PREDICTIONS OF FRESHMAN GRADE‐POINT AVERAGE FROM THE REVISED AND RECENTERED SAT® I: REASONING TEST

ABSTRACT The impact of revisions in the content of the SAT® and changes in the score scale on the predictive validity of the SAT were examined. Predictions of freshman grade‐point average (FGPA) for the entering class of 1994 (who had taken the old SAT) were compared with predictions for the class of 1995 (who had taken the new SAT I: Reasoning Test). The 1995 scores were evaluated both on the original SAT Program scale and on the recentered scale introduced that year. The changes in the test content and recentering of the score scale had virtually no impact on predictive validity. Other analyses indicated that the SAT I predicts FGPA about equally well across different ethnic groups. Correlations were slightly higher for higher levels of parental education and family income, and grades were more predictable for students with intended majors in math/science (mathematics, engineering, and biological or physical sciences) than for students with other intended majors. Correlations of the SAT I and the composite of SAT I scores and high school grade‐point average (HSGPA) with FGPA were generally higher for women than for men, although this pattern was reversed at colleges with very high mean SAT I scores. When a single prediction equation was used for all students, men tended to get lower grades than predicted and women got higher grades than predicted. African‐American and Hispanic/Latino men received lower grades than predicted, but women in these groups performed as predicted by the composite. Both men and women with intended majors in math/science got lower grades than would be predicted by an equation based on scores for all enrolled students.