The SAT: Does it Actually Test Intelligence?

The SAT: a standardized exam all of us had to take in order to proceed with our college academics at the University of Delaware. The SAT is a standardized exam that is meant to give colleges an easy and applicable way of comparing applicants on a standardized normal curve, but the real question is, does the SAT actually test for a student’s intelligence or is it based on a student’s access to resources?

Even though the SAT debate is dated all the way back to the commencing years of the exam. This exam was first created in the 1900s to show the superior of the Nordic race group. However, this issue has been debated more recently after the college admissions scandal in 2019 in which parents paid a middle man to get their students into prestigious colleges. You can learn more about this issue by viewing the Netflix documentary titled Operation Varsity Blue: The College Admissions Scandal or by clicking the link below.

www.bostonglobe.com/2021/03/22/arts/operation-varsity-blues-college-admission-scandal-reenacts-reorients-scandal.

A main issue the essay discusses is the importance of the socioeconomic gap that is prevalent in the SAT curve. Researchers Ezekiel J. Damon-Roman from the University of Pennsylvania and John J. Mcardle from the University of Southern California discussed in their article, “Race, Poverty, and SAT Scores,” the power of family income and its effect on their students' test scores as well as racial influence.

This image below is all the data collected in Damon-Roman and Mcardle’s research. Look at the data for further details on the socioeconomic gap the SAT creates.

After being shown this data table, how is it fair that one “intelligence exam” determines the fate of a student’s future? It isn’t. In order to counter this anxiety ridden approach to college admissions, one potential solution is all colleges becoming test optional. Imagine going through the college application process we went through two years ago and having each college being test optional. Not only is this idea backed by loads of data showing the inequalities in SAT scores, but this idea also would cause students, like us, so much less stress.

The overarching idea of this essay remains that the SAT is not a test based on intelligence, but instead availability of resources.

There needs to be a push for colleges turning to test optional schools. Colleges have so many other variables to look at, such as SAT, extra curriculars, and volunteer work. The SAT is an unnecessary exam that places an excessive amount of pressure on students. One bad or good SAT exam score could have a monumental impact on a student’s future educational pathway. How can that be deemed by college admissions as fair? The simple answer is it can’t be.