A Test of Validity

By Kyra Weiss, Staff Reporter​

NADA ZOHAYR/Columbia Spectator

The U.S. graduating class of 2018 had the highest turnout of SAT test takers, reaching over two million students. As the number of test takers has increased, so has competition for college admissions. While the SAT is a great tool for gauging a student’s abilities, a less than desirable score should not hold students back.

The SAT plays a major role in the admissions process. Prestigious schools tend to admit students with high SAT scores, most of which being 1400 and above. According to College Board, only 7% of test takers scored within that range since 2017; thus showing how difficult it is to achieve such high scores on the SAT.

The SAT is given only on specific days in which all students choosing to take the exam are given the exact same form. For example on Aug. 24, 2019 students in Chicago would have taken the same exact test as students in Sacramento. Despite the two areas having vastly different cultures, education systems, and educational resources, this singular test is expected to categorize both sets of students into what they believe is ‘college preparedness.’

The SAT does not test on innate, natural knowledge, but rather the ability to apply knowledge to solve complex problems. This means while a student’s ability to score well is in their hands, it also depends on if they were taught that material or had the resources to understand the makeup of the test in the first place.

“The numbers they give us does not define our education (sic),” senior Isabella Patel said.

School grades are accumulated over all four years in highschool and are a measure of how well a student performed in class. As opposed to the SAT, grades have much more room for cheating and ambiguity in the process. Grades measure how a student did in the past, but the SAT can give insight into the future capabilities of students.

Still, the SAT is not a completely accurate representation of a student's capabilities. The exam only measures a very narrow portion of knowledge and leaves out many immeasurable aspects of a students potential. In a study done by the National Association for College Admission Counseling, it was found that while SAT scores held a correlation to college success, the correlation was weak.

The SAT can tell about the capabilities of a student but should not be a limiting factor to what a student may accomplish.