SAT's writing exam a good gauge of college success, studies say Wednesday, June 18, 2008 • BY JOHN MOONEY • Star-Ledger Staff Since the SAT added a writing section three years ago, much has been made of the additional 45 minutes that came with it, extending the grueling college entrance exam to nearly four hours. "It's a really long test now, a marathon test," said Brett Levine, the guidance director at Madison High School who witnessed his 200-plus students take the SAT earlier this month. "I'm no scientist about testing, but these kids are really, really drained." Now a pair of studies, one national and another in New Jersey, have weighed in on the new test for the first time and suggested the extra testing may indeed prove helpful in predicting how kids will do in college. The College Board, which oversees the SAT, analyzed scores against the students' grade-point averages as college freshmen. In the report released yesterday, the board said the SAT remained a strong predictor of college success, especially the new writing section. "Colleges not requiring an admissions test with writing are overlooking one of the best predictors of college success to which they have access," said Gaston Caperton, the board's president. In New Jersey, Rutgers University did its own internal study as well, analyzing the scores and grades of 12,000 freshmen over the last two years and also finding the SAT's writing section as the strongest predictor. The other two sections are math and critical reading. Rutgers' top admissions official said yesterday that after two years of gauging the new writing section, the state's largest university will begin to factor its scores into admissions decisions next year. "We were all skeptics, and that's why we looked at it ourselves," said Courtney McAnuff, Rutgers' vice president for enrollment management. "We've seen the validity." The studies -- especially one coming from the sponsor of the test -- are hardly expected to quell the longtime debates over the value of SAT, both before and after the revisions. The new writing section came in 2005 after mounting pressure from colleges and universities contending the SAT and its exhaustive fill-in-the-bubble format were an inadequate measure of student achievement and future performance. Taken by more than 70,000 New Jersey students each year, the new SAT still measures students on a scale of 800 for each of the three sections, now making 2,400 a perfect score. Longtime critics contend there are inherent racial and class biases and other flaws in the exam that the revisions did little to erase. Some yesterday said the College Board's latest report was only intended to bolster its test against mounting criticism -- not to mention kids turning to alternatives like the writing-optional ACT exam. "It's pretty transparent why they were doing the study," said Scott White, guidance director at Montclair High School who led an unsuccessful campaign to break up the new test. "They are trying to sell a test that hasn't been gaining any traction." Others on the front line of the admissions process said they are still weighing the changes to the SAT, but the College Board's latest study should help its case with colleges that were on the fence. Summit High School's guidance director, John Schnedeker, said he's noticed more colleges starting to weigh the writing scores the same as those in reading and math, although they are still in the minority. "My guess is the writing will come into greater use," he said. "It will still be an open question in the next few years ... and a lot will depend on the more selective colleges and what they do. But my prediction is there will be more and more saying that the writing counts." In 2005, Drew University was one of the latest colleges to pull back from the test's hold on the admission process, making the SAT and other standardized test scores optional for applicants. Yesterday, Drew President Robert Weisbuch said the decision has benefited his school by widening the applicant pool, but added that he doesn't discount the value of the SAT altogether. "Our experience is the SATs are a moderate predictor of success; there are some better and some worse," said. "But it is an absolute disaster to give them enormous weight. ... The truth is it really takes time to understand a student's potential." John Mooney may be reached at jmooney@starledger.com or (973)392-1548. © 2008 The Star-Ledger. Used by NJ.com with permission.