Use of SAT

* Re “Regents Order Review of Extra Time on SAT Test,” Jan. 20:

Three cheers, finally, for the University of California regents’ new critical view of standardized-test worship as a chief means for determining student admissions. Serving as a librarian in an inner-city branch, I frequently witness young people’s dreams punctured by an SAT exam that had doomed them before they took it. One regular local student not long ago ran into the library, breathless and crying, at what she thought her scores foretold. Since then, I offer students who bring me unopened score results a $10 bill, so I have a chance to explain their implications. By the way, that crying student is now a doctoral candidate at Cornell.

ANTHONY BERNIER

Los Angeles