“Adequate” compared to what other commonly available tool?
Despite the nice personal anecdotes (n=1) the SAT remains one of the best common indicators of intelligence short of actual perception testing.
More of a measure of how much time you studied and how much you spent on test prep. Or how much you had available to spend.
I think they can to an extent show intelligence, but they are far from perfect. For example, I’m decent at math (not a math whiz but I can hold my own) and my SAT score was fairly low while my ACT was pretty decent. If they were truly good at predicting intelligence in math ability, the scores wouldn’t vary so much from tests I studied minimally for. I did however score very well in reading comprehension on both exams, which I believe accurately indicates my abilities in that subject.
There are also some people who just aren’t strong test takers. I know a person who is incredibly intelligent, aces everything, and was accepted into a service academy, but they never broke 2000 on the sat.
Is it possible that your evaluation of a single person’s intelligence could be off the mark? What is your experience and training in the evaluation of “intelligence”?