New SAT No Better Than Old

The much ballyhooed revised SAT has proven to be no better predictor of college success than its predecessor. The SAT was updated three years ago to include a writing section with the promise of improving the test's effectiveness as an admissions tool. The College Board added the writing test, including the 25-minute essay, to help colleges make more finely tuned decisions about students' skills.

The College Board also claimed the test would elevate the place of writing in high school classrooms, though critics argued the exam encouraged formulaic writing and was susceptible to coaching.

The recent findings are the most comprehensive study yet of the new exam, covering over 150,000 students. The analysis measured the connection between SAT performance for the high school class of 2006 and college grades. A correlation of 1.0 represents a perfect connection between scores and grades.

The study found high school GPA had a 0.54 correlation with college grades. Individually, all three SAT sections had lower correlations, but taken together, they were 0.53. Combining high school GPA with the three SATs scores was stronger still--0.62, but that is just 0.01 higher than if the writing exam weren't included.

For more information on the analysis of the new SAT, visit the College Board Web site at http://collegeboard.com.