Students Say Their Success in College Is Not a Question of SAT Scores
First, a little quiz.
A number is divisible by nine if the sum of its digits is divisible by nine. Which of the numbers is divisible by 45?
A) 63,345
B) 72,365
C) 99,999
D) 72,144
E) 98,145
Now let’s test your vocabulary.
The opposite meaning of “Querulous” is:
A) Uncomplaining
B) Disorganized
C) Conventional
D) Faithful
E) Timid
Now let’s ask an easy question:
The Scholastic Aptitude Test can be:
A) Intimidating
B) Confusing
C) Challenging
D) Useless
E) All of the above
Some high-school students and academic advisers would answer: “E, A and E.” Names, numbers, facts and figures. For them, it all blends together after awhile.
And for many student-athletes, the tests are more than just “entrance exams.” They’re often the only hurdle they must clear on the way to a college scholarship.
But the exams are unforgiving. The questions are there in black and white, with only one correct answer. Either you know the answer or you don’t.
The answers aren’t quite as clear when student-athletes begin questioning the difficulty of and the need for the entrance exams.
They wonder if high school classes are challenging enough to prepare them for college. And they challenge the process that determines academic eligibility.
Derek Brown, who set Orange County’s single-season rushing record (2,301 yards) while at Servite, sat out his freshman season at Nebraska because he failed to meet Proposition 48 requirements. Brown is openly critical of the ruling that sidelined him as a freshman.
“I hate it,” he said of Prop. 48. “It’s stupid.”
Brown said he had no problem with the academic requirements, but he objects to paying to take college entrance exams. It costs $16 to take the test.
“The SAT and the ACT are just trying to get your money,” Brown said. “You could be a 4.0 student and you could still get a low score on the test.
“The tests have nothing to do with your schoolwork. I totally dislike them. They should go by how you did in school.”
No matter how hard you study, no matter how high your grade-point average is, you must still score 700 out of a possible 1,600 on the SAT or 15 out of 36 on the American College Test to participate in college athletics as a freshman.
Edison volleyball player Joe McCarthy, who has a 4.25 GPA, plans to take the SAT in May and again next fall.
McCarthy, who’s being recruited by Stanford, wants to take the test twice in hopes that his second score will be higher than his first. He said he’s feeling pressure to score well on the exam because he wants a scholarship to a good university.
McCarthy’s not alone. He said his classmates are feeling the pressure, too.
“There are some students who do nothing but study, and they’ll do well,” McCarthy said. “But there are a lot of them who don’t study, and they have all the pressure on them.”
Proposition 48 is nearly 5 years old, but studies have shown that the academic requirements, particularly entrance exams, are insignificant to predicting academic success of student-athletes.
Alison Cone, athletic-academic coordinator at Cal State Fullerton, co-authored a master’s thesis two years ago on graduation rates of college students.
Her research, which focused on Titan athletes, revealed that a student-athlete’s SAT score had little, if any, impact on college success.
“It doesn’t matter if you score 710, 910 or 560 on the test,” Cone said. “The exams don’t predict academic success.
“Other studies have shown that the SAT has cultural biases. And before Proposition 48, we graduated several students with 440 SAT scores. The SAT doesn’t test motivation.”
Some high school and college students say the tests are irrelevant. They say high schools aren’t preparing them for college, regardless of whether they score well on their entrance exams.
Nebraska linebacker Mike Petko, a former standout at Servite, is a two-time Big Eight all-academic selection. He has a 3.36 grade-point average in economics.
But in high school, Petko struggled to maintain a 1.9 average at Servite, and transferred to Katella midway through his senior season.
“There were a lot of politics at Servite,” Petko said. “They were going to flunk me in religion, of all things. I had the impression that they were just using me for football. When football season was over, that was it for me. I said that was fine.”
Father Patrick Donovan, Servite’s principal, said the private school “has a very solid academic program.” He said students who graduate from Servite are well-prepared for college.
“We have an emphasis on writing and reading comprehension,” he said. “That flows over to our Advanced Placement programs in English and history.
“During my experience teaching Advanced Placement history, a lot of graduates would come back and thank us not just for getting them (college) credits, but the fact that all this writing and research they did here pays off. There’s more to it than just getting kids into college.”
Donovan said some students struggle with the high school curriculum, but they improve their grades in college.
“There are kids here and there who do poorly for any number of reasons,” he said. “They may not be studying the way they should, or they’re not turning in assignments.
“Remember, in high school we’re more immature. It’s just like work. When we get out on our own, our study habits improve.”
Such was the case with Brown, who failed the SAT three times in high school.
NCAA rules allowed him to enroll at Nebraska, but he couldn’t play football and had to pay his own tuition. He attended classes and worked for a local plumber.
He passed his entrance exam in January, 1990, and rushed for 375 yards and five touchdowns in eight games as a reserve last season. Brown was the Huskers’ starting I-back during spring practice.
“Maturity-wise, the layoff has helped me a lot,” Brown said. “I’ve learned that there’s a lot of responsibility out there.”
McCarthy said honors courses he has taken, including English, history and French, are preparing him for college. But mandatory classes such as health education offer few, if any, challenges, he said.
“The honors classes help you,” he said, “but it’s shaky in all my normal classes. You have a lot of guys in those classes who are just trying to pass, and the teachers aren’t doing anything to help them learn.
“Classes like chemistry, which I’m taking now, will help you in college. But in classes like health, all you do is sit around and watch films.”
Cone said high schools need to improve the core courses.
She said her research showed that high school GPAs and the number of college preparatory, English and math courses students took had the greatest effects on college graduation rates.
“I dislike use of tests like the ACT (American College Test) and SAT at all,” she said. “We try to look at preparation. The students can control that by choosing what classes they take. I think we need more stringent academic requirements in the core courses. We need more concentration on math.”
“I meet with recruits regularly, and many of the students are embarrassed by their SAT scores,” Cone said. “But that won’t decide their success or failure. With kids here, we talk about the future.”
