Students have vastly different approaches and experiences when it comes to the SAT. 

Some are really invested in studying. Some are able to hire professional tutors, which can cost anywhere from $30 to $150 per hour. Still others students may be overwhelmed by work, school, and other commitments or situations which make it difficult for them to devote any time to studying or even thinking about the SAT. Some students take the test (which costs $55, apart from the free SAT test days offered by schools) multiple times to try to achieve the best score possible, while others simply cannot afford to. Some simply may not see it as a priority or have other things weighing heavily on their minds such as economic, social, or emotional hardships that make studying for the test difficult.

The dramatic variation in approaches and experiences makes it impossible to see the whole picture when it comes to SAT scores, especially when one factors in the vast disparities in score distribution by race, and the proven correlation between wealth and higher scores on the test.

But verbal score-offs, where people compare and share scores, often en masse with no regard to privacy or others’ feelings, can still happen. 

A lot.  

“I remember when I was in ninth grade, and we took the PSAT’s for the first time, and the scores came out,” said one anonymous McCaskey student. “And then people just started talking about their scores. They were like, ‘Oh my god, I got 1100, I was not expecting that, but I think I could have done better,’ All these thousands I was hearing… I think I got a nine hundred-something, and so then I’m like wait….I didn’t even get into the thousands. And that just made me feel horrible.”

Every single person sees and experiences the SAT in a different way, and because of this, comparing and sharing scores will rarely ever yield anything positive. 

“When we have conversations with classmates about our SAT or ACT scores, one of two things is likely to happen: either we walk away feeling badly about our scores, or our classmates walk away feeling badly about theirs,” said Loren Dunn, a New York SAT tutor.

Widespread sharing and collective bragging about test scores can give people superiority complexes or put others down and make them feel like they are “less than” others, when in reality the SAT is just one test (albeit an important one) which is not, in fact, reflective of a person’s entire intelligence or value. 

The only thing that an SAT score can really measure is, well, how good you are at taking the SAT: a test which only partially evaluates two of the major areas of knowledge in schools, and disregards many other methods and forms of intelligence.

And while the test has been widely regarded as a critical part of the college admissions process, many schools are shifting away from requiring students to submit scores. Although some are doing this because of temporary issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic, others are looking to make a long term switch. In early 2020, every public university in the state of Oregon made the joint announcement that they would become permanently test-optional.

“Standardized tests add very little to our ability to predict an individual student’s success at a university or college,” said Jon Boeckenstedt, vice provost for enrollment management at Oregon State University, as quoted on newsguard.com. “I have seen clear patterns that – when weighted heavily in the admissions process – standardized tests provide admissions advantages to students who are already advantaged, including students from higher income families,” Boeckenstedt added. Other schools such as the University of Massachusetts Amherst are enacting three-year trials and studies of the test-optional approach. In fact, over 1,815 4-year colleges and universities nationwide are SAT/ACT optional for current applicants.

When test day comes, it’s important to remember that everyone has a different attitude, background, and preparation system. We need to respect others’ boundaries when it comes to sharing information about our own test scores and keep in mind that the SAT is not, nor will it ever be, anything close to indicative of personal intelligence, success, or value.