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The SAT: Questions and Answers
Posted August 20th, 2007 by fairtest
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What Is the SAT?
The SAT Reasoning Test is this nation's oldest, most widely used -- and misused --college entrance exam. The SAT is composed of three sections, "Critical Reading,""Mathematics," and "Writing," each scored on a 200-800 point scale. The 171questions are nearly all multiple-choice; the exam now includes one brief essay, andten math questions require students to "grid in" the answer. By design, the test is"speeded" which means that many test takers are unable to finish all the questions.The SAT Subject Tests, formerly "Achievement Tests", are one-hour subject exams,entirely in a multiple-choice format. The Educational Testing Service (ETS), under contract to the College Board, is the primary producer and administrator of the SAT.Pearson Educational Measurement is responsible for scoring multiple-choice itemsand the essay.
Examples of Misuse:
Scholarships:
Several states impose SAT minimum score requirements on students hoping toqualify for taxpayer-funded scholarships. Using cut-off scores for such high-stakesdecisions is a clear violation of the test-makers' guidelines. This practicedisproportionately impacts minority students who as a group tend to score lower thanwhite students on the SAT. The result is these students lose out on millions of dollarsin financial assistance.National Merit Scholarshipsuse Preliminary SAT (nearly identical to the SAT) scoresas the sole criterion to select semifinalists. The resultant pool has historically beenpredominantly male because boys score higher on the PSAT even though girls earnhigher grades in high school (and college). In 1993, FairTest filed a complaint withthe Office for Civil Rights (OCR) charging the test-makers with illegally assistinggender bias. Aspart of a settlement with OCR, ETS and the College Board agreedto add a new multiple-choice "writing" component to the PSAT. This simple change intest format significantly increased the percentage of National Merit semifinalists whoare female, but girls are still cheated out of a fair share of awards by bias in theunreformed portions of the exam.
Gifted and Talented Programs:
Many special programs for the "gifted and talented," such as the Johns HopkinsCenter for the Advancement of Academically Talented Youth, use the SAT or similar tests to select participants. Not surprisingly, girls and minorities are oftenunderrepresented in these accelerated programs.
SAT Bias
The SAT consistently under-predicts the performance of females in college andover-predicts the performance of males. Although females earn higher grades in highschool and college, their SAT scores were 26 points lower in 2006. College Board
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FairTest finds that over 830 four-year colleges do not use the SAT I or ACT
to admit substantial numbers of bachelor degree applicants.
See the searchable listing of schools.Find out how and why colleges goTest Optional
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The SAT: Questions and Answers | FairTesthttp://www.fairtest.org/facts/satfact.htm1 of 26/23/2010 1:59 PM
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