1

A Measurement of
Wealth, not
Knowledge
A REPORT ON HOW ANNUAL FAMILY INCOME
AFFECTS SAT SCORES
GERALD HENDRIX

1 INTRODUCTION
The SAT is a controversial test due to the fact that it is organized by a private
business and that it tests critical comprehension skills not typically taught by the
average classroom quiz. I chose to relate the annual family income of test takers
and their scores on the different sections of the test to show that getting a good
grade on the SAT can essentially be bought for children who belong to more
affluent families. Since the SAT is an assessment that is very different from the
traditional classroom test, different businesses make their money preparing
students to do better on the test, for a fee of course. The data collected by the
College Board about different demographics who took the SAT could be looked at
students who are stuck between either taking the SAT or the ACT, as well as people
who write the test and principals who can create programs to help students prepare
better for the SAT.

2 THE PROBLEM
When the SAT test first appeared on students desks in 1926, the acronym
stood for Scholastic Aptitude Test, aptitude meaning it was designed to
measure a certain skill. Its overall design was based off of the IQ test, and was
meant to identify talented students who came from underprivileged
backgrounds and not necessarily to measure what a student had learned in
school. (3) Now, nearly 90 years later, the SAT keeps its name, however the
acronym is empty. The modern SAT now supposedly assesses everything that a
student has learned in school and outside of school, as well as determining how
a particular student will do in college. However, psychologist Claude Steel

pointed out that the test has been found to measure only about 18 percent of
the things that it takes to do well in school, and thus is not a very good predictor
of how a student will do in college. (3) The SAT is also controversial in how it
seems to favor children born to well off families. The SAT is written by the
College Board, a non-profit organization that has been capitalizing off of its
tests. It does not resemble a typical high school test, and has created an entire
industry of companies that claim will help you prepare for the test at a hefty fee.
Many families who are more affluent can afford to put their children through
these additional classes, but what happens to the families who cant afford
them? The scatterplot on the next page shows a trend which seems to favor the
more well-endowed kids over those who are not so fortunate.

T
H
E

DATA
The above scatterplot shows the relationship and correlation between the
annual income of a test takers family (x-axis) and the average SAT score per
section (y-axis). As shown, the average score goes up as the family income
increases, showing that kids who belong to more affluent families tend to better
than a family that does not make as much per year. Each section of the SAT has a
different regression equation due to the fact that all three have different
correlations of data. (College Board) Despite all three having different equations,
they share the same parent function of

y=ln ( x ) , which creates a curve that

starts off at a steep slope but slowly rounds out. The slope of the regression lines
can show an approximation of the average SAT score for people who make between
two points on the graph to help them estimate their possible score on the SAT. The
average

value for all three equations is .993, which means that the equations

are collectively 99.3% accurate in calculating the data points found on the graph.

According to the three different regression equations of: reading

comprehension

y=46.838 ln ( x ) +294.63 , math

y=42.581 ln ( x ) +328.93 , and writing

y=45.865 ln ( x ) +288.27 , we can find the approximate SAT score of a student whose
family makes approximately $75,000 a year what he can expect to make on the
SAT. Plugging in 75 for x, the three different equations would look like:

y=45.865 ln (75 )+ 294.63 ,

y=42.581 ln ( 75 ) +328.93 , and

y=45.865 ln (75 )+ 288.27 .

Simplifying these equations, the student could expect to make approximately a 493
on reading, a 513 on math, and a 486 on writing, adding up to a 1492 total score.
This could be beneficial for the student, knowing this information could help him
decide on whether he should sign up for a prep class, whether private or through
school, all depending on what his respective goals are.

4 ANALYSIS
As shown in the scatterplot, family wealth does affect how a student will do on
the SAT. As with most real-world situations, we can expect there to be many
exceptions on behalf of the trend line, for example even though Sallys family
makes $30,000 a year she could still receive a high score, such as an 1800 or even
a 2100. We could also expect the same occurrence on the opposite end, such as a
teenager whose parents make close to $200,000 a year to score fairly low, such as
a 1200-1300. However, what the trend line shows is the average score that
students whose family makes x amount of dollars per year will get on the SAT. So
even though Sally gets a 1920 on her SAT, someone else who makes roughly as

much as her will receive an equally low score to bring the average to back around
the trend line.
There are not many occupations which this data could be useful to, but there
are still a few. For example, a test writer for the College Board working on the SAT
could design some questions more suited to children of a lower income to make the
test a bit easier for them. Also, a demographer working for the College Board can
look at this information and identify which kids will likely need help for the next
years SAT. A company, such as the Princeton Review, could look at these statistics
and modify their program to be more helpful or affordable for families whose kids
need to prepare for the SAT. Finally, high school principals could use this information
to better prepare their students who may be at risk for not being successful at the
SAT.

5 CONCLUSION
The relationship between the amounts of money families make versus their
SAT scores is strangely constant and obviously apparent according to this
information gathered by the College Board. This relationship shows that more
wealthy students are either more prepared or just generally do better on the SATs
than students who are not so well off. The conclusion that can be drawn from this is
that the SAT is a pay-to-succeed test and that a test designed by a company that is
for profit should not be given a monopoly in deciding the tier of college students get
accepted into, and that perhaps the government should step up and take education
more seriously instead of leaving it to the corporate private sector.

6 WORKS CITED
1. Goldfarb, Zachary A. "These Four Charts Show How the SAT Favors Rich,
Educated Families." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 5 Mar. 2014.
Web. 09 Sept. 2014.
2. Total Group Profile Report. College Board. Web. 09 Sept. 2014.
3. "What Does the SAT Really Measure?" Frontline. PBS. Web. 13 Sept. 2014.
4. Asiedu, Duncan. "The Validity of the College Board's Non-Profit Status." Web
log post. EdLab. Columbia University, 10 July 2010. Web. 13 Sept. 2014.