Celebrities' SAT Scores Revealed Amid Controversy Over Regrading (Ke$ha 1500, Al Gore 1355)

[big_dog]

As controversy grows over the regrading of SAT examinations, thousands of people have shared their own scores on social networks to put future generations at ease. Well-known figures have been conspicuously quiet about their results, however, but with the likes of Ke$ha, James Woods and Natalie Portman reportedly getting close to a perfect 1600, perhaps they felt they'd only add pressure rather than ease it. Famous faces with far lower SAT scores include Bill Cosby, who got a score lower than 500, Sopranos actress Drea De Matteo, believed to have scored around 800, and even former US President Bill Clinton, whose 1020 puts him a few hundred points below successor George W Bush.

Scarlett Johansson admitted to 'feeling like a big dummy' when she confirmed her score of 1080, but that result actually puts her above the US average. With rumoured scores of 1579, 1500 and 1150, actor James Woods, singer Ke$ha and actress Courtney Cox would also be placed far above average.


As you'd probably expect, Microsoft co-founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen got sky-high 1590 and a perfect 1600 respectively, with Apple's Steve Wozniak also scoring a perfect 800 on the maths section of the examination. Will Smith and James Franco have both admitted getting 'very high' SAT scores in the past but neither has revealed the exact number, while the New York Times has previously reported that actor Ben Affleck 'had near perfect SAT scores in high school'.

Meanwhile talk show host Rush Limbaugh, political commentator Bill O'Reilly and actor and economist Ben Stein picked up near-perfect scores of 1530, 1585 and 1573 respectively. It's not just conservatives with high scores though: Al Gore kept the tally high for the Democrat camp with a score of 1355. Not all celebrities fared brilliantly however, with presenter Howard Stern rumoured to have picked up a low 870, and baseball star Alex Rodriguez reaching just 910.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2575467/Did-better-Scarlet-Johansson-Natalie-Portman-Bill-Clinton-Celebrities-SAT-scores-revealed-amid-controversy-regrading.html#ixzz2vIwPdLnk

[yeoman6987]

1. Anything over 800 was considered good back in the day.

I would imagine that actors would do really well on SATs. There memorization skills and abilities to analyze help greatly.

[big_dog]

2. who would have thunk it

[NightWatcher]

7. Smart people sell stupid to the even stupider people

You've got to dumb it down for mass consumption.

[HERVEPA]

3. 800 was never a good score for verbal and math combined.

And I believe article is a bunch of crap.

[Drunken Irishman]

4. The fact Bush has a higher SAT score than Bill Clinton is proof the test is flawed.

[struggle4progress]

19. SAT scores aren't public record so mebbe all the numbers are BS

It's an article from the Daily Mail

[DURHAM D]

20. I think it is BS.

Also, I am close in age to Clinton and from a neighboring state and I never took the SAT. We took the ACT.

[struggle4progress]

21. IIRC Georgetown currently accepts either

[AngryAmish]

28. Back in the day you needed SAT for east coast schools

.

[struggle4progress]

30. That could be. Anyway, it's unlikely Clinton -- who was a National Merit Semifinalist

and near the top of his high school class, graduated Georgetown Phi Beta Kappa, then went immediately to Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship -- had an SAT score as low as the Daily Mail claimed, if he actually took the SAT

There's no way to check the Mail's claim, since SAT scores are not released to the general public

But Georgetown has always been a selective university and it's currently almost impossible to gain admission without an SAT score above 1300

[AngryAmish]

32. There has always been some leeway, especially if you know someone with pull

Didn't Clinton know Senator Fullbright?

Btw, isn't the fact that Clinton became President pretty good sign he was worthy?

IQ ain't everything. Big Dog is pretty good with people, no? The game of human chess as Gordon Solie used to say?

[struggle4progress]

36. ... Bill Clinton loved to talk and loved to ask questions and I think he was unrelenting

n that way, and I think, campaigning is a very difficult chore. And I often campaigned with Senator Fulbright. And I know that frequently riding in the car or on the plane he just liked to sort of kick back and rest and prepare for the next stop. But instead he was being subjected to this barrage of questions and conversation form Clinton and it was all well meaning and I think Senator Fulbright understood that perfectly, but he also let it be known to others of us on the staff that he would prefer to have someone who was a little less eager than Bill Clinton.

And one of the famous stories of that time was they were driving somewhere in Southwest Arkansas and they had a new car that was being used for the campaign and Clinton was so much into the conversation and so eager, and so happy to be with Senator Fulbright that they turned on the air conditioning but they had the vents closed off in a way so that they basically were fogging up the car from the inside and neither of them understood the way, what needed to be done to properly ventilate the car so that the air conditioning didn't fog up the windows from the inside. And I think at one point they actually had to stop and call and say there was something wrong with the car, when in fact the only thing that was wrong with the car was that they were not running the air conditioning properly. You know there are other things. Although Senator Fulbright was not the greatest driver himself, I think he found that with Clinton who became so wrapped up in the conversations during these campaign drives that he frequently was waving his arms and gesticulating and telling stories and so caught up in things that it made Senator Fulbright very nervous having this young man as his driver. So after a relatively short time it was agreed by all parties, except perhaps for Bill Clinton, it would be better not to have him drive the Senator on a regular basis. At least on any lengthy trips during the campaign ...

Hoyt Purvis, Former staffer for Senator William Fulbright

[Hippo_Tron]

45. National merit semifinalists are picked by state...

You have to score in some top percentage (not sure exactly what it is) of your state. That threshold for Arkansas and other southern states is considerably lower than it is for say Connecticut or Massachusetts. 1020 probably wouldn't make you a National Merit semifinalist in Arkansas today, but I wouldn't be shocked if it did in the 1960's when Clinton was taking it.

[surrealAmerican]

51. ... but that's based on PSAT scores, not SAT scores.

It's possible, I guess, that he did very well on the PSAT, and not as well on the SAT.

[Hippo_Tron]

56. I mean that he got whatever the equivalent of a 1020 is on the PSAT...

It's highly unlikely that he did substantially better on the PSAT than the SAT, it's basically the same test.

[kelliekat44]

49. And maybe some folks were able to cheat...? You know, that privilege thingy? nt

[pnwmom]

37. Or maybe one or both was fudging the scores. n/t

[Politicalboi]

5. I find it hard to believe

Stein, O'Really and Limpballs got a score that high.

[Zorra]

22. According to his mother, Limbaugh "flunked everything" and dropped out of Southeast Missouri State

University after two semesters and a summer.

As per this wikipedia entry:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rush_Limbaugh#Early_life

Color me skeptical.

[former9thward]

27. A lot of successful people drop out of college.

They don't like the regiment of it. See Bill Gates and Steve Jobs.

[Zorra]

31. I know, but they don't publicly lie every day as a profession. nt

[Hassin Bin Sober]

34. But most don't go on to become kiddie diddling hardcore junkies like Rush either.

[Hippo_Tron]

42. I don't find it hard to believe at all, I know plenty of people who score very high on the SAT...

And then did so-so in college.

[bullwinkle428]

6. I know I scored around 1180, which was very disappointing to me

as I knew damn well it was nothing close to "great".

[1000words]

8. I scored 100 points higher than Clinton!

What the heck happened? What have I done with my life?

[LittleBlue]

9. The idea of Ke$ha being a genius...

[KamaAina]

10. James Woods beat me by 9 points

so much for my dream of having a high school named after me in Quahog, R.I.

[bigbrother05]

11. Re: Clinton vs Bush - think the school environment had an impact

Clinton went to public schools in Arkansas while W attended private prep schools. Suspect the prep schools recognized the importance of getting good SAT scores to compete for Ivy admission, similar would be true for Gore who had similar advantages to W.

My scores were 1300+ while attending public school in OK. Most kids in that area took the ACT for admission to state schools. I took the SAT once in Jr year to qualify for early admission to Rice (admitted, but chose U of Ok) and did no special prep. The emphasis on these tests in '69/'70 weren't near what they are today, but did well enough to get a Nat'l Merit Scholarship and earn Presidential Scholar recognition without significant additional effort or stress. Really feel for the kids nowadays (says the old fart).

[Chan790]

12. This.

The dumbest kid in my Prep school class, someone who would later be diagnosed as an adult with a learning disability, scored over 1000. He didn't even graduate HS because he was an F student.

My 1300 isn't terrible...but the fact that I aced the verbal, means my math skills are.

[struggle4progress]

13. I doubt Clinton's SAT score was that low: he graduated near the top of his high school class, then

went to the highly selective Georgetown University in DC, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and earned a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford

He was a National Merit Semifinalist in high school, which would put him in about the top 1% of PSAT scores

[npk]

14. I am sorry I have to call bullshit.

First of all anyone could say they scored high on the SAT. The fact is there is no way to verify this. I am not saying that all these celebrities and influential people are necessarily lying, but understand Rush Limbaugh is an ego maniac. Of course he would say he scored a near perfect score.

[bemildred]

15. Oy. Can't we argue about guns or something? nt

[cali]

16. guns sound good.

yep, anything is better than this.

[In_The_Wind]

23. +1

[Vashta Nerada]

17. Ke$ha got a 1500???

Seriously?

[Orangepeel]

33. She's in her 20s. Maybe she took the SAT with three parts and that's out of 2400

Ke$ha doesn't give the impression of being book smart, but she's good at making a buck.

[jmowreader]

18. Some people take standardized tests very well

[lpbk2713]

24. Cheech Marin did real well on Jeopardy.

As did the guy who played Lennie on Laverne and Shirley.

And Danica McKellor (Winnie) is a math geek.

I wonder what their scores were?

[BainsBane]

25. Some colleges have stopped considering SAT results

in admission because they provide no ability to indicate how a student will actually perform in college. None.

[tularetom]

26. I'm not sure what it proves

I just fished my scores out of a box full of old papers. I got 698 verbal and 715 math and I can remember my sister being pissed because my scores were significantly higher than hers although she had been her class valedictorian and I was pretty much a "C" student.

This was 1959, however, and there wasn't near as much to know about as there is now.

[AngryAmish]

29. For all intents and purposes the SAT is an IQ test.

The old name is Scholastic Aptitude Test. It does not measure how hard a person is willing to work. Also, some high IQ, high SAT people do poorly in school. But it works pretty well in populations, ie when you want to measure IQs for a freshman class.

[Hippo_Tron]

41. It's not called the Scholastic Aptitude Test anymore because it doesn't test aptitude

If it did, Princeton Review and Kaplan would be out of business. The SAT tests how well you take the SAT and that's something that's teachable. Like anything, some kids are naturally better at it than others, but those who aren't can drastically improve their scores if they're willing to put in the work and their parents have the means to enroll them in the prep classes.

[AngryAmish]

66. Every psychometric test is learnable.

That is clear in the literature.

The hard thing about it is the higher the iq the faster you can learn the test. This is why especially on the high end the Flynn Effect keeps screwing iq tests.

[etherealtruth]

35. I must be the only person that took the ACT and not the SAT

[ScreamingMeemie]

39. No, I went to high school in Michigan and took the ACT instead of the SAT.

In the 80s, the SAT wasn't offered through my high school (Chippewa Valley) because the state schools took your ACT scores, not SAT scores--it depended on the college then).

My daughter scored a 32 on the ACT when she took it. I'm still blown away by that. Me? A pitiful 19.

[etherealtruth]

43. I took the ACT in 1980 :-)

I did well ... but I have a talent for taking standardized tests ... one quickly realizes there is no market for standardized test takers

[ScreamingMeemie]

44. I am a "Oh my Dog, what if I forget my number 2 pencil, crap I skipped a question on the Scan-tron

and have to erase all of these" mess when it comes to standardized tests. My daughter hasn't turned her high score into that much either. I still don't think the SAT is as popular as the ACT in the North/MidWest.

[etherealtruth]

48. I think the "coasts" prefer the SAT

My daughter (graduated two years ago from a michigan High School)) took the SAT, but she had originally had her heart set on the University of Chicago ... when she was "wait-listed" by them, she decided to go to Michigan State (and put an end to college admission stress)

[Hippo_Tron]

38. The SAT is total bullshit to begin with, it's a test that tests how well you take the test

[ScreamingMeemie]

40. "As you'd probably expect, Microsoft co-founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen got sky-high 1590 and..."

I don't expect that. Some people do not test well while others are not bothered by testing situations. I have always freaked out during testing situations...even today. I scored a 19 on the ACT and did not take the SAT. I was a 4.0 student. No, I don't expect that at all.

[bigwillq]

52. I tested poorly.

I don't think SATs or other tests of its kind are a true barometer of one's intelligence.

Or maybe I just say that to make myself feel better!

[ScreamingMeemie]

54. You and I are enough of a sampling for me to declare shenanigans on standardized

tests.

[bigwillq]

57. I'm sure folks here would disagree.

BWAH!

I love how you used the word "shenanigans".

Love that word. I say it all the time!

[ScreamingMeemie]

58. I love it too! It drives my son nuts.

[bigwillq]

59. Why?

It's a great word.

Kids these days....

[ScreamingMeemie]

60. Because I declare shenanigans on half the stuff he does with his friends

these days.

[bigwillq]

61. Oh, you're THAT Mom?

[ScreamingMeemie]

62. I am.

I do this:

BabyG: "Hey mom, D's picking me up and we're going to run out and get an ice cream and talk..."
Mom: "It's a school night..."
BabyG: "I'll be right back..."
Mom: "Sooooooo... if I were to drive by the DQ I would totally see D's car out front, right?"

Shenanigans!

[bigwillq]

63. OMG! You are THAT Mom!

LOL


Have a little more trust in the kid. lol


What I would do is ask them to bring you back an ice cream cone. Even if they lie and go somewhere else, at least you get ice cream out of it!

[ScreamingMeemie]

64. Hehehehe...

In my defense, I don't actually helicopter by the DQ. I just make him think there's a possibility I might.
He's pretty good about the rules. I let him have his "space" on Instagram/Twitter/Whatever the going Internet social trend is, as long as he doesn't give me a reason to worry. I just like declaring "shenanigans" to annoy him.

[bigwillq]

65. Ah..good one.

Yes, always keep him guessing!

Keep declaring shenanigans!

[displacedtexan]

46. Raise your hand if you believe GW took that test, himself.

Back when he was floating through school, IDs didn't all have pictures. Even if one was required, his daddy certainly knew the right people to make such documents suddenly appear for a stand-in test taker. The SAT was taken in large citywide auditorium settings, where most people didn't know who you were. I'll never believe he took that test or did any school work that could be bought without getting caught. Do you?

[kelliekat44]

47. Just goes to show that SAT scores don't mean much. nt

[Kurska]

50. I got a 750 verbal 520 Math

Math has never been my strong point.

I never even used it though. I went to a community college my first two years. Hardly matters considering I got into the best Master's program in my field in the country.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

53. My exam was lost, I have no idea what I scored

And it has come up precisely never since then, at the time I was accused of having left the exam with the test. I was supposed to retake it but never bothered since I had already been accepted to several schools.

[Squinch]

55. This is self reported? I don't believe O'Reilly or Limbaugh for a second.