SAT (test)

SAT logo

U.S. Navy sailor completing an SAT

Math problem from a SAT test

The SAT ( Scholastic Assessment Test) is a US-American standardized test that is mainly required by applicants for a place at American universities ( study ability test ). Former names for it are Scholastic Aptitude Test and before that Scholastic Achievement Test .

Some private universities in Germany, such as Jacobs University Bremen or the International University in Germany in Bruchsal , which has now been dissolved after bankruptcy , asked applicants to take the test.

background

Because the US school system is inconsistent, grades from different high schools are generally not comparable. For this reason, the College Board, an association of 4,500 American educational institutions, conducts standardized tests on simultaneous dates nationwide, the results of which often determine a student's further education.

construction

Each test consists of several modules: a general part, which is divided into the sections math , critical reading and creative writing , and up to three subject-specific tests, of which a total of 20 are available. The tests are mainly carried out using the multiple-choice method. Each partial test is assessed with a score between 200 and 800, which is then scaled according to different degrees of difficulty in order to obtain results that are comparable between different SAT tests.

The SAT has been fundamentally revised and renamed several times since its introduction in 1901. In doing so, the attempt was always made to determine the goal of the test, not knowledge but skills, to come closer and to avoid disadvantages for test subjects from poorer school districts.

meaning

The SAT can be used to measure the success of the high school system, and the high school diploma can also be used to achieve the academic requirements for attending college . Since 2009, fewer than half of high school graduates in the United States have reached the 1550 threshold on the SAT (including 2013 data). Parents' educational level best predicted children's success in 2013: while 68% of children reached the threshold with at least one parent having a master's degree or higher, only 27% of children whose parents only had a high school did so. Graduated. The second most important factor was race, as defined by the US population statistics : students of Asian descent were 56% of the limit, 53% of whites, 35% of Indigenous Americans , 24% of Hispanics and 15% of African-Americans.

Web links

Commons : SAT test - collection of images, videos and audio files

http://www.collegeboard.com - website of the organization running SAT

Individual evidence

↑ This Year's SAT Scores Are Out, and They're Grim. The Atlantic, September 26, 2013.
↑ SAT Benchmarks 2013. College Board, p. 22.

[1] This Year's SAT Scores Are Out, and They're Grim. The Atlantic, September 26, 2013.

[2] SAT Benchmarks 2013. College Board, p. 22.