{"id":6995,"date":"2016-06-22T13:55:36","date_gmt":"2016-06-22T20:55:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/sat\/?p=6995"},"modified":"2017-06-08T20:02:52","modified_gmt":"2017-06-09T03:02:52","slug":"sat-reliability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/sat\/sat-reliability\/","title":{"rendered":"How Reliable is the SAT?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wondering whether the SAT is reliable in predicting college preparedness or success is kind of like wondering about the meaning of life.\u00a0It’s an important question, but there’s no definitive answer. Still, it’s a question worth talking through and finding out where you stand on the issue. So, like the great philosophers in our time,\u00a0let’s put our pondering caps on and try to tackle one of the biggest questions of our time: Truly, what is the meaning of life<\/del><\/p>\n

\"SAT<\/h2>\n

Things to know<\/h2>\n

In\u00a0the last 10 years or so, the SAT really started to gather\u00a0controversy because<\/em> of these very questions about its reliability. As I’ve noted in this post about the pros and cons of SAT<\/a>, there’s a lot of research that shows the old SAT was not a reliable measure of college preparedness. Of course, there is also research that disagrees<\/a>.\u00a0As a result, while a lot of schools still see\u00a0the value of the SAT as part of their admissions process, more and more schools are joining the test-optional movement. This means that students can opt out of sending in their SAT or ACT scores.<\/p>\n

Colleges\u00a0have made this move for a variety of reasons. One is that\u00a0they find that standardized tests don’t test the skills<\/a> they look for\u00a0their students. They may also want to give students the freedom<\/a> of determining if their SAT score is a good indication of their academic performance. Finally, many schools see standardized tests as a barrier for students from underrepresented backgrounds, which is counter to their admissions goals. In fact, a lot of these schools saw increases<\/a> in applications from such students when they went test-optional. Still, the jury is split about SAT reliability with valid arguments on both sides.<\/p>\n

SAT reliability for the new test<\/h2>\n

According to the College Board, the SAT was revamped<\/a> to better address these issues of college-relevant skills and student representation. They also claim that the new SAT is based on a lot of research<\/a> about what’s needed for academic success in college. They even claim that they already have evidence<\/a>\u00a0that shows that the new SAT could predict success in college.<\/p>\n

While this all sounds promising, we should still be a little skeptical. Of course the\u00a0College Board is going to say that their product works! So, at the moment, the most honest answer someone can give you about SAT\u00a0reliability is, “We’re not so sure yet.” In reality, it might take a few years of students trying out the SAT and researchers not<\/em> associated with the\u00a0College Board to test\u00a0the relationship between the new SAT scores and how these students do in college. Only then we can we more confidently answer the question about SAT reliability for the new test.<\/p>\n

What this means for you<\/h2>\n

If you read these arguments and find yourself morally against the SAT, that’s totally fine because now, it’s a lot easier than ever to apply\u00a0to great schools that don’t require the SAT. But if you find yourself believing in the SAT’s merits, that’s totally fine, too.<\/p>\n

Here’s the bottom line:<\/p>\n

While the SAT could be a valid measure for academic success\u2014and a lot of schools continue to think so\u2014it is still only\u00a0one\u00a0<\/em>measurement out of many to determine college success. GPA and extracurricular activities are also really important pieces\u00a0of the college application process; students should not<\/strong> neglect developing these components in favor of stressing out about\u00a0the SAT. That would be a really bad idea.<\/p>\n

At the same time, doing well on the SAT can be the saving grace for students who might have had situations that kept\u00a0them from doing well on these other components. After all, the whole point<\/a> of the SAT originally to was to\u00a0level the playing field for students who didn’t come from privileged\u00a0backgrounds. I think we can all agree that the SAT is at its best when it’s used for that purpose.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you’re wondering about SAT reliability in predicting college preparedness or success, check out this post and see where you stand on the issue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":164,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[91],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[24874],"class_list":["post-6995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow Reliable is the SAT? - Magoosh Blog | SAT<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If you're wondering about SAT reliability in predicting college preparedness or success, check out this post and see where you stand on the issue.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/sat\/sat-reliability\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How Reliable is the SAT?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If you're wondering about SAT reliability in predicting college preparedness or success, check out this post and see where you stand on the issue.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/sat\/sat-reliability\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Magoosh Blog | SAT\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MagooshSat\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-06-22T20:55:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-06-09T03:02:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/sat\/files\/2016\/05\/Screen-Shot-2016-05-22-at-8.19.37-PM.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Anika Manzoor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@MagooshSAT_ACT\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@MagooshSAT_ACT\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Anika Manzoor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/sat\/sat-reliability\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/sat\/sat-reliability\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Anika Manzoor\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/sat\/#\/schema\/person\/5efb1d4d282056e5d91f56740f655dd0\"},\"headline\":\"How Reliable is the SAT?\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-06-22T20:55:36+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/sat\/sat-reliability\/\"},\"wordCount\":680,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/sat\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"SAT\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/sat\/sat-reliability\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/sat\/sat-reliability\/\",\"name\":\"How Reliable is the SAT? 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Anika has a BA from Grinnell College and an MPP from Harvard University. Her experience includes serving two years as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in Malaysia, an SAT tutor for Kaplan, and currently, as the Executive Director of Youth Activism Project, a nonprofit that she co-founded when she was 12 years old. Anika's work has been featured in The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, and Yahoo! Money. She has also spoken at panels and given presentations at New York University and Harvard University. If you'd like to keep up with Anika, you can check out her LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter.","url":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/sat\/author\/anikamanzoor\/"}]}},"authors":[{"term_id":24874,"user_id":164,"is_guest":0,"slug":"anikamanzoor","display_name":"Anika Manzoor","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2facf35f1214f6f82bbe1f469a6fe7eec2bcfcd8bb9de5fd41acd424bbcb7530?s=96&d=mm&r=g","user_url":"","last_name":"Manzoor","first_name":"Anika","description":"As one of Magoosh\u2019s Blog Editors, Anika relies on her nearly 20 years in education and youth leadership spaces to produce empowering, student-centered content across Magoosh's blogs. Anika has a BA from Grinnell College and an MPP from Harvard University. Her experience includes serving two years as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in Malaysia, an SAT tutor for Kaplan, and currently, as the Executive Director of <a href=\"https:\/\/youthactivismproject.org\/whoweare\/about-the-team\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Youth Activism Project<\/a>, a nonprofit that she co-founded when she was 12 years old. Anika's work has been featured in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/outlook\/2019\/03\/01\/why-children-have-such-powerful-moral-authority\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Washington Post<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/metro\/globelocal\/2019\/06\/13\/how-chelsea-high-students-took-graduation-back\/Ck8CRRh0x1JiXx1Tt7P3PI\/story.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Boston Globe<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/money.yahoo.com\/raise-child-activist-224232037.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Yahoo! Money<\/a>. She has also spoken at panels and given presentations at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=tkRzXJDK2hg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">New York University<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/sici.hks.harvard.edu\/2018\/09\/04\/anika-manzoor\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Harvard University<\/a>. If you'd like to keep up with Anika, you can check out her <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/anikamanzoor\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">LinkedIn<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/_anika_humaira\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Instagram<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/_anika_humaira\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.anikamanzoor.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">personal website<\/a>."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/sat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/sat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/sat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/sat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/164"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/sat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6995"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/sat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6995\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/sat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/sat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/sat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6995"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/sat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=6995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}