SAT Validity

SAT Validity

View and download studies that show evidence of the SAT’s validity as a strong predictor for college success.

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An Updated Look at SAT Score Relationships with College Degree Completion

This study shows that SAT scores are valuable predictors of bachelor’s degree completion in four years, including when controlling for HSGPA. Results confirm that institutions can use SAT scores with confidence when making admissions, placement, scholarship/honors programs, instructional support, and academic advising decisions.

  • Current as of 6/17/2022
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  • 489.07 KB

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Understanding SAT® Score Relationships with Career and Technical Education (CTE) Program Outcomes

This study provides strong evidence that the SAT can be a useful tool for understanding and evaluating student readiness for CTE programs and students’ subsequent success in these programs. In particular, we can see that many lower performing students on the SAT can still be successful in the CTE programs studied, and as expected, stronger SAT performance is associated with more positive outcomes for these students.

  • Current as of 4/22/2022
  • PDF
  • 559.96 KB

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Re-examining the Accuracy of Self-Reported High School Grade Point Average (HSGPA)

This study provides an updated understanding of the relationship between a student’s self-reported high school grade point average (HSGPA) and their institution-provided HSGPA, presumably based on the student’s actual high school transcript.

  • Current as of 3/9/2022
  • PDF
  • 363.17 KB

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Using SAT Scores to Inform Academic Major-Related Decisions and Planning on Campus

This study shows how the SAT and HSGPA can work together to help institutions confidently admit, place, and support students in their academic majors while promoting student opportunity and success as well as institutional health and success. Findings also show how the SAT can be used to increase diversity in STEM fields.

  • Current as of 2/3/2022
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  • 1012.43 KB

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Using the SAT and Landscape for Retention and Academic Advising on Campus

This study demonstrates the utility and value of Landscape context information, as well as SAT scores, and HSGPA for campus retention analyses, critical academic advising conversations, and related resource allocation on campus.

  • Current as of 2/3/2022
  • PDF
  • 1.56 MB

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Using the SAT in Merit-Based Scholarship Decisions and Selection for Competitive Academic Programs

This study demonstrates the strong utility and value of SAT scores in scholarship decisions, in admission decisions to honors or other selective academic programs, for states that want to continue or start incorporating SAT scores in statewide scholarship programs, and for institutions that want to use SAT to identify top students to recruit for scholarships or selective academic programs on campus.

  • Current as of 2/3/2022
  • PDF
  • 1.16 MB

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Validity of the SAT for Predicting First-Year Grades and Retention to the Second Year

This study demonstrates the strong relationships between SAT scores and first-year college GPA and second-year retention.

  • Go to SAT Suite of Assessments | College Board

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Using the SAT to Support Student Success on Campus

This document summarizes findings from recent studies that inform conversations around important campus decisions and can guide campus use of SAT scores to promote student success.

  • Current as of 2/3/2022
  • PDF
  • 325.72 KB

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Validity of SAT Essay Scores for Predicting First-Year Grades

This study shares information on the utility and value of the SAT essay for use in college admission, placement, and advising.

  • Current as of 2/3/2022
  • PDF
  • 2.09 MB

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Differential Validity and Prediction of the SAT

This study shares information on SAT score relationships with college performance by key student and institutional subgroups.

  • Current as of 2/3/2022
  • PDF
  • 2.61 MB

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Validity of SAT for Predicting First-Semester, Domain-Specific Grades

This study shows strong, positive relationships between SAT section scores, test scores, cross-test scores, and subscores with domain-specific course grades earned in college, demonstrating that the SAT is sensitive to instruction in English language arts, math, science, and history/social studies.

  • Current as of 2/3/2022
  • PDF
  • 1.53 MB

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College Board National Curriculum Survey Report 2019

This report details the results of a nationally representative survey of college readiness prerequisites and middle- and high-school teaching and learning in literacy and math. The results suggest that the SAT is a robust measure of essential college and career readiness and success prerequisites.

  • Go to SAT Suite of Assessments | College Board

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Validity of the SAT for Enrollment-Related Decisions

This study shows the positive relationships between SAT scores and academic performance of international students attending colleges and universities in the U.S.

  • Current as of 2/3/2022
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  • 876.73 KB

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Examining the Validity of the SAT at Higher Education Institutions Outside of the U.S.

This study shows the positive relationships between SAT scores and academic performance of students attending higher education institutions outside of the U.S.

  • Current as of 2/3/2022
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  • 673.83 KB

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Examining the Stability of SAT Predictive Relationships Across Cohorts and Over Time

This study shows that the validity of the SAT for predicting FYGPA remains stable and strong across cohorts, and that the SAT is essentially as predictive of the longer-term college outcomes analyzed in this study as it is of first-year college outcomes.

  • Current as of 2/3/2022
  • PDF
  • 497.79 KB