Jessica Wynn

For an overwhelmed student, a good prep course, along with its books and apps, provides structure.

It breaks down the exam sections, explains question types, and just teaches basic strategies.

And honestly, just understanding the format of these tests is huge.

Imagine walking into the SAT without ever seeing what it looks like.

Yeah, exactly.

So prep does serve a purpose.

The problem is they're also teaching to the test.

They're not necessarily making you smarter or better educated.

They're making you better at taking this specific test.

Yeah, sure.

I mean, but here's where it gets messy.

The SAT is supposed to be this objective measure of academic achievement, except study after study shows that high school GPA, regardless of what high school you went to, is actually a better predictor of college success than SAT scores.

Pretty much.

And this is where the bias argument gets complicated.

So some people say the SAT itself is biased.

Others say the test isn't biased, but the system around it is.

Do you remember when they would say, you always say prefer not to answer on the race questions, whatever question you can, because that gives you a better advantage.

It puts you in a different pile than if... And I was always like, really?

That's that?

The official line from the college board is that the test is rigorously reviewed to remove biased questions and that score gaps mostly reflect unequal K through 12 education, not flaws in the test itself.