Does the SAT/ACT measure how smart you are?

[coloradodem2005]

I don't think so. I think that it is bullshit.

[kwassa]

1. No, they are achievement tests, not intelligence tests n/t

[dolo amber]

2. I got really high scores on both

And nobody ever accused me of being smart...so there you go. :D

[coloradodem2005]

4. I got a 1050 on my SAT and some people call me smart.

Though a lot of people treat me like I am an idiot.

[LostInAnomie]

3. Absolutely not.

Especially not anymore since their are prep courses that kids are allowed to take that give them a advantage over those who can't afford to take them.

[Reverend_Smitty]

5. Nope, not at all...

I only got an 1130 which isn't enough to get me into most "elite" colleges. Never mind the fact that in high school I was in the National Honor Society and after almost 3 years in college my GPA is a 3.9. So if a school like Yale would accept Shrub because his daddy went there and not someone like me, I guess it is their loss

[murielm99]

6. They show how much you have learned, not your potential,

or your intelligence.

They used to be intelligence tests, but they stopped doing that. SAT used to show how much one had learned, and ACT showed one's potential. I think that stopped in the late eighties and early nineties.

The military aptitude tests used to show intelligence, too. Now, they are used more aa vocational tests.

Since so many affluent families can afford to have their kids take the cram courses, they might not even show how much a student has learned. In some cases, they show how much one has crammed, and how well one has learned to take tests.

[Zensea]

11. I think you might have it turned around

In the early 70s ACTs were subject specific, so they measured what you had learned while SATs were Verbal and Math, so the verbal at least was close to a verbal intelligence test. The math was subject specific also, almost automtically.

From what I understand about how they've changed the verbal SAT, it's closer to being an achievement test now, more like the ACT.

Neither are really intelligence tests though, even back then since the Verbal SAT assumed a common language. I think there were some studies done that showed that regarding the verbal component of the SAT, that takers who spoke a sub-dialect of English would score lower than their actual intelligence relative to someone who spoke the dominant dialect.

[murielm99]

13. I think you are right. I reversed them.

Oops.

[Philosophy]

7. There has to be some correlation

You often hear people who think they are smart dissing them because they got lower scores than they think they should have, but you never hear stupid people bragging about their unexpectedly high scores.

[sans qualia]

22. I got an unexpectedly high score

And I'm nowhere near smart enough to deserve it. I don't know how it happened.

[jody]

8. Both measure a component of "how smart you are". n/t

[LibDemAlways]

9. They measure whether or not

you know the answers to a specific set of questions. They don't measure your capacity to learn, ability to think critically, or your common sense -- all of which, I think, are far more important.

[Allenberg]

10. I doubt it.

I'm a reasonably smart guy. I'm a military intelligence analyst. But, I'd probably do horrible on the SAT/ACT considering I haven't been to a class in six years.

[Dastard Stepchild]

12. Nope....

Well, it depends on who you would ask. The Educational Testing Service says yes, but some research groups say no.
Take a look at this information and judge for yourself who to believe :)

http://www.fairtest.org/index.htm
http://www.ets.org/

I would propose that the tests do not accurately predict future success in college. High school GPA and the college admissions essay are stronger indicators, IMO. Even these indicators provide general predictive ability - there are always exceptions to the rule. I am a big supporter of the admissions essay and admissions interview for prospective students. GPA provides a quantitative measure that helps to weed out applicants, but H.S. GPA becomes less valid, IMO, as age of the prospective student increases.

[Nikia]

14. They measure a couple things

Certainly intelligence is one of the factors leading to a high or low score. Both do measure what you learned in school although it is usually assumed that most college prep students learned all the concepts presented on the test. They also measure how well you take multiple choice tests and test prep services gives one an advantage. They are also relatively long tests so they measure ones attention span and mental endurance. Since the ACT does not take away extra points for guessing, luck could also be a factor on that test. Some students also take the test several times, which favors richer students who can afford the registration fees.
Yes, I don't think that I received as high of score as I should have based on how I scored on other standarized tests and my gifted program screening evaluations. I took it once, received no test prep, and did significantly better on the first sections than the last sections due to mental fatigue and a waning attention span. It was high enough though to get accepted to 3 top tier national liberal arts colleges. I might have had an outside chance to get into the very best colleges because of my athletic achievements, high GPA, 6 A's at a local college, lots of other activities, and economic and school district disadvantage. I considered it good enough.
Now that I am out of college. It doesn't really matter at all. I have been asked for my college transcripts once by a potential employer, but never my SAT scores.

[Wat_Tyler]

15. There is no single test that can fully evaluate an individual's abilities.

I know this, because I'm an utter fucking genius.

[barb162]

16. They have adjusted those tests downward at least twice in the last

ten or so years. I think, if anything, the test scores are showing a general"dumbing down" of the educational system and students. And I see evidence of this all the time. A lot of these kids are on honor rolls (60-70%) in my area and I think it shows teachers are not grading on a curve. These kids don't spell very well, can't write papers, are not good at math, etc., but boy are they ever getting high grades.

[NNadir]

17. High stakes testing, including the abysmal "intelligence tests," are put

there to avoid having to treat people like people.

Of course, an intelligence test is somewhat less accurate than an SAT, since intelligence tests are notable for their lack of intelligence by insisting that a person can be reduced to a single integer called an "IQ," but one supposes that the use of both tests have had some individually unfortunate results.

This is easy for me to say however. After taking the Stanford-Benet intelligence test repeatedly in hopes of getting out the remedial reading class, I managed to jack my measured IQ up to a 45.

[deadparrot]

18. They measure how well you take standardized, timed tests.

That's about it.

I did fairly well (31 ACT), but I probably could have gotten higher if I had more time on the Math and Science Reasoning sections. I'm pretty skilled in those areas; I simply need more time to do the problems, I can't zip through them without a second glance.

[eyepaddle]

19. There's a lot of truth to that,

A lot of people are gonna hate me for this, but some people people have the knack for taking stadardized tests; I am one of those. Somehow I just got lucky and think like the test makers. I studied for the GRE for a little over a week and absolutley crushed it. I'm no dummy--but there is no way I am as smart as my test results.

However, I don't think they are completely without value--it's just impossible to really quantify "intelligence."

[Nikia]

20. The ironic thing about the SAT

Is that it was designed to give less affluent students a chance. I remember readin about it in Time or Newsweek a few years ago. It was used to identify less affluent boys who might benefit by going to Harvard.
Now the tests are often said to be less fair to economically disadvantaged students. That is true in several ways. On the otherhand, these scores may provide a valuable credential to students who went to intercity or rural schools, which do not have AP classes and are acknowledged to provide a poor educational program to college prep students. Although Harvard (or another highly competitive school) may admit students at these schools with lower test scores than their prep school applicants, they are not going to admit any student without an SAT score significantly above average and may not to take a chance on any of those students if there wasn't some kind of standardized test.

[jpgray]

21. I hope so

:D