The SAT Test for College Students

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INTRODUCTION
In the United States, college is the path to success. A college degree has not mattered more at any other point in US history. A college degree allows for one to pursue their dreams in whatever field they choose, more opportunities than a high school diploma alone would allow. College is also a gateway for those less fortune economically to succeed in life through continuing their education. In recent years there has been an influx of high school students applying to colleges in search of better jobs in the future. Because of the increase in college applicants admissions officers have been relying more and more on SAT scores to make admission decisions. Two years ago “1.6 million students took the SAT” which has increased in recent years (Lewin). With the increased amount of students applying to colleges it is more difficult for admission officers to choose good, well rounded applicants. College admission officers and colleges “set a cutoff SAT […] score below which students will not be considered for admission” (“The SAT isn’t the Problem”). Standardized tests have become the crutch that admissions officers rely on to choose perspective students. There have been many criticisms of the SAT in general which has led the CollegeBoard to change the format of the test multiple times. The general deciders for college admittance are the SATs, high school grades, high school rank, entrance essays, and extracurricular activities, in that order. Standardized test such as the SATs “continue to be used as an objective measure for college admittance” even with the flaws that come with the use of them (Deerman et al.). This shows that this standardized test has great influence in America, whether positive or negative. Though SA...

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...T PREDICTS COLLEGE SUCCESS, STUDY SAYS."Chicago Tribune 6 May 2001: A18. LexisNexis Academic. Web. 3 Apr. 2014.
Lewin, Tamar. "Testing, Testing." The New York Times. The New York Times, 03 Aug. 2013. Web. 04 Apr. 2014.
Owen, David, and Marilyn Doerr. "Brains." None of the Above: The Truth Behind the SATs, Revised and Updated. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1999. 210+. Print
Prois, Jessica. "Does the SAT Have A Racial Bias?" The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 25 Apr. 2011. Web. 09 Apr. 2014.
"The SAT Isn't the Problem. It's How the Exam Is Used." USA Today 14 Mar. 2014: 10A.Biography in Context. Web. 3 Apr. 2014.
"Standardized Tests." International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. Ed. William Darity, Jr. 2nd ed. Vol. 8. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2008. 95-98. Global Reference on the Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources. Web. 25 Mar. 2014.

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