<p>They are a scam. The tests are run by private companies which managed to secure what only recently even became an oligopoly on a standard for admissions to college. While they claim to be a public service, they are still companies which make profit and therefore will work to maximize profit. The tests are diliberately designed in such a way as to encourage behaviors in students which generates revenue for the companies. The questions aren’t directly applicable to knowledge and skills acquired in school both because of the way that they are structured and the time limit imposed on answering them. The only way you can be prepared for the SAT/ACT is if you take classes or buy study books from the college board (or a separate company that most likely pays the college board in some way for access to materials) or if you took the test before. (which, hint hint: costs money!) The actual conditions of the test are overly (and possibly diliberately) stressful. You sign up for a day months in advance and hope that sickness, weather, etc won’t happen to get in the way. The test is early in the morning and often at an unfamiliar location. The test is 4 hours long and provides only a few short breaks which are inadequate to make use of fully. The sections are tightly timed so that any lapses for any reason has the risk to make you not finish a section. Because the sections are so tightly timed, you do not actually answer questions based on any kind of logical reasoning, instead, you simply pick the answer that your tutor or the test prep book told you would always be the right answer. From start to finish you are treated like an inmate in a prison rather than a high school student. The list goes on. </p>
<p>And after you pay them and the test prep industry that feeds off of them, if you don’t like your scores you are free to pay them to do it all again. This system is beyond corrupt. This is far from anecdotal evidence. There have been studies done which have found a rather direct correlation between household income and SAT scores. Somehow I doubt that rich babies are born smarter than poor ones. </p>