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At More and More Colleges, SAT Is Now MIA

Standardized test seen as poorly calibrated measure of students' abilities
By Harry Kimball,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 24, 2008 1:36 PM CST
At More and More Colleges, SAT Is Now MIA
College Board President Gaston Caperton.   (Getty Images)

Colleges are fleeing the SAT, saying the standardized test is not a reliable predictor of academic success, the Boston Globe reports. But though a coalition is forming against the requirement, even doubtful admission officials see the need for a field-leveler for disparate applicants. “The SAT only measures how good you are at taking the SAT,” one student said.

“Wouldn’t it be better for students to study chemistry and math and language, than trying to game a somewhat esoteric set of test-taking skills?” one Harvard official said. The test is also seen as favoring high-income students. Eight hundred schools nationwide have removed the test as a requirement; schools that still use the test maintain it is a single, but telling, “data point.” (More SAT stories.)

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