<p>A more interesting exercise might be to turn this discussion around and ask the obvious unanswered question.
Why does the SAT correlate more with success at some colleges but not all?</p>
<p>If the SAT is measuring three important (albeit narrow) skills:
- the ability to read college level textbooks and papers
- the ability to do basic mathematics (algebra and geometry)
- the ability to edit for grammar errors (and do simple writing)</p>
<p>We have heard claimed that there are high schools for which these skills are not particularly important,
but why would there be colleges for which these do not have a bearing on the student’s success?
- fantastic tutoring and remedial preparation? (UT has summer programs for example for low scoring students to get remedial math, writing etc. to partially catch up)
- students improve their skills so quickly when they get on campus (the schools have a hidden test to identify students with a “potential to catch up quickly”)?
- those skills are not needed for enough courses to affect their graduation?</p>