Is the SAT a good basis of student evaluation for university admissions?

The use of the SAT to test students’ abilities has always received criticism from students, parents and even university faculties but has the time come for universities to replace the SAT in admissions criteria? 

How and why the SAT was created

The creation of the SAT and the College Board has a dark and troubling past. In 1900, the College Board was formed to establish uniform testing of high school students nationally in the US. The aim of the test was to separate top students from average and below-average students, so that the Ivy League colleges and top liberal arts colleges could get access to elite students that fit their criteria. However, this is where the story becomes problematic.

The College Board was finding a way to create a suitable test that could judge each candidate’s ability, and they were noticing the increased use of IQ testing in other organisations. Although, IQ testing was invented to diagnose patients of mental illnesses, American corporations and the military had begun to use it as a way of measuring intelligence of the average person and this trend seems to have carried on today. To produce a reasonable test, College Board commissioned Carl Bingham, a well-known believer of Caucasian racial superiority over African Americans, to create a similar IQ test. Carl Bingham formed the test with the reasons that it would display the racial superiority of Caucasian Americans and maintain ‘racial purity’ within society. Moreover, the test was a way to maintain the power of rich, white families, as administering a test such as the SAT in the early 1900s meant that students had to travel to a destination and pay high fees to attend the test. Poorer students who had the means to travel and pay the high fees could not avail resources richer students could (books or tutoring), hence predominantly white, male students coming from richer families could excel at the test and get an entry into the top colleges. 

However, once the test was formed, it became highly popular especially for the selection of scholarship students and by the end of World War II, it had become a mandatory test for all colleges part of the College Board. Following the increased popularity of SAT in US, many other universities all over the world adapted the SAT as a compulsory or optional unit in admission criteria.

Where do the expensive fees for the test go?

At the moment, College Board charges $49.50 for the SAT or $64.50 for SAT with essay, and for subject tests it charges a flat registration fee of $26 followed by $22 for each subject test. Other than that, there are various other charges which are often compulsory such as a regional fee for international students or $12 for an additional score report. This makes sitting for the SAT an awfully expensive trip, so where does all this money earned from exam fees go? 

Officially, College Board is registered as a Not-for-Profit organisation meaning all the profits earned by College Board are either donated or invested back into the business. As per 2019 records, College Board made approximately $1.5 billion and much of it went into administering the tests themselves – renting rooms or halls and hiring staff to administer the test. Other major expenses include advertising, legal fees or lawsuits, allowing fee waivers for students who cannot afford the test and grading or mailing the tests. If profits are made, they are reinvested into other services like the creation of prep material, collaborations with educational organisations like Khan Academy or scholarship programs.

Concerns over its effectiveness and fairness

The history of SAT tells us that it was created to continue inequality and obstruct social mobility of minorities. Students who cannot afford to take the tests may be provided a fee waiver nowadays, but the fact remains that such students may not have access to the same prep material or tutoring that richer students may. This has been at the forefront of arguments regarding the fairness of SAT. Parents have proposed solutions such as doing an IQ test or any other test that cannot be improved with the use of additional resources or practice. Others have suggested that all prep material be made free to view online and free tutoring services be provided to those who cannot afford it. However, the College Board appears to be unfazed by these proposals and continues to maintain their view that the SAT is fair. Another issue over fairness of SAT appears to be that privileged students can retake the SAT as much as they want to improve scores, as they can afford it but for those who cannot afford it, they can apply for a maximum of two fee waivers hence two retakes at most.

Moreover, the effectiveness of SAT in judging the ability of a student has been criticised too. Some parents and students have accused the SAT of being statistically unfair. SAT is used to gauge the ability of students to do well at college, but college and even high school is about persistence and consistent dedicated effort. Parents say that SAT is an exam taken at one sitting for long hours and a small issue such as being sick on the day or being late for the exam can put increased mental stress and pressure on the students. Studies have shown that the SAT has a much larger variance than other types of single-sitting tests and a much greater variance than high school GPA. According to several more studies, high school GPA is a much better determinant than SAT for college and life success, as GPA is an accumulation of lengthy efforts made by a student which are more comparable to challenges faced in life.

Why Pakistani universities should opt against using it

Many Pakistani universities have made the basic SAT compulsory as part of admissions, while others have maintained an optional line. This needs to change, because the SAT largely tests students on their English language abilities and students who have studied in public schools or have had less formal education may not have reasonable English language skills. This creates a class barrier between upper and working class students, as those students who are in the upper or middle classes have received an expensive private education whereby, they usually study and speak in English leading to them performing better on the SAT, while those students are in the working class generally speak or study in Urdu at public schools.

Furthermore, students in Pakistan must pay an additional $49 besides the SAT fees to sit for the test which is too much. The case can be made that these funds are also going out of the country and spent on services that improve a foreign country (the US), so why should we continue supporting such a cause. It would be better if Pakistani universities created their own board whereby, they administer a standardised test nationally which appropriately tests the skills and intellect of Pakistani students. This would not only help the national economy by creating more jobs and revenue that otherwise would be going to the US, but it would also make the admission process cheaper for students while testing them more fairly (use of Urdu language instead of English who have studied in public schools).

Could the SAT be replaced soon?

Signs have begun to show that the SAT may be losing popularity, as many universities in the US have started to omit the SAT essay as part of admission criteria and made the SAT less important. Internationally, many universities that previously made SAT a must in the admission process have made it optional or completely removed it by administering their own exams. But these changes to reduce the importance of SAT are slow, so one cannot expect the SAT to be eliminated or replaced anytime soon. Even if drastic measures will be taken, it will take many years or decades for organisations to successfully campaign against the use of SAT. In Pakistan, universities can decide to come together and produce a national standardised test but there seem to be no indication of that. Perhaps when more noise is created by students or parents, universities might take some action.