<p>i disagree that the SAT has any high level of correlation with intelligence. I know really ridiculously smart people that score 1700s. The SAT mainly tests your ability to take tests. Its all written to trick you, so if you aren’t super awesome at figuring those out, then its not accurate.
Still colleges care, but having a great GPA doesn’t hurt!</p>
<p>this is a weird 3 year old post to bump…</p>
<p>the SAT definitely tests intelligence. it tests someone’s ability to conform to different things and to be flexible, in my opinion. if you are stubborn and are stuck in your ways, then you won’t do well on the SAT, and those that are stubborn aren’t really very smart because they don’t accept other outside viewpoints.</p>
<p>Ok, so I’ve posted this on almost every topic in here but hah.
I really want to get into a good uni (let’s say top 20) as an intl student.</p>
<p>So far, I’ve been in the most difficult profile ( we don’t have the concept of course, to drop ant take, there are some certain profiles which have an established curricula; my profile is the most comprehensive - both advanced sciences ( it’s intensive math&comp science ) and advanced humanities.</p>
<p>In 9th grade I had 9.61/10 and in 10th grade I had 9.69/10. I hope that my average 9-10-11 th grades will be about 9.7/10. How will these look to colleges ? Is it a good gpa ? (provided that a lot of hypmsc admiited are valedictorians) - I’ll most surely be in 10% of my graduating class (of about 200 students), but not so sure wether I’ll be in first 5%.</p>
<p>Also, I’ll be studying for a year in an American boarding school (namely Hkiss). I’m not sure wether this would be helpful for me, but the fact is that there I will not be taking Computer Science and Physics (the subjects in which I had the lowest grades; my transcript was like : everything else- 10/10, CS - 7/10, Physics - 8/10, Mathematics - 8.5/10), because I kind of hate them (I’ve chosen this profile mostly for its prestige). </p>
<p>Will this look bad to college adcoms ? (like I chose those classes without passion blah blah) . I also mention that 2-3 other Romanian classmates will also apply to top colleges and their gpa is 10/10 (they really like those subjects :D).</p>
<p>I have a lot of ec’s (gone to contests and olympiads on chem&bio as well as on french&social sciences, volunteering, debate, summer schools, leadership etc.) whih I am also intending to pursue at Hotchkiss to make up for my low gpa, let’s say, and I plan to study really hard for the SATs. </p>
<p>Still, will this gpa hurt my application ?</p>
<p>I did bad on the SAT’s, but rocked the ACT’s. My highschool average was a 94. I’m going into my senior year undergrad with a 3.8. </p>
<p>I really don’t think the SAT’s mattered much to me. I got into the highest ranked SUNY schools and some good privates because I did so well on the ACT’s, have good grades and extra curriculars.</p>
<p>But to me, SAT didn’t really matter. It was just something I “had” to do. I’m sure I’d do much better if you put it in front of me now! :P</p>
<p>“Some people buy their scores with expensive test prep”</p>
<p>I heavily disagree. Expensive test prep can only do so much. I have friends who studied for the SAT with second hand practice books and scored higher than those that attended thousand dollar courses.</p>
<p>Generalizations without substantiation seem to be rampant.</p>
<p>There are countless answers to this question (almost all based on personal opinion) and here is mine:
I believe that the SAT, though a somewhat accurate method of measuring intelligence, is more of a test of endurance. It shows how long you can go without breaking your focus, without letting external factors impact you. I mean, I know some people that are hella smart, but still are unable to break the 2000 mark.
Simply put, I think having good grades shows that you are a intelligent student and definitely a hard worker, but having low SAT scores just shows that you may not be the best test taker.</p>
<p>It’s probably best to close a thread this old. The question is legitimate, and can be asked again by anyone who is still interested. Some threads age better than others.</p>