The inequalities of the SAT

Yash Sharma, Section Editor

Many juniors are worrying about their SAT in order to reach their designated university. But many juniors and seniors are concerned with their SAT scores due to it being unfair to people in lower-income families and backgrounds other than Asian-Americans. Even with this controversial debate which impacts students’ admissions heavily, the UC faculty task force recommended that the university continue the SAT, but will develop its own test. 

People with lower backgrounds economically can’t afford help for the SAT, and it’s very hard to compete with others who have the right guidance. “My more affluent friends were able to afford private tutoring that had costs ranging from $2,500 to $5,000 a month,” senior Kawika Smith from Los Angeles said, adding that he will instead apply to schools out of state that don’t require the admissions tests. If it’s not economically well for low-income students then it will most definitely have social biases in the community because there’s a clear connection between a student’s SAT score and their parents’ yearly salary. All the SAT  measures is how well you master the SAT; it most definitely does not reveal who you are as a student and college applicant

With UC’s being publicized across the country, competition has greatly increased within the last twenty years. According to SupertutorTV, the number of people applying to UC’s has gone up, and the number of spots available at UC’s has not gone up. This means that admission rates are decreasing making competition more intense. With competition increasing, students are most definitely trying to get good scores on their SATs but it’s hard because of the inequalities we have in our education system. With this increasing competition, Asian-Americans have tended to do better on the SAT, which creates racial inequalities in our education system.

Even with this solved debate of SAT’s eligibility in many schools, students at our school are having free opportunities with SAT Prep classes, which can increase students’ test scores and also give some students at our school a chance to compete with the nation for spots at competitive colleges. “I think the PSAT prep classes themselves are a good thing, and a step in the right direction. And I think that it’d be great if we had more of them,” SAT Prep teacher Steve Davis said. Even with all of these inequalities, students can take advantage of these classes and learn to master the skills of the SAT. Even with UC’s continuing the SAT we should still consider the inequalities of the test, but still take advantage of the content since our decision isn’t superior to the SAT’s.