<p>I taught a bunch of SAT classes for The Princeton Review, so I have a pretty good idea of how the SAT works. It doesn’t measure intelligence, it measures academic ability.</p>
<p>As for my personal anecdote, I scored a 1900 the first time I took the SAT, and then a 2260 after studying for a week. You’re trying to tell me this is an intelligence test? Nonsense. It’s a pretty decent test of exactly what it should be testing though: whether the student can succeed academically. Getting a good score shows a mix of: raw intelligence, study skills, ability to focus, etc.</p>
<p>Rather, it shows the things that are useful in college. Intelligence is a small part of what’s measured by the SAT.</p>
<p>I think the middle school tests (the SAT/OLSAT) measure intellect more accurately. No one studies for those.</p>
<p>I got Post-High School-Level in everything subject in 6th grade. No prep whatsoever. That says more than a 2300+ SAT with 2 years of using every book on the market and taking every prep class available.</p>
<p>It measure intelligence to some degree…
I can honestly tell you I’m not very smart to begin with, but I study in school which is how I do well. Last year I scored a 1600 on my PSAT. After studying for an entire year, my SAT score (the one i got this november) was over 2000. I went up 400 points from studying for a little over half a year. Am I smarter from studying for this SAT? no, not at all. i just learned some tricks that ended up getting me a 400 point increase. so, basically, i don’t know if you can say it measures intelligence. i do think it’s the only fair way to judge people based on intelligence. if you just went off of GPA that wouldn’t be fair at all. the SAT is the only way to fairly judge everyone because everybody gets the same test.</p>
<p>This thread is narrow-minded and conveys an insecure aura. The SAT measures very basic math, english, reading, and writing skills. Nothing more, nothing less. Someone with average or below average intelligence can learn math up to Algebra II and basic grammar rules (did you ever think of that?), and even short-passage reading comprehension and SAT essay-writing skills. </p>
<p>I never took the SAT (no one does where I am from), but I scored a 34 on the ACT and highly on SAT2s, so I have nothing against standardized testing. If I hadn’t scored this highly and had only focused on other work (music, classwork, etc.), would that have meant that I wasn’t as smart as my scores show? Absolutely not.</p>
<p>Most of the time, hard(er) work beats intelligence.</p>
<p>^ If the SAT questions very basic math, english, reading, and writing skills, then why are so few students scoring 800 or high 700s, compared the the total number of students who take it? Yes, it does question basic skills in those subjects, but the questions are designed to be able to spot such mistakes and to have the creativity and intuition to answer such questions, which, clearly, not everyone has.</p>