<p>^ Respectfully disagree, Mathmom. My guess is your brilliant math student was a little careless on that problem because of his math prowess. So carelessness will play a role somewhat, of course, and carelessness could obscure the great intellect being tested. Certainly. But how would you devise an exam to preclude mistakes from carelessness vs ineptitude ?</p>
<p>I don’t think the SAT is a measure of family wealth. The wealthiest families I know are business people who put little to no emphasis on the SAT, or prestige of college. I do think the SAT can be an indicator of family culture. A family that does not make reading material available or stimulate kids intellectually (and I don’t mean by taking them to the museum) is going to have a lot of trouble producing a kid who will do well on the SAT or in the classroom or at life, for that matter.</p>
<p>I do think some kids are hardwired to be voraciously hungry to learn and think. They have no cognitive off switch. They are not going to need to prep to score high. Their brains are just hungry and very fast at thinking because they have been thinking really hard all their lives . . . because they think it’s fun. </p>
<p>Whether this is IQ or not seems kind of meaningless to me. I’ve never understood why people care so much about IQ and trying to measure whatever it is. There’s people who are very good at solving complex mental problems. Usually they enjoy doing so and thus are good at it. For me, that means academic smarts. No question they might be horrible at social skills or music or athletics.</p>