Georgia 2013 COLLEGE-BOUND SENIORS SAT SCORES

[Igel]

5. They are, however, correlated with academic success in college.

They reflect preparation.

Low scores reflect lesser vocabulary, lower reading abilities, and weaker math skills. When you're put into a calculus class you don't have time to worry about your pre-cal. So you don't take calculus, and go into remedial math. Which drags things out and is more expensive.

But not only does it reflect prior achievement, but prior achievement reflects both study skills and test-taking skills. And if lack of background knowledge can be a problem, lack of study and testing skills is often fatal.