<p>Having a high IQ generally means remembering those silly things needed to do well in math problems without needing to review them. Family wealth can be overcome by great public schools- I was fortunate to be in HS at a time when funds were plenty and Wisconsin also put its tax dollars into education. You need to differentiate between the SAT and the subject tests- the latter is based on knowledge, the former reasoning type skills.</p>
<p>I’m sure there is a correlation of IQ with SAT test results. Those who study hard can raise their IQ and those who don’t need to study often get the perfect scores. Consider the gifted talent searches- they sponsor middle school kids taking the ACT and SAT. Some of those students do extremely well without having had the HS courses and extra years of learning.</p>
<p>I am always amazed at how hard some students (and their parents) work on getting a good SAT score with prep courses et al instead of just following a lifestyle geared to maxing out the education available in public schools. They wouldn’t need to “cram” for the tests if the students had consistently studied for their courses from elementary school onwards. I doubt the very top student scores come from those who are not already in the top percentiles on IQ tests, nor do the top scores come from those who have “bright” level IQ’s and study. </p>
<p>Will the students who cram for the SAT change their habits and do well in their dream college? Or will the social life of college take precedence over academics? Maybe the best students should be thankful for those students to be there to get the lower grades…</p>
<p>btw- intelligence is not the same as education- SAT tests for both. How many of you can tell a person’s intelligence by how they approach everyday problem solving? The person in a lower level job who just does it well because they figure out the best way versus the person who does what they’re taught without thinking how to make the job easier. All levels- the trash pickup people to the office worker to the teacher to the college professor… The neighbor who easily does things. Of course at various levels one may be differentiating different IQ levels. </p>
<p>Think of past generations of housewives- in the era when women generally did not go to college, unless their parents had money. My own mother flunked out of college because she wasn’t encouraged to do the math and engineering and had lousy study habits (taking breaks every time some others did instead of studying for example) but she could easily change a sweater knitting pattern for the neighbor who needed step by step instructions. </p>
<p>I appreciate intelligent tradesmen who can look at the problem and easily solve it using thinking skills as well as hands on skills. Some could have done well in college but prefer action to books. Which reminds me of learning disabilities- ease of reading versus high IQ…</p>