Fitzsimmons Defends SAT II

As a faculty panel at the University of California considers dropping SAT II subject tests from its admissions requirements, Harvard stands behind its decision not to do so.

Harvard currently requires applicants to submit scores from three SAT II tests—which examine mastery of specific subjects rather than general reasoning—in addition to either the SAT I or the ACT tests.

Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid William R. Fitzsimmons ’67 said that Harvard’s own internal studies have proven the efficacy of SAT II scores in predicting academic success at Harvard.

“The SAT IIs have been better predictors than either high school grades or the SAT [I],” he said.

However, the University of California panel’s proposal stated that the SAT II “contributes very little to UC’s ability to predict which applicants will perform well initially at UC.”

The panel also claimed that black and Hispanic applicants, as well as poorer applicants, were less likely to receive proper preparation that would enable them to perform well on the SAT II exams.

Fitzsimmons disagreed, saying that disadvantaged students sometimes perform better on SAT II tests.

“There happen to be people from poor and modest-income backgrounds who might be able to focus more on their actual subjects in school,” he said.

Harvard also tries to keep lower-income students informed about its admissions requirements, Fitzsimmons said.

“I don’t think any college is more aggressive than we are in terms of going out across the country to get the word out about the subject tests,” he said.

While the majority of the schools that require the SAT II are members of a selective elite, some peer schools, including Yale, accept the ACT in lieu of both the SAT I and SAT II tests.

The ACT has sections in English, math, reading, and science, along with an optional writing section. Ed Colby, a spokesman for the ACT, called the ACT “a curriculum based achievement test” as compared to the SAT, a reasoning test.

The University of California system has been an influential force in recent changes to standardized testing, thanks to its sheer scope—10 campuses and nearly 220,000 students.

Several years ago, Richard C. Atkinson, the university’s president, along with a University of California panel considered doing away with the SAT I altogether. The College Board, which publishes and administers the SAT tests, said that the university’s discussions did have some influence on the decision to revamp the SAT I, an effort that eliminated analogies from the test and adding a new writing section.

—Staff writer Lingbo Li can be reached at lingboli@fas.harvard.edu