Getting Admitted to College - The SAT Test

It used to be that every high school student hoping to go to college would have to take the SAT tests. “SAT” used to stand for “Scholastic Aptitude Test, meant to measure a student’s aptitude. Then it was changed to “Scholastic Assessment Test”, and in 1997, the test makers announced that “SAT” stands for nothing in particular. It’s now just commonly referred to as the “SAT Reasoning Test”.

It was originally administered to be a standardized testing method to give students from any and all socioeconomic backgrounds a chance at entering college. This was, of course, back in the day when your parents’ alumni or financial status determined whether or not one would be moving onto college. In the 1950’s, the SAT test became a tool that colleges would use, in conjunction with a student’s GPA, to determined a student’s intelligence. It used to be that it consisted of two scores: one for English/Reading, and another for math. To compete with what is the SAT test’s closest competitor, the ACT test – SAT tests now include a writing assessment as well.

Each school differs in how much weight they give a student’s SAT test scores. Whether or not this is sensible practice is a matter of great controversy in the academia world as tests and studies have proven that how successful a student is in college is not necessarily reflected in their standardized testing scores. In other words, it does not accurately indicate how successful a student will, or will not be in that particular college. Furthermore, students who do not “test” well generally do not receive high scores. Furthermore, while the test is designed to measure a student’s aptitude, it does not necessarily test what a student has learned; it is designed to test a student’s reasoning and verbal skills.

The debate follows that a student’s reasoning and verbal skills in their junior year of high school does not necessarily reflect what type of a college student he/she will make. If a good student generally scores lower on standardized testing than fellow students with lower GPAs, then colleges who weigh SAT test scores may overlook the more qualified student to admit the lesser student. While students with a high GPA (grade point average) have shown to score higher on the SAT test, a study at Bates College measuring successful graduations proved that students with acceptable SAT test scores versus those without graduated successfully from college by a mere 1/10th percent difference. Bates College is one of the few colleges in the United States that accepts applications without standardized testing scores, basing their decision solely on grade point averages and other components.

The SAT test is administered seven times a year, and costs $50 to register. There is 5 hours allotted for the test, and until March 2009, every score (both good and bad) would be sent to all colleges to which you apply. Since March 2009, the College Prep Board followed ACT’s policy of allowing students to submit only one of their scores; obviously, it would be the student’s highest score, leaving out the other scores if the student took the test more than once.

What remains the same as before is that the scores from a student’s SAT tests are still heavily used to college admission purposes. What’s changed is that the ACT score is now readily accepted and weighed just as the SAT test used to be, by most colleges. At the time of this writing, many schools will accept either score. Most schools, however, still give these standardized tests significant weight in the process of elimination. Generally, the students with the highest standardized testing scores are more likely to be admitted to their respective colleges than students with good grade point averages but lesser scores on the SAT test or ACT test.