<p>I think some CCers are too naive when it comes to GPA and SAT</p>
<p>I mean, don’t simply say what you THINK it should be.</p>
<p>in reality, colleges need some measure that would put a student in a national context and compare him to other students from very different backgrounds</p>
<p>Some schools have teachers who are very generous in giving grades. In some schools its the opposite. Colleges know each case is different. SAT and ACT are standardized and are the same for all students wherever they go to school. </p>
<p>For example, i’ve attended two highschools, and even after putting the same amount of effort (which is virtually none), the resulting GPAs were very different. my average from my last school was barely above 80 percent. In my new school, I have high 90s, even with harder courses (full IB)</p>
<p>Think of international students. an 80% average from a local highschool in South Korea would not necessarily equate to an 80% average from a local highschool in Tanzania, for example. If the two students have their SAT scores, we can compare them in an easier and unbiased way. </p>
<p>GPA is a big factor in college admissions, but I think SAT is just as important, if not more. I wouldn’t be surprised if many colleges used SAT scores as their primary filter when reading applications. </p>
<p>You can take the SAT multiple times. You might make a case that you just suck at taking standardized tests and that it DOESN’T MEAN ANYTHING (some CCers say this all the time, which really annoys me.) but the test tests your ability to reason correctly under the pressure of a given time. You have both the SAT and the ACT, and you can take both tests multiple times. Just saying that standardized tests are not your thing is not an excuse for a low score.</p>
<p>In my opinion, a relatively high GPA (maybe 3.5~) can be achieved through pure hard work. (AP and IB might be exceptions) one might have to spend more time studying, but pure effort would raise one’s GPA to a certain extent. (Even if a person isn’t as “bright” as his peers, simply spending hours to memorize all the stuff he needs to know for a test would get him steller grades without a doubt, with the exception of languages.)</p>
<p>The SAT score would not increase beyond your level by simple memorization. Getting familiar with the test would get you a couple hundred points at first but that’s it. It’s not a perfect test, but it reasonably correlates with the student’s current level of english and reasoning, IMO.</p>