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To play devil's advocate, these tests are supposed to test aptitude to predict ability to learn--not test what you already know. They are more akin to an IQ tes

To play devil's advocate, these tests are supposed to test aptitude to predict ability to learn--not test what you already know. They are more akin to an IQ test than a bar exam or medical board exams that test your knowledge. If just you want to test their ability to perform in school, why aren't grades the better metric? It is very likely that increased preparation of the test reduces the tests ability to predict aptitude. If you were testing aptitude for kicking a football, and some players practiced every day and some never kicked a ball before, the test would overrate the players with practice and underrate those who didn't. Send both groups to football kicking practice for 8 hours a day and the test stops being useful. That said, it is really easy to measure this. And the fact that the proponents of the affirmative action don't prove this factor is significant suggests it probably isn't. All you have to do is see the correlation between asian/white scores and their grades and the correlation between black and hispanic scores and their grades. I have no experience with Fairfax county school testing, but in law school testing (LSAT), the scores for black and Hispanic students still accurately* predict their law school and bar exam performance. The LSAT isn't biased. *as accurately as it predicts anyone's performance.

zozbot234 5y ago
> If just you want to test their ability to perform in school, why aren't grades the better metric? Because grades are not independently assessed by a third party? No matter what the theory behind it, the SAT is really, really close to an independent test of learned material. And many people would surely argue that having your prerequisites down pat and being fully ready for subsequent learning is at least a major part of what "aptitude" means in practice.
- rhino369 5y ago
  It's really not meant to be an independent test of learned material. It's meant to be an aptitude test.
  - sokoloff 5y ago
    At the point where you’re entering college, how well you’ve mastered and can apply the basic math that SAT tests basically is your mathematical aptitude in the “suitability or fitness” or “likely to succeed at college math/engineering/science/logic” sense of the word.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
Retric 5y ago
Collages prep has some inertia where students who study and do test prep are significantly more likely to get through freshman year. Things generally flip by senior year where the under-preparing groups who make it that far end up outperforming. The racially neutral way to look at it is rich white kids going to elite high schools fall behind the middle class white kids academically at elite schools. This effect is somewhat hidden by weighting all classes equally when calculating GPA.

zozbot234 5y ago

> If just you want to test their ability to perform in school, why aren't grades the better metric? Because grades are not independently assessed by a third party? No matter what the theory behind it, the SAT is really, really close to an independent test of learned material. And many people would surely argue that having your prerequisites down pat and being fully ready for subsequent learning is at least a major part of what "aptitude" means in practice.

rhino369 5y ago
It's really not meant to be an independent test of learned material. It's meant to be an aptitude test.
- sokoloff 5y ago
  At the point where you’re entering college, how well you’ve mastered and can apply the basic math that SAT tests basically is your mathematical aptitude in the “suitability or fitness” or “likely to succeed at college math/engineering/science/logic” sense of the word.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]

Retric 5y ago

Collages prep has some inertia where students who study and do test prep are significantly more likely to get through freshman year. Things generally flip by senior year where the under-preparing groups who make it that far end up outperforming. The racially neutral way to look at it is rich white kids going to elite high schools fall behind the middle class white kids academically at elite schools. This effect is somewhat hidden by weighting all classes equally when calculating GPA.