<p>"Standardized tests are generally more predictive of academic success at selective colleges than at others, but you make an important point: it is abundantly clear that one size does not fit all when it comes to testing. Some colleges have found that standardized tests are not particularly helpful in predicting grades at their campuses and have de-emphasized tests or made them optional.</p>
<p>That said, our studies consistently demonstrate that standardized tests are helpful in predicting Harvard grades. Of course many other factors are important too, including high school grades, teacher and counselor recommendations, and intangible personal qualities that are reflected throughout the application.</p>
<p>We have found that the best predictors at Harvard are Advanced Placement tests and International Baccalaureate Exams, closely followed by the College Board subject tests. High school grades are next in predictive power, followed by the SAT and ACT. The writing tests of the SAT and ACT have predictive power similar to the subject tests."</p>
<p>This is from a Harvard dean. In the last paragraph, he notes that SAT subject tests are given more weight than the SAT itself, and that the SAT writing test is similar to an SAT subject test. Thus, according to Harvard, the Writing section is more important than the Critical Reading or Math sections.</p>
<p>Which other top schools place more emphasis on Writing than on the other two sections?</p>
<p>I'm interested because writing was my highest section. Thanks.</p>
<p>Except everyone at Harvard has essentially 700-800 on all SAT sections so it really doesn’t predict anything. It’s pretty much universally assumed Writing is the least important section of the 2400 scale SAT.</p>
<p>“This is from a Harvard dean. In the last paragraph, he notes that SAT subject tests are given more weight than the SAT itself, and that the SAT writing test is similar to an SAT subject test. Thus, according to Harvard, the Writing section is more important than the Critical Reading or Math sections.” </p>
<p>sorry but you are grasping a straws and drawing the wrong conclusion from this report. </p>
<p># 1
This is an internal academic study of enrolled Harvard students, i.e the 7% or so who were accepted to Harvard. It is not a study of the applicants who applied to Harvard. Big, big difference…</p>
<h1>2</h1>
<p>this was not written by the Admissions dean and does not reflect the weighting of all the different factors the admissions office looks at when reviewing Harvard applications.</p>
<p>@menloparkmom: I’m sorry, I don’t understand what you’re saying. This is directly from Dean Fitzsimmons at Harvard. It appears clear to me that, according to the dean, the writing section has more “predictive power” than the rest of the SAT because he compares it to a subject test (which he says is weighted more than the SAT).</p>
<p>Read this again-
“That said, our studies consistently demonstrate that standardized tests are helpful in predicting Harvard grades. We have found that the best predictors at Harvard are Advanced Placement tests and International Baccalaureate Exams, closely followed by the College Board subject tests. High school grades are next in predictive power, followed by the SAT and ACT. The writing tests of the SAT and ACT have predictive power similar to the subject tests.”</p>
<p>this is a study that shows the correlation between various standardized test scores and the grades that ADMITTED Harvard students actually achieve ONCE THEY ARE AT HARVARD.
It is not saying that applicants with High Writing scores than Math or CR scores have a better chance of ACCEPTANCE at Harvard, nor that Writing scores are MORE important for ADMISSION purposes than Math or CR scores. It states that the writing tests on the SAT or ACT is equally predictive of grades at Harvard as subject test scores…</p>
<p>Subject test scores are not as important for admissions purposes as SAT or ACT scores or HS GPA.</p>
<p>@menloparkmom: I was under the assumption that the writing score would receive more weight in admissions if it predicted higher grades than the critical reading and math sections. If their studies show that writing scores correlate with better performance at Harvard, then why would they not place more weight on the writing section?</p>
<p>Because Harvard isn’t necessarily trying to admit students who they feel will receive the highest grade at Harvard? They want people who they feel will succeed in life. It’s why someone who receives only a 2200 on the SAT but has amazing extracurriculars or someone who receives only a 2300 but has absolutely amazing essays will get accepted over someone who receives a perfect 2400 on the SAT and has no extracurriculars and mediocre essays even though the person who received a 2400 would more likely receive higher grades according to the weighing system Harvard’s dean is referring to.</p>
<p>"Our goal in admissions is to attract the best students to the college. "
…While we value objective criteria, we apply a more expansive view of excellence. Test scores and grades offer some indication of students’ academic promise and achievement. But we also scrutinize applications for extracurricular distinction and personal qualities.
Students’ intellectual imagination, strength of character, and their ability to exercise good judgment — these are critical factors in the admissions process, and they are revealed not by test scores but by students’ activities outside the classroom, the testimony of teachers and guidance counselors, and by alumni/ae and staff interview reports. "</p>
<p>The short answer is no college, not even H, favor the Writing portion over the other two. All highly selective colleges slightly favor the CR & W over Math because 750+ on the former two is more rare than it is in M. </p>
<p>btw: UC studied the predictive value of all of its requirements and found that AP/IB tests were numero uno, followed by subject tests… I’m guessing H just looked at its own data and found the same thing.</p>
<p>Buk unlike H, the UC gurus, upon finding the predictive power of ST’s, and using their infinite ‘wisdom’, promptly dropped subject tests as an admissions criteria. (UC had used Achievement Tests, the precursor to Subject Tests, for decades.)</p>