of a simpler word such as “many” also results in significant score increases. Simply put, students are awarded with high scores for falsifying information and masking poorly written essays through length and inserting advanced vocabulary. Are colleges looking for students who fabricate historical details and disregard factual accuracy?
Although colleges do need a standardized method to compare student applicants throughout the nation, they cannot rely on an inaccurate depiction of intelligence provided by the SAT. The SAT is not a measurement of a student’s academic merit; rather, the SAT is a measurement of economic privilege. A graduate of Harvard University, Charles Murray recognizes the SAT for transplanting him a small town in Iowa to one of the world’s most illustrious universities, yet he still asserts “If you’re rich, you can buy your kid a high SAT score.” The SAT is a biased exam that favors the wealthy; the higher the family income, the higher the SAT score. In 2013, college bound seniors with family incomes of $40,000 to $60,000, received average SAT scores of 1461 out of a possible 2400, while college bound seniors with family incomes of $100,000 to $120,000 received a significantly higher score of 1569. Families that better off financially have the advantage of because they have the money to send children to SAT preparation courses. Although SAT test prep classes are costly, they are highly beneficial because they shower students with helpful test strategies and a multitude of practice tests in order to ensure success on the SAT. As a result, the SAT is no longer a test in which students have equal opportunities to receive high scores. Individuals who have an advantage financially also have an advantage when preparing for the SAT.
While it is impractical to completely eliminate a test that almost all college-bound students take worldwide, colleges should put less emphasis on the SAT when considering student admissions and focus on more important factors: GPA, leadership, community service, and extra-curriculars. Unlike the SAT, these factors illustrate a student’s complete high school repertoire. John Katzman, founder and president of the Princeton Review, profoundly declares: “The SAT is a scam; it has never measured anything. And it continues to measure nothing.”