Study: SAT scores predict academic success

The addition of a mandatory writing section to the SAT three years ago slightly improved the exam's ability to predict academic success for a college freshman, according to a new report by the test's owner.

The study sponsored by the College Board also found that scores from the new writing section are somewhat better at predicting grades in the first year of college than the two other SAT sections. The best predictor of all is for colleges to look at scores on all three test sections, as well as high-school transcripts, according to the report released Tuesday.

The organization revamped the traditional SAT in 2005 by adding a new section that included multiple-choice grammar questions and a 25-minute essay. It eliminated analogies and quantitative comparisons from the test and added shorter reading passages.

The test now takes three hours and 45 minutes, which is 45 minutes longer than the old exam, and a perfect score is now 2400, up from 1600.

The College Board's studies found the new SAT predicted college success better than high-school grades for minority students. For white students, high-school grades were a better predictor. A large majority — 69 percent — of the sample was white.

The organization examined the test scores of 151,316 students from 110 four-year colleges and universities in the United States.

Males, Hispanics, African Americans and Native Americans earned lower GPAs than their SAT scores predicted, the College Board found. Females, Asian Americans and Caucasians did better than their SATs forecasted.

"The SAT is a national fair benchmark at an era where grade inflation at the high-school level is a major problem," said Laurence Bunin of the College Board, a nonprofit in New York City. Most universities require applicants to take the SAT or its main competitor, the ACT, as a uniform standard.

Compiled from Los Angeles Times and McClatchy Newspapers reports.