Quote:
Originally Posted by
Jayjami
As someone who taught junior college for 10 years, many entry level students lack basic writing and critical thinking skills. The SAT is an ineffective tool to measure these abilities.
Okay?
I never said that the SAT should be the only determining factor for college admissions.
I was making the case that the absence of any standardized test is a huge mistake. It's an even bigger mistake if this absence has been mandated for reasons of "combating racism", rather than for practical reasons regarding its usefulness.
From some informal nosiness I engaged in regarding people's SAT scores in my high school in the late '80s, I found that the test was pretty useful at defining student types.
Take the student with high grades & a high SAT score. That's obviously someone who is very likely to succeed in college.
Take the student with mediocre grades & a high SAT score. That's a student who likely possesses the raw intelligence to succeed in college, but probably has questionable work habits -- an underachiever. Schools might want to take a chance on someone like this, especially because kids can mature and improve their work habits.
Take the student with high grades & a mediocre SAT score. That's a student who probably possesses great work habits, but might be closer to average intelligence. This student will try hard and probably do decently in college, but also might become overwhelmed by the more challenging courses and majors. Schools will probably accept some students like these, but might want to pass on them if space is at a premium.
Take the student with mediocre grades & a mediocre SAT score. This is a student who is probably very average in all ways, and won't fare well in a competitive college environment. Many schools will probably reject most of these students.
Now, let's throw out the SAT and look at this again.
How do they differentiate between the high grades/high SAT student and the one with the high grades & mediocre SAT? They can't. It becomes tough to differentiate between students with high grades, and it becomes even tougher when these grades are from different schools with wide variance in academic standards. How do you figure out who to admit if space is tight?
And what of the students with mediocre grades? What to do with them? Reject them all? Wouldn't it be nice to see if, among those students who didn't do great in high school, there are any highly intelligent diamonds in the rough who could be worth admitting?
I am very surprised that schools want to take away this important evaluational tool.
