Patel 1
Dev Patel
Mrs.Ramsey
English III AoIT Honors
13 November 2018
College Entrance Exams: Are they truly effective?
Every year millions of high schoolers stress and panic about studying and getting a good
score on either the SAT or ACT, hoping they get into their dream school by getting a good score.
But does all this stressing and committing numerous hours of studying actually pay off? The
original intention of the SAT was to evaluate the ability of an individual student on how best
they can perform in college, but somehow along the line the SAT has become a mark of prestige
for institutions of higher learning. College entrance exams are not an effective way to determine
a potential students acceptance into college, measure a students ability to master a subject, or
determine a students success in college and after college.
College entrance exams don’t measure a students intelligence, but rather they measure
aptitude which is ineffective. The SAT has often received criticism that it believed that some
people were born to go to college and some weren’t. These tests are not designed to measure
what you have learned in school, but rather measure your college success. The original intention
of the SAT was to help evaluate the students ability on how best they would perform in college,
but now the SAT has become the mark of prestige for colleges and universities. Many students
put themselves down when their scores didn’t meet their expectations. “Don't believe for one
second that you're not very smart because your test isn't what it could have been” (Roell). The
Patel 2
SAT also measures how well you take a standardized test, and there can be a hundred different
ways to do poorly on the test such as lack of sleep and improper preparation.
The SAT measures a lot of things, several of which can be thought of as components of
intelligence. Intelligence is often thought of as an innate ability, essentially meaning that the
skills come naturally to a person. It is true that some people are math phenoms while for others
reading and language arts are more instinctive. In this way, the SAT and ACT may
unintentionally test a person’s natural talents in these areas, thought there is no way for test
administrators, college admission committees, or anyone to know if these skills “were learned
during countless hours of studying or if they are second nature” (McCray). The most convincing
argument that the SAT is not an intelligence test is that the SAT only has three sections: math,
reading, and writing. Intelligence is something that encompasses much more than those three
portions. Of course, a high SAT conveys that you’re able to correctly answer multiple choice
questions, but it doesn't relate at all to your social skills or your creativity level. Tests such as the
SAT and ACT don't measure physical abilities or common sense. The only thing your SAT score
can tell you is how well you answered 80 math questions, 65 reading questions, and 35 writing
questions on a Saturday morning of your junior or senior year of high school. Colleges use your
score as a quantitative tool to determine if you’re a right fit for their upcoming class. There are
plenty of qualitative factors that go into consideration as well, which is why colleges request
more than just your test score on your application.
One of the most time consuming and diligent part of highschool is completing your
college applications, and the SAT plays a role in it. According to Collegeboard.org, the SAT
should only represent one factor of the student. Initially, your SAT and ACT scores are used as
Patel 3
screening tools in the college admission process, this means that they are a few factors
commonly read before an entire application gets read. Since admission officers are real people
and not robots that don’t need food, water, and sleep, they are not simply able to read each and
every application in its entirety. There are a few pieces of data on your application that have the
opportunity to impress the admission committee at first glance and test scores are one of them.
Sometimes the SAT and ACT are not so important in college admissions. This is fantastic for
students who don’t perform the best on tests or may not be prepped as well. “Your SAT and
ACT scores become less and less important when the other aspects of your application become
more compelling” (Sundquist). For instance, if won the national spelling bee or have patented a
new technology in the medical field, the fact that you performed poorly on the SAT will be less
important due to the remainder of your application being so strong.
Your high school grades tend to be a better predictor of your college success and
readiness than your college entrance exam scores. A new study has found that a more reliable
predictor of whether a student does well in college is their high school grades, rather than SAT
and ACT scores. “One of the core messages of this study is that high school grades matter, and
they matter a lot” (Maitre) said principal investigator William C. Hiss, a professor and former
dean of admissions at ​Bates College​ in Lewiston, Maine. The results found that a students
performance in college mirrored their performance in high school. Students with strong grade
point averages (GPAs) maintained similar GPAs in college, regardless of how well or poorly
they scored on their college entrance exams. Likewise, students with lower GPAs, even those
with high SAT and ACT scores had lower GPAs in college and graduated at lower rates. A new
Patel 4
study has added a new fuel to the current debates over the role of college entrance exams in
college admissions.
Students who did not submit their college entrance exams scores to colleges and
universities were most likely to be minorities, the first in the family to attend college, come from
low-income families, and have learning disabilities. “For economic growth and social stability,
America will need to find successful paths to higher education for hundreds of thousands of
additional first generation, minority, immigrant, rural and disabled students” (Maitre). The report
comes as California grapples with the best way to measure how well schools are preparing
students to succeed in college and careers. Through some data, having a high SAT score and a
low GPA doesn't always lead to a high graduation rate.
A student with a high SAT score (1600+ old scale) but a middling GPA (2.67-3)
has an expected graduation rate of 39%, but students with mediocre SAT scores and high
GPAs graduate from college at 62%. The expected graduation rate of a student with a
given GPA doesn't change very much based on their SAT score, but the expected
graduation rate of a student with a given SAT score varies depending on their GPA.
Given the multitude in grading standards across all of the various type of high schools,
GPAs may not provide a consistent measure of a students ability in mathematics, reading,
science, and other subjects. GPAs tend to capture whether a student has consistently
attended class and completes their assignments. ​“It seems likely that the kinds of habits
high school grades capture are more relevant for success in college than a score from a
single test​”(Cooper). Perhaps colleges looking to identify students at risk of dropping out
should pay more attention to their high school grades.
Patel 5
One major point of difference among the various types of colleges is how
admission officers consider your SAT scores. More and more colleges and universities
are deemphasizing SAT and ACT scores as part of your application with test-optional
and test-flexible policies. A test-optional policy leaves the decision up to you on whether
or not you submit your test scores to colleges. Many colleges are beginning to change to
test-optional to ensure that students with low test scores, but strong academics would be
able to apply and enroll into colleges. Each year more and more schools seem to be
moving towards the test-optional policy.
In July of 2015, George Washington University at the time became the
latest school to follow the test optional movement. Many schools are converting to
test-optional as a way to strengthen and diversify their college and university. “High
school grades in college preparatory courses are the key to good admissions
decisions”(Jaschik) said college admission officers at Augsburg University.
Patel 6
Works Cited - Rough Draft
McCray, Sharon. “Does the SAT Measure Intelligence? - Chegg Test Prep - SAT General
Study.” ​Lifetime Physical Fitness and Wellness A Personalized Program 12th Edition | Rent
9781111990015 | Chegg.com​, CENGAGE Learning, 29 Aug. 2017,
www.chegg.com/test-prep-blog/sat/sat-general/does-sat-measure-intelligence/.
Roell, Kelly. “5 Things Your Sat Score Does Not Measure, Including Intelligence.”
Thoughtco.​, Thoughtco, 6 Mar. 2018,
www.thoughtco.com/things-the-sat-does-not-measure-or-predict-3211898​.
Sundquist, Kate. “What Your SAT Scores Really Mean In College Admissions.”
CollegeVine,​ CollegeVine, 4 Mar. 2018,
blog.collegevine.com/what-your-sat-scores-really-mean-in-college-admissions/.
Patel 7