SAT stands for Scholastic Aptitude Test. The definition of aptitude is the “natural ability to do something or learn something”. (1) Based on the name it can be deduced that the SAT is a test that does not test your knowledge but how you achieve it. College Board is the company that publishes and owns the SAT. The SAT was designed based on an IQ test, meaning it is intended to test the abilities a student was born with and not the skills acquired through schooling. The SAT is said to be an indicator of a student's academic performance in college. The SAT is administered for three hours and forty-five minutes and there are three sections being tested. The critical reading, mathematics, and writing sections are each worth 800 points, and cumulative scores range from 600 to 2,400 points. Millions of students around the world take the SAT because U.S. colleges and universities require it on their applications. The question format on the SAT is not similar to what students are used to in school. The subjects tested may be the same as those taught in school, but the problems are structured differently than those experienced by students in high school classrooms. When I asked a high school senior about the format of the SAT questions, the response was, “every question on the test seemed like a trick question. The questions weren't easy and all the answers seemed good enough to be the right answer. All the knowledge I gained in high school seemed useless to the puzzle of each question. Over the years the SAT has become increasingly disconnected from high school work. Students must study separately for school and the SAT. The SAT as a whole is deeply flawed… half of the paper… qualified candidates, increase the quality of the freshman class, and increase diversity in the freshman class. In 2013, a quarter of applications received from students did not submit test scores, meaning that 4,000 of these applicants would not have applied if not for the fact that Ithaca did not require them. For some students, test scores “hide more than they reveal.” (us news) Like Ithaca College and American University, many of the other colleges that have gone test score optional have seen the same results. The first is that diversity has significantly increased in terms of geography, ethnicity and socioeconomic background. Another is that test results don't really matter because those who submitted scores and those who didn't had any difference in freshman GPA or dropout rates. The college board has finally agreed to review the SAT's profound flaws..