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The Scholastic Aptitude Test (SATs)

Since the modern SAT it strictly is based on scholastic knowledge, students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, who are more likely to be minority students, are at a disadvantage. It is slanted towards the privileged students-"the Wealth Test ". Wealthier parents can provide private tutoring, classes and study materials and so can wealthier school districts. Those students really do benefit a great deal from SAT preparation. So technically, the minorities are more likely to score less than the wealthy which prevent them from progressing to the next grade level or even lead to teacher firings. Prior to all these scenarios, the tests fail to be fair and objective and their use promotes a narrow curriculum and "teaching to the test " syndrome. Again, it's the colleges and America as a whole that fail to produce innovators and critical thinkers.
             There are several accusations on SAT being culturally biased, which I personally think is valid. I am not a Native-English speaker, nor have I been living in United States all my life, and there was a question regarding rugby where the student was essentially required to know the terminologies of a rugby game. How can someone like me who has never played rugby before nor watched a full rugby game possibly supposed to answer that question? The test makers don't pay attention to the fact that there might be students unaware about the American culture taking the test. English Language Learners tend to fall in the same category. Standardized tests are unfair and discriminatory against non-English speakers and students with special needs. .
             English language learners take tests in English before they have mastered the language. Special education students take the same tests as other students, receiving only a few of the accommodations usually provided to them as part of their educational plans. Now, how is that fair testing? Studies state that ELL students do not perform as great as the native speakers on the Critical reading and Writing part of the test.


Essays Related to The Scholastic Aptitude Test (SATs)

1. SAT controversy

Each one of these students is about to part take in a test that will supposedly categorically predict their future success; this is the Scholastic Aptitude Test, perhaps better known by its acronym: SAT. ... This Scholastic Aptitude Test originated from the Alpha Army and was designed to determine the IQ of new recruits. ... However, it was only until after World War II that the SAT became a test for all college applicants. ... This is what constitutes the SAT as a biased test. ... The SAT has changed so much over the past century that it no longer tests what originally had. ...

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2. SAT'S

When the test was originally introduced, the letters SAT stood for Scholastic Aptitude Test. ... The College Board (the organization that sponsors the SATs) got rid of the acronym but kept the letters, allowing them to stand on their own, free of the controversy surrounding the meaning of the word aptitude. ... These gaps in test scores have been documented over the years and are applicable to various standardized tests but are most apparent in SAT I test scores. ... A major player in the SATs is the test prep business. ... All persons have the option of taking the SAT, but not all can aff...

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3. Challenges of Standardized Testing

Each year the ACT, American College Testing, has 1,666,017 students take the test and 1,664,479 students took the SAT, Scholastic Aptitude Test, since the ACTs inception in 2011. ... By World War 1, standardized testing was typical preparation: aptitude quizzes called Army Mental Tests were given to give U.S. army men tasks during the war effort. ... There are many different types of standardized tests, the most common are SAT, Scholastic Aptitude Test, and ACT, American College Testing. ... DiMarco said this about the act, and Tests aren't just tests anymore. ... Take the pressure off;...

  • Word Count: 1498
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4. The SAT Controversy

The SAT, or as it was called in the beginning, the Scholastic Aptitude Test, had its debut in the late 1930's. ... Eventually, Carl Brigham adapted the army's IQ test for use in college admissions and Chauncey reported back to Conant about the new SAT test. ... The SAT test was specifically designed with that in mind. ... Beginning in 1995, Lafayette College conducted a five-year experiment, making the SAT test optional. ... I think that the majority of people agree that using the SAT test as the sole predictor of college success is flawed for many reasons. ...

  • Word Count: 1136
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5. The Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) Overhaul

My experience with the SATs was so awful. ... The test does not show what I have learned during the past three years in high school but it does show my ability to regurgitate the information I learned during $5,000 SAT training classes. ... In my opinion, it doesn't make much sense to test teens on words that they will most likely never encounter or use again after the SATs. ... The new SAT test is making improvements in this flawed test. ... In conclusion, the SATs are a necessary evil. ...

  • Word Count: 982
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  • Grade Level: High School

6. Urban schools

Black and White Test Score Comparison African Americans currently score lower than European Americans on vocabulary, reading, and mathematics test, as well as on tests that claim to measure scholastic aptitude and intelligence. ... The best-known test that claims to measure academic aptitude is the Scholastic Aptitude Test. ... The content on the SAT is bias. Relabeling aptitude and intelligent test can reduce concerns about racial bias, but it cannot settle the issue entirely. ... If the test measures things that are taught in school, that is usually a sufficient rationale for its conten...

  • Word Count: 2753
  • Approx Pages: 11
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

7. High Stakes in Education

Statistics prove that "African Americans currently score lower than European Americans on vocabulary, reading, and mathematics test, as well as on the test that claim to measure scholastic aptitude and intelligence" (NY Times 1). ... Colleges and Universities utilize the ACT's and/or the SAT's as the most reliable and unbiased source to compare applicants. ... All test are made fair! ... These standardized test set the standards for all students to reach and break all boundaries; still, those that oppose this testing claim that these tests are racially discriminatory. ... T...

  • Word Count: 749
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  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

8. Opposing Affirmative Action

Schools, at the very top like Harvard or stanford, ecome institutions able to offer the very best black applicants a range of scholarships and other monies, soak up a huge portion of the relatively few blacks who score in the top range of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). ... Those students had an average SAT score of 952 compared to the national average of 900 among all black students. However, their SAT scores were well below UC Berkeleys average of nearly 1200. ...

  • Word Count: 912
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

9. Genetics And Intelligence

Researchers have noticed that test takers earn higher scores on IQ tests each year until the tests are re-standardized, which then makes it more difficult to get an average score of 100. ... Mental age was defined as that of the chronologically uniform group of children whose average test score the child taking the test, matched. ... His tests stimulated other psychologists to use different schemes to test the quantitative assessment of mental capacity. New testing systems were devised, among them the Binet-Simon tests by a man named Lewis Terman in 1916. ... However, there is even co...

  • Word Count: 2287
  • Approx Pages: 9
  • Has Bibliography

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