[HarveyBungus]

1) The SAT is obviously a superior and more objective indicator of "will do well on schoolwork" than the other components of college applications. Essays on political topics, biggest weaknesses, and a time you had to overcome a challenge are obviously less standardized, more subject to whims of reviewer, and this is why they are being promoted. The idea that there are kids with terrible scores but great portfolios of work worthy of admission seems wrong to me. The people with portfolios of work were likely already getting in.

2) "If you can study for the SAT that defeats the point" is wrong. Nassim Taleb made a point of demonstrating that these tests are study-able. The idea that you can't really study for the SAT is loserthink promoted by the SAT. Nearly everyone I know who wanted to succeed in school studied multiple times, took the test multiple times, and greatly improved their scores. It might still be unfair insofar as the better-prepared<->better-supplied kids get a head start but if you grind out a 1600 from a bad school that is still impressive and demonstrates hard work.

3) The solution to inequities in SAT/admissions is to devalue education via school, a la Caplan/ScottAlexander.

[lupire]

> The idea that you can't really study for the SAT is loserthink promoted by the SAT.

Nope. SAT offers an official curriculum via Khan Academy.

https://satsuite.collegeboard.org/sat/scores/what-to-do-with...

[HarveyBungus]

Glad to see this. I highly recommend manuals of problems too.

[kleinsch]

Grades you got on actual schoolwork are a much more obvious predictor.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-12-22/grades-v...

[DiogenesKynikos]

Grades from different schools are not equivalent.

It's extremely difficult to compare grades from hundreds or thousands of different schools. You have to really know how rigorous each individual school's grade scale is.

[elgenie]

Grades from different schools are not remotely equivalent in representing material learned.

However, they are comparable with respect to the hoop-jumping conscientiousness of the students involved, and there's a decent argument that it's the latter is what matters for successful completion of college.

[DiogenesKynikos]

Conscientiousness is not all that matters. Schools can vary widely in their level of academic difficulty.

Top students who come from one school (to take one extreme example, Stuyvesant high school in New York, which has produced four Nobel Prize winners) may be on a completely different academic level than top students from the average school.

[titanomachy]

Following the la times article’s link to its primary source, it also says:

High school GPA as a predictor of college success results in a much higher representation of low income and underrepresented minority students in the top of the UC applicant pool, than do SAT scores.

[HarveyBungus]

“The SAT score does not reflect your future possible success in college,” she said. “If you want it, you can do it.”

Amen. I loosely put GPA in my "portfolio/body of work" mentally.