Then you are not talking about the SAT at all. The SAT does not measure raw intelligence. It measures mastery of a body of material - vocabulary, mathematical formulae, etc. - which have been acquired over the course of several years of studies. And, like GPA, acquisition of those skills is a product of many factors, including income, free time, teacher engagement, cultural pressures, and even nutrition, as well as factors such as native processing speed, memory, and logic.
Actual measures of raw intelligence, such as spatial analogies and pattern-recognition tests, try to avoid linguistic and cultural bias which skew results, but even the most enthusiastic researchers admit that results are a product of many factors, and only measure a single axis of the complex phenomena we call “intelligence.”
There is a lot of research available on this topic. I recommend perusing it.
Tl,dr: no, SAT scores don’t measure “intelligence.” They measure how well you do on SAT tests.
OP, your pompous self-righteous post prompted my response. My tone was angry – intentionally and, in my opinion, not unnecessarily so. Good luck in life.
@AboutTheSame
I was not in any way pompous in my original post. If you think so, please point out where so I can refrain from doing so in the future. You can’t attack me personally just because you disagree with my beliefs.
The SAT and ACT are remarkable measurements of certain aspects of aptitude and achievement, IMO.
I’ve been in a position for many years to get to know many kids and follow their academic progress from elementary school through high school, and get a very good handle on their overall intelligence.
When it comes SAT/ACT time, I can almost always predict, with startling accuracy, where they are going to score.
I’ve had parents ask my prediction and been skeptical about what I predicted. Their only response after testing was “how did you know?!?”
The answer is I know those tests very well, they are very, very sophisticated and effective at testing/validating certain things colleges look for, and I know your kid well enough to know where he or she falls on the scale for those things.
But the ultimate impact/result of those test scores is much harder to predict.
They are decent predictors of the tier of colleges the kid will get into. But only roughly.
As far as predicting success at the college they eventually attend, I think it is not a tremendously useful piece of data.
Which is a bit of a contradiction to me - although I believe it to be highly effective at measuring certain aspects of aptitude and achievement, I also believe it is not a very useful predictor of how the student will do at the college they end up going to.
Many years ago (when the dinosaurs roamed the earth and I was a HS student), the “A” is SAT was for “aptitude.” It was officially the Scholastic Aptitude Test and was intended to measure college readiness based on ability without prep. Nobody I knew prepped for the SAT. Achievement tests (the precursor to the SAT 2s)? Most definitely, but not the SAT. I think that’s why many may mistake the SAT for an IQ test.
I do think the ability to score high on the SAT with zero prep means something different than scoring high by taking the test multiple times and/or prepping for weeks (or months). The question is, what exactly? And, does it matter?
Some might argue your post (opinion) may reflect on intelligence more than your GPA/test scores. Too simplistic. There are other variables at play besides intelligence, hard work and effort. In the end, your opinion (nor mine) really matters when it comes to college admissions. Fortunately many schools are holistic and don’t over simplify to this extent.
@RoundGenius I agree. Anthony James-Green writes: “Do you need a high IQ to learn the slope formula, or the definitions of key vocabulary words? No. You need to put in the work and study the right things. Sure – having a high IQ might make learning certain things a bit easier/faster, but it’s far from a requirement for an amazing score.”
you are smart and clever if you get the score you need for the college you want to go to. Sure you can be smart but not clever or clever but not smart. Some have to prepare more but who cares?