Is College Entrance Exam fair for College Admission?

[video]"http://vimeo.com/user4534674[/video]

Well, this girl is smart to come up with her theory about college admission based on SAT and ACT. She believes that the result of the exam does not contribute to the admission decision because of bias. Frankly, I took PSAT in high school; and I did not score well even though I took advanced placement courses (AP Computer Science B, AP Calculus BC, AP Physics, and AP Government). But I feared about the standardized exam; therefore, I made decision to join the Marine Corps instead attending college. My mother did not have any money for me to take the prep-course. But luckily I found the way to earn college degrees without money from the pocket.

URL: One College Applicant Puts Her Testing Gripes on Video - Head Count - The Chronicle of Higher Education

So, what do you think about the article and her video? Is she accurate in the admission decision, or just someone believes standardized test (SAT or ACT) should not be mandatory?

 

Thanks for posting this. She makes a very compelling argument against these exams in the video. I've been suspicious of these exams for a long time. One thing she didn't even touch on was what a money racket it is for the organizations that create these tests...ETS being the largest. Even though ETS is technically a non-profit organization, it rakes in the money like you wouldn't believe. The company's headquarters is a posh campus that has to be seen to be believed.

 

The SAT Racket | College Article | Teen Ink


"On one occasion, a reporter held up a sample essay at a distance, and a grader was able to guess the correct score based only on length. However, length alone does not indicate that the test-taker included relevant or accurate facts and *details to back up the thesis."

 

Once upon a time I read an article (in a scholarly journal) that did a retrospective analysis on college students. It was measuring "college success" as it correlates with SAT scores. In this case "college success" was defined as gpa and graduation. The general finding was that neither high SAT scores nor low SAT scores significantly correlated with college success (or lack of it, respectively). There was, however, a very strong correlation between average SAT scores and college success, especially the graduation criteria. So, scoring well on the SATs is not a guarantee of college success, scoring low doesn't indicate failure and average scores indicate average college performance. It makes you wonder if it's really worth it and IIRC, there was a thinly veiled suggestion that the whole SAT, MAT, GRE industry was a shell game.

 

I like the standardized test, but primarily because I perform well on them. I've never done a scientific study, but based on myself and my sister I can say they are not a good indicator of performance in college.
I scored a 31 on the ACT, in the 1400s on the SAT, in the mid-600s on the GMAT and a 2230 on the GRE. The only prep I did for any of them was taking two practice tests the week leading up to the GMAT. I was a B/B+ student in high school primarily from a lack of trying and my standardized test scores were a huge reason I got into most of the colleges I applied to (I was rejected from my first choice, Washington & Lee). I had a B average, around a 3.1-3.3, in undergrad and a 3.4 in grad school.
My sister on the other hand scored much lower than me on both the ACT and SAT even after taking prep courses and studying for months leading up to the exams, but she was a straight A student in high school and graduated with honors from college. She was lucky that schools have placed much less focus on standardized tests in recent years. Many schools no longer even require you to submit a SAT or ACT score.
I do have a higher IQ than my sister, but will be the first to admit that she always worked way harder than me on her school work. Those tests may measure intelligence or aptitude for a subject, but they do not measure how hard a student will work in college, my sister and I are proof of that.

 

Another cultural difference.
We don't do the tests for entrance to college/university here in Canada (unless something specific, e.g. LSAT for law school). High school transcripts are all that's needed, but, our education system and curriculum are much different than the American sys/cur.