Re: SATs

James Rogers (jamesr@best.com)
Tue, 10 Dec 1996 18:07:29 -0800


At 12:02 PM 12/11/96 +1000, you wrote:
>At 04:06 AM 12/10/96 -0500, Lyle wrote about Eliezer:
>
>>(As long as we're bragging about SATs, my scores were 721 verbal,
>>793 mathematical. A few weeks ago people were posting their ages;
>>it would be interesting to post SATs as well.)

I thought the scores were always divisible by ten ( like 720 and 790 maybe ).

>For the benefit of people outside the United States, for whom these grading
>arcana are entirely opaque, could someone please briefly explain what SATs
>are [scholastic aptitudes tests?], and the range of scores?

The SATs test the aptitude of high school and occasionally elementary school
students at basic math, vocabulary, and comprehension skills. The scores
range from 200-800. You receive one score for math (maximum of 800) and one
score for language (maximum of 800) for a total possible maximum of 1600
points. Average composite scores hover somewhere between 900-1100,
depending on the school district.

It is primarily a benchmark of how well you were educated at the time you
took the test, and has little relevance to intelligence. Age can be an
important factor since all age groups take the same test. Most people take
it in their junior or senior years of highschool, but some people take it as
early as late elementary school.

Personally, I think it is pretty lame to be posting SAT scores. What do
they prove? So much feather ruffling...

-James Rogers
jamesr@best.com