Standardized tests are great for the Ivy League, but they’re completely useless at predicting who will succeed at a regular public university.
Recent headlines suggested elite colleges are returning to the SAT because it's a better predictor than high school grades. This study finds the opposite is true for the vast majority of students: at large public systems, high school GPA is up to six times more predictive of graduation than test scores.
Standardized Test Scores and Academic Performance at a Public University System
SSRN · 6456961
Recent studies of Ivy-Plus institutions suggest that standardized test scores (SAT/ACT) are far better predictors of college success than high school grade point average (HS-GPA), prompting a return to the requirement that test scores be submitted for admission at elite colleges. We ask whether re-establishing the SAT requirement for admission at a large urban public university system would improve the predictability of academic outcomes. Using administrative data for the 2010-2019 first-year co