# Standardized Testing **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 13, 2003, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/standardized-testing/148302 "2003-01-13T15:21:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Stccrd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Stccrd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stccrd)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2003, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/standardized-testing/148302/1 "2003-01-13T15:21:19Z")
What were your scores? I’ll start. The first time I took the ACT, i got a 29. I took it again and got a 30. Never took the SAT. Woohoo. ---
**Author:** ![Loneraven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c0e974/32.png) [@Loneraven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loneraven)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2003, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/standardized-testing/148302/2 "2003-01-13T16:14:05Z")
Never done a standard test in my life, and proud of it. ---
**Author:** ![monica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a183cd/32.png) [@monica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monica)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2003, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/standardized-testing/148302/3 "2003-01-13T23:08:22Z")
Well, in Virginia we have to take the SOLs (Standards of Learing tests. I will spare you from a rant about how terrible these tests are. I normally get an advanced score (3 or fewer questions missed, I believe) or at least proficient. On the last PSATs I took, I got a 204 (which is apparently pretty damn good). ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/standardized-testing/148302/4 "2003-01-14T02:32:52Z")
570 math, 670 verbal SAT’s. ---
**Author:** ![JessEnigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/cdc98d/32.png) [@JessEnigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JessEnigma)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/standardized-testing/148302/5 "2003-01-14T02:45:23Z")
I got a 33 both times I took the ACT. Last time I took the SAT, I got a 1500, but I got a 1310 the first time. This all would be terribly more impressive to me if there weren’t several people in my high school who scored better. Darn them. ---
**Author:** ![scablet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@scablet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scablet)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/standardized-testing/148302/6 "2003-01-14T02:50:09Z")
1300 SAT’S - 750 verbal, 550 math. sigh. ---
**Author:** ![AwSnappity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a3d4f5/32.png) [@AwSnappity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AwSnappity)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/standardized-testing/148302/7 "2003-01-14T03:05:14Z")
I got a 32 on the ACT. Perfect score on science–whoo! It’s that darn reading section that always gets me, though. My PSAT and SAT are quite low, and I’m embarrassed of them, so I won’t post them. Although, to my credit, I was sick to my stomach on PSAT day and I would have gone home if I wasn’t required to stay at school that day. ---
**Author:** ![sleeping](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@sleeping](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleeping)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/standardized-testing/148302/8 "2003-01-14T03:11:35Z")
PSAT: 68 verbal, 80 math, 80 writing ---
**Author:** ![DaddyTimesTwo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@DaddyTimesTwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaddyTimesTwo)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/standardized-testing/148302/9 "2003-01-14T03:14:09Z")
ACT one time - 30. Never took the SAT. Took the GRE and scored much higher on the verbal side than on the quantitive/analytical part. And I have a math degree. :rolleyes: Oops. Needless to say I never made it to grad school. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/standardized-testing/148302/10 "2003-01-14T05:22:13Z")
SAT: 800 verbal, 770 math. ---
**Author:** ![LordVor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/90ced4/32.png) [@LordVor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LordVor)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/standardized-testing/148302/11 "2003-01-14T05:51:18Z")
ACT one time, hungover, on 4 hours sleep: 30 -lv ---
**Author:** ![Super\_Gnat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Super\_Gnat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Super_Gnat)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/standardized-testing/148302/12 "2003-01-14T06:25:52Z")
SAT, highest scores (on different testing occasions) were 800 verbal, 700 math. The highest combined score I got on any one occasion was 1480. PSAT, 80 verbal, 77 math, 70 writing (I think.) I never took the ACT. ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/standardized-testing/148302/13 "2003-01-14T07:17:46Z")
ACT - 32, 32, 34 SAT - 800 Math / 750 Verbal SAT II Math IIC - 800 SAT II Reading - 780 SAT II Chemistry - 550 GRE - 800 Q / 800 A / 680 V GRE Physics - 86th% GRE Math - 98th% All scores approximate. I’m very bad about keeping records. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/standardized-testing/148302/14 "2003-01-14T07:24:36Z")
[hijack] I used to teach an SAT prep class for The Princeton Review. We took the approach that the SAT is not a good measure of intelligence or even future performance in college. Our reasoning? Hey, if we can teach someone a few simple techniques that will raise their score 100 points or more, then it can’t be a good measure of “scholastic aptitude” (now “scholastic achievement”). Some of my students who started with low scores improved by over 400 points! Just from a six-week class, two nights a week. After teaching the class a few times, I could regularly take the SAT and get a 1600. Because I knew how to take the test, not because I was so much better at math or reading comprehension. FYI, the SAT scoring standards were “re-centered” back around 1994 or 1995. Basically, the average SAT score over the years had dropped from roughly 1000 (500 verbal and 500 math) to about 900 (420 verbal and 480 math). So a new scoring standard was adopted so that what used to be a score of 900 would now be a score of 1000. Pretty much like a 100 point curve. Kinda pointless, really, because all the colleges knew about it and adjusted their admission criteria accordingly. A score of 1300 in recent years is comparable to a 1200 score before the “re-centering.” (It’s a bit more complicated than that–verbal scores are curved more than math, higher initial scores receive fewer than 100 points). This new grading scale took place when I was in college, and I actually saw in my records that my SAT score (which I took years before the re-centering) had been adjusted in my records to reflect the new scale. That said, the SAT test itself is significantly different now than it was 10-15 years ago, making it difficult to compare scores between now and then. [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![censored](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/35a633/32.png) [@censored](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/censored)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/standardized-testing/148302/15 "2003-01-14T08:21:25Z")
800 verbal/630 math Then there’s the SAT2s, which are a whole other can of worms. ---
**Author:** ![Banger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@Banger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banger)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/standardized-testing/148302/16 "2003-01-14T08:37:05Z")
Wow, I’m on the low end here 😉 SAT: 1390 (730 math, 660 verbal) LSAT: 163 GMAT: I’m taking it soon; I’ll let you know how it turns out 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/standardized-testing/148302/17 "2003-01-14T11:23:21Z")
800 Math 800 Verbal Unfortunately, I’m an Australian so I rarely ever get a chance to brag about my scores. ---
**Author:** ![pendgwen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3da27b/32.png) [@pendgwen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pendgwen)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/standardized-testing/148302/18 "2003-01-14T16:50:25Z")
SAT - 1510 I think these kind of “aptitude” testst are BS. They don’t test intelligence they just test for certion ways of thinking. Since they happen to be designed perfectly for the way I think, I get high scores on them. The MCAT (medical college admissions test) on the other hand, actually tests knowledge althought there is a verbal reasoning section that’s mostly the same kind of stuff as you’ll find on the verbal section of any aptitude test. Not surprisingly, that’s the section I did best on. MCAT biological sciences - 9 MCAT physical sciences - 10 MCAT verbal reasoning - 13-15 ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/standardized-testing/148302/19 "2003-01-14T18:15:50Z")
Where do so many people get the impression that standardized aptitude tests are _meant_ to test for intelligence? Do you complain that driving tests are not a good measure of intelligence too? ---
**Author:** ![pendgwen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3da27b/32.png) [@pendgwen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pendgwen)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/standardized-testing/148302/20 "2003-01-14T19:31:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Achernar \* > \*\*Where do so many people get the impression that standardized aptitude tests are _meant_ to test for intelligence? Do you complain that driving tests are not a good measure of intelligence too? \*\* Allow me to restate: I think these kinds of aptitude tests are useless because I feel that they don’t meaningfully test anything other than test-taking aptitude. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/standardized-testing/148302.md?page=2)