Accepted: Why is the SAT Still the Standard for Proving Yourself to Colleges?

Edder Martinez, Staff Reporter

Mention the words Collage Board, SATs, or Advanced Placement to upperclassman and college students, they will probably react with an uneasy look. These standardized tests have become commonplace among American High Schools. Several students this week on Wednesday Oct.12th took the PSAT. So many students may now be asking if college entrance exams are still a useful way to indicate a person’s college readiness. 

Several of the nation’s most prestigious academic institutions set the option to submit your SAT score, no longer making it required. This system was implemented after the Covid-19 pandemic. Still even after the pandemic several of these universities still don’t require you to submit your SAT scores. So what are these schools looking at if they dont require the SAT? It seems these universities have realized standardized testing isn’t the most accurate measure of a students intelligence.

The SAT has seen its own fair share of criticism, for example how a student’s test score most commonly tends to correlate with the wealth of their parents. It’s no secret that hiring a tutor for the SAT, and other SAT resources are not cheap. Schools with lower amounts of funding inside underserved communities also tend to not have these materials to help their students get a higher score. Some of the wealthiest families have even been caught bribing testing officials for higher test scores.

According to an article by Forbes a study showed that, “Students with family income of $100,000 or more are more than twice as likely as students with family income under $50,000 to have combined SAT test scores of 1400 to 1600.”said Kantrowitz.  With Universities trying to find a more diverse set of students they want to accept more applicants from diverse economic backgrounds.

Standardized tests themselves have garnered a lot of criticism in recent years. Common arguments against standardized testing is how there is no one size fits all for assessing one’s knowledge, and how they tend to test your knowledge on one subject rather than the application of that subject. Kids who are challenged academically may face a harder time despite trying as much as their peers. No two students work the same, so a standardized test method may be outdated in this sense.

College entrance exams like the SAT have fallen out of fashion and what they really measure Is the wealth inequality between students and their families. It also seems like generally standardized tests have become unpopular since there is no true one size fits all to measure a students intelligence, and more so measures a students ability to recall and remember information rather than true application of the subjects.