The Importance Of The SAT

The Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) was created to test college-bound students on their mathematical and verbal aptitudes and to thus predict their ability to succeed academically in college. In the United States, the SAT is the oldest and most widely used college entrance test. It was first administered in June 1926 to only 8,040 high school students and is now taken by over 2 million students. Over the years, the SAT has become one of the most important tests of a teenager's life for admission to college. The test is administered seven times a year at thousands of testing centers throughout the United States. Most colleges consider the SAT to be a reliable predictor of academic success in college and is therefore used as a critical tool when selecting applicants. However, the question that has to be confronted is whether the test is fair to all students.

Educators have been questioning the validity of the SAT to determine college admission or to predict academic success because the test appears to be discriminatory and biased against women, minorities, and the poor (low income). The Educational Testing Service (ETS), which produces and administers the test, claims that the SAT in its current form "is an impartial and objective measure of student ability" (Owen 272). However, critics of the SAT argue "that tests like the SAT measure little more than the absorption of white upper-middle-class culture and penalize the economically disadvantaged" (Owen 10). The statistical reality of SAT scores is that: students who take coaching/prep courses do better than those who are not coached; men do better than women; whites do better than blacks; and the rich do better than the poor. Based upon my research, the SAT appears to be discriminato...

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...o be extremely careful especially with their new test in 2005, to have a test that is perfectly fair and allows every student to show his/her skills.

It is time for all universities to reconsider its use of SAT scores as a major factor in college admission and as a predictor of academic success. Women, minorities, and the poor are at a distinct disadvantage because of the test's content and format. It will be interesting to see how the "new and improved" SAT in 2005 will be received. We are skeptical of its acceptance because it is almost impossible to have the foresight to eliminate all underlying biases. The current SAT is not a fair test because it is biased and discriminatory toward women, minority groups, and the poor. It should not be used to determine the future of so many people because the only thing it really measures is how well people take the test.