SAT/ACT: How Important Are They? How Important Should They Be? Part I

★To what degree are SAT/ACT scores factored into college admissions?

What follows is my answer to this questions that I was asked to answer on Quora.com. The question originally only asked only about the SAT but has since been updated after I posted my reply.

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Your question comes at a time when the SAT (and ACT too) are under microscopic and macroscopic scrutiny in virtually every major media outlet, on countless educational chat groups, at many colleges and universities, among lots in the counseling and test prep business, and of course among countless student and parents and educators who work in secondary schools around the world.

If you have not heard, the SAT is undergoing a lot more than a facelift. I’d say it’s getting work done all over its somewhat tired body to try to see if it can still be the significant other for colleges to use when assessing applicants.

The SAT has lost market share to the ACT over the last decade. It used to be the ACT was an also ran primarily taken by student in the Midwest. But the word got around that the ACT was ‘easier’ to do well on so students started to take the ACT. Now many students take both but an increasing number take only the ACT. You question, then, should also include how schools use the ACT.

The number of studies showing that the SAT predicts grades somewhat well or somewhat poorly can be found all over the internet. What research I have done suggests that both the SAT and ACT predict well at the ends of the bell curve. In other words, students who score exceptionally well tend to do well in college. Students who do very poorly tend not do well. The problem is that most students score in the middle, as that is the way the tests are designed. The score of 500 is supposed to be a mean and most test takers score around the mean. Scores within the range of test takers looking at selective schools typically hover in the 600 or above range for each portion of the test. But a score of 1800 and score of 1900 (including all 3 portions of the SAT) mean very little in predicting academic success. A score of 2300 and a score are 1500 will often predict performance at a selective school even if the grades and courses the students have taken are about the same. If the 2300 student has far better grades and courses then the grades will often be much higher in college. But a student with 2300 and low grades will often not do any better than a 1500 scorer with great grades.

I say all this, as there is a lot of noise rather than signal when it comes to what SATs predict and mean. But they do predict pretty well just not to the majority of test takers within the range of the mean.

But does this mean schools don’t use the tests? Most of the more selective schools use the SAT for several reasons. They too know that high testers often do well and low testers don’t so that comes into play. But schools also use SATs because it is one of the factors that are used to determine the ranking for US News. Rankings determine where students apply and enroll so it should come as no surprise that schools try to enroll high testers. Generally, the higher the average scores of entering students the higher the ranking of the schools.

If you are applying to selective schools you will need to have strong tests scores. There are a few exceptions to this: recruited athletes, under-represented minorities, and people who have special ties (legacies and big development prospects= the super rich). On the other hand, if you are Asian you will need to score much higher than whites or anyone else. The typical Asian accepted to top schools has scores well above 100 points higher than whites and often several hundred points higher than under-represented students.

There are more schools that are moving to test optional requirements. This means you don’t have to submit SATs. But this is not the end of the story. If you belong to certain groups and don’t submit scores your chances of being admitted will not be good. Of course schools can’t tell you this but that is the way some schools work. International students for example need to submit testing as there is a lot of fraud in some countries when it coms to transcripts; therefore, testing is used very heavily. If you are Asian American you should also submit scores. Since this is the highest performing group in the US the school typically looks to them to be a part of those who submit great scores that will help them in the rankings. There is some suggestion that being a white female who lives in the northeast who applies to highly selective schools and does not submit testing will be at a disadvantage but I don’t have data about this.

Another factor that might determine how important your score will be has to do with money. Many schools today are looking for full payers. Therefore they may well take a student with lower testing who can pay full fees. Some schools will tell you that they are need aware: this means that the ability to pay will be a plus factor in admission. Schools can’t give out aid they don’t have so it may be that a high tester won’t be admitted. Even some schools that say they are need blind will often look at the ability to pay but they can’t say this in public.

Schools post mean scores on their profiles. But don’t think if you meet the mean scores that this will be a big plus factor in your admission. Remember that the schools admit some low testers for a variety of reasons so if you are not in one of these groups your scores typically need to be above the mean and in some cases well above the mean.

I don’t know of a single school that will say in public that they have cut offs. Because they do admit some  students with low scores this is technically true, but if you are not in a special category and don’t have scores in the 700s across the board (for some schools) or in the 600s (for somewhat less selective schools) the chances of being admitted are slim.

Some of this may change as the SAT changes but I think both the SAT and ACT are here to stay at least as long as they are used in rankings and at least as long as some educators fight to keep some sort of national exam in place. There is so much grade inflation now that it is getting much more difficult to differentiate academic performance in secondary school so I doubt we will see the end of standardized tests in the next few years.

In subsequent entries, I will address many of the other questions now being raised about the new SAT.  Some see the benefits of the new test to measure what has been learned in classes and  as a way of helping low income students get recruited by colleges; some see it as a cynical ploy to woo back test-takers;, and others see the new essay as a chance to examine the role writing plays in secondary school and as a predictor of success in college and beyond.