As a professor at a large American university, there is a phrase that I hear often from students: "I’m only a 1050. "The unlucky students are speaking of the score on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), which is used to determine whether they will be admitted to the college or university of their choice, or even have a chance to get a higher education at all. The SAT score, whether it is 800, 1100 or 1550, has become the focus at this time of their life.
It is obvious that if students value highly their test scores, then a great amount of their serf-respect is put in the number. Students who perform poorly on the exam are left feeling that it is all over. The low test score, they think, will make it impossible for them to get into a good college. And without a degree from a prestigious university, they fear that many of life’s doors will remain forever closed.
According to a study done in the 1990s, the SAT is only a reliable indicator of a student’s future performance in most cases. Interestingly, it becomes much more accurate when it is set together with other indicators—like a student’s high school grades. Even if standardized tests like the SAT can show a student’s academic proficiency, they will never be able to test things like confidence, efforts and willpower, and are unable to give us the full picture of a student’s potentialities (潜力). This is not to suggest that we should stop using SAT scores in our college admission process. The SAT is an excellent test in many ways, and the score is still a useful means of testing students. However, it should be only one of many methods used.