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Comment by MereInterest | Hacker News Reader

Especially because the entire purported schtick of the SAT is to measure aptitude (the "A" in the acronym). In principle, if the SAT is true to its name, getting a study book shouldn't help at all. But since study guides or repeated testing does improve the score, it can't be a true measurement of aptitude.

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It changed its name from the Scholastic Aptitude Test in 1990. (Over time they’ve also eliminated some of the sections most correlated with IQ.)

There’s a good history of the SAT and where it succeeded and failed in its goal of making college admissions more fair, The Big Test by Nicholas Lehmann.

What were the sections removed that were more correlated with IQ?

I don't think they meant aptitude in the strictest sense. You ability to learn and apply ideas is an aptitude in and of itself. That is something studying is a part of demonstrating, and the the type of aptitude these tests, I believe, are intended to measure.

You know what's a good way to test for scholastic aptitude?

Try studying, and see if helps you learn. Studying to increase score on a test is scholastic aptitude.

If studying fails to raise your score, you lack scholastic aptitude.

I would think, personally, that if studying were an important part of scholarship, I said if it was, just hypothetically, then studying for the test of scholastic aptitude would itself demonstrate aptitude for scholarship.

SAT must agree, since they changed the test to be much more amenable to study. That must be the reason why right.

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