Basically, the test is a fast-paced game that stresses speed and strategic
guessing. (Unfortunately, it’s used to predict success in college, which does not
necessarily depend on speed or strategic guessing.) This type of test favors the
way archetypal American boys behave.
Gender Bias
On average, girls scored about 30 points lower on the old SAT than boys did,
with most of the points lost on the Math Test. Although many people argued that
boys are better math students or girls’ grades are inflated, research has shown
that in high school and college, girls get better grades and are more likely to
graduate. The SAT, therefore, has consistently underpredicted the performance
of female students in college. (The main thing the SAT claims to do is predict
college performance.) Partly in response to objections to a perceived gender
bias, in 2005 the College Board added the Writing Test (on which girls tend to
score slightly higher) to the SAT in order to balance out the gender gap on the
Math Test. In the years since, we have seen arguments and counterarguments
about whether the SAT is biased, and it will probably be a long time before we
reach a firm consensus. Unfortunately, you do not have a long time to wait.
Luckily, by reading this book and learning how to take the test, girls can score
higher than boys.
Racial Bias
The following were the average scores (out of a possible 2400) for various racial
and ethnic groups in 2015:
Asian American 1654 (or about 1100 on the new scale)White 1576 (or about 1050)Native American 1423 (or about 950)Mexican American 1343 (or about 900)Puerto Rican 1347 (or about 900)Other Hispanic 1345 (or about 900)African American 1277 (or about 850)