High-school students all over the country are putting the finishing touches on their college applications.

Chances are, they all want to know the secret to increasing their chances of gaining acceptance into college. The answer is actually quite simple: go to the same school as one of your parents.

While legacy status — the term used to indicate a family member attended the same school — has been recognized anecdotally as providing a benefit to college applicants, education startup AdmitSee has used data it collects to definitively prove this correlation.

Admitsee is a platform that has 60,000 profiles of students who have been accepted into college. In addition to admissions essays, and test scores, the students list other data points for prospective students to browse.

The company analyzed the profiles of students who indicated their legacy status, and found that legacy students scored lower on the SAT than nonlegacy students.

Of the 3,478 profiles which responded to the legacy question, legacy profiles scored 1870 on the SAT versus 1943 for nonlegacy students.

The trend remained for students who were accepted into top 25 schools (as ranked by the US News & World Report), where legacy students scored 2133 versus 2156 for nonlegacy students. 

Preferential treatment for legacy students has been studied before. Michael Hurwitz, a Harvard doctoral student, conducted a study at 30 highly selective colleges and found that legacy students had seven times the odds of admissions as nonlegacy students.

But the issue of awarding an advantage to legacy students remains a contentious issue, especially in the face of push back over affirmative action policies in college admissions.

"It's fundamentally unfair because it's a preference that advantages the already advantaged," Richard D. Kahlenberg, a senior fellow at the Century Foundation, told The New York Times in 2011. "It has nothing to do with the individual merit of the applicant."

SEE ALSO: A former Ivy League admissions interviewer says getting rejected from college should feel like being turned down on a dating app

Join the conversation about this story »

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Rebecca Kantar was two years into Harvard when she dropped out.

"I just felt like a lot of the same brain development was happening to me throughout my classes," Kantar recalled to Business Insider.

As with most students, Kantar had spent most of her academic life learning information and then being quizzed on it through multiple-choice tests or essays. Even when she went to Harvard, she said, she felt stuck cramming knowledge and then bubbling in letters on a sheet for a score.

"I think across the education system right now, we still have a focus on content-based learning. Can you learn more stuff about whatever domain?" Kantar told Business Insider.

"What I was more interested in was could I apply concepts that stem from understanding a domain to real-world situations? And what I found during my time at school was that there were fewer environments to bring something to life in a project-based way."

With the SAT celebrating its 90th birthday this year, Kantar believes it's time for a radical update of standardized testing — one that doesn't just reward rote memorization but one that can assess how your brain works and how you put that knowledge to use.

To do so, she started Imbellus in 2015. Today, she's announcing that the company has now raised $4 million from investors including Upfront Ventures and Thrive Capital to try to upend one of the foundations of the education system.

"Our hope is to measure how people think instead of what people know," Kantar said. "There's a better way instead of using multiple choice, and that's to take advantage of technology."

What a new SAT could be

Right now, much of what Imbellus is building is under wraps. Kantar started the company last year and is realistic about how long it will take to change a national education standard.

Imbellus' approach will be closer to showing your work on a math test than to just writing down the solution. She said the company's process would track how you solve a problem — not just whether you get the answer right.

"We've been using content as a proxy for a lot of skills that we need this century, like analytical thinking, like problem solving, and we've been doing that because our assessments haven't known how to measure anything outside of multiple choice or essays," she said.

And she's not doing it alone, as Imbellus is partnering with CRESST, the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing. The education innovation arm is helping Imbellus craft some of its psychometric testing frameworks and is also analyzing the data.

"We hope that in the next two years we can show the world that measuring someone's process is possible and you can understand how people think," Kantar said. "It'll give us much better insights on how to place people in the right career and the right school over time."

Jobs first, SAT second

To start, Imbellus plans to tackle the entry-level job market rather than go straight to the SAT.

Instead of career aptitude or placement tests, Kantar envisions people taking Imbellus tests to guide their job search, so they'll know whether their skills are the right match for a particular employer.

It's a hard challenge: For starters, Imbellus has to build profiles for different companies, down to different roles. Certain companies will attract different skills like imagination and creativity versus analytical thinking, or they'll want a mix. It will also need to take into account that companies want a mix of employees who think in different ways.

"We're not trying to say, 'Here hire the same type A person over and over and over again,'" Kantar said.

Rather, it plans to start small to replace certain content-based tests for entry-level jobs, helping to show recruiters which skills and cognitive abilities the person has rather than how much they've memorized information about the job. The goal is to help employers to find the right fit for the right role.

If that proves successful, Kantar hopes it will trickle down to becoming the standard for fitting students to schools, too.

"The SAT and most other assessments have made the mistake of comparing everyone to an average that is no one," Kantar said. "The problem is that grading model doesn't take context into account. You don't necessarily need the same set of skills to apply for a job at Goldman Sachs as you need to be successful at the Rhode Island School of Design."

SEE ALSO: The 17 best colleges for startup founders

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: These animations will help you understand the math concepts you never got in high school

Shaan Patel, a 27-year-old entrepreneur from Las Vegas, had an envy-inducing high school résumé.

He was the valedictorian of his class, was crowned homecoming king, and even shook President George W. Bush's hand in 2007 as a White House Presidential Scholar, a program that recognizes two academically gifted students from each state.

He also scored a perfect 2400 on his SAT.

And yet, every Ivy League school that he applied to rejected him: Harvard, Princeton, and a special medical program at Brown. Patel also received a rejection from Stanford.

Rather than allowing these rejections to discourage him, Patel used them as motivation and parlayed his perfect SAT score into a thriving SAT test-prep company, Prep Expert, elevated in large part because of his appearance on "Shark Tank" in January 2016.

"'Shark Tank' was definitely the catalyst behind a lot of our growth at Prep Expert," Patel told Business Insider in October. "To have the exposure to 10 million people in a weekend really made a difference in our company."

While Patel founded the company in 2011, he won the backing of billionaire investor Mark Cuban on the show. The two have now partnered to bring SAT and ACT prep course to classrooms and online. Patel received $250,000 from Cuban for a 20% stake in his company.

Before Patel went on the show, the company achieved some moderate success, doing about $1 million in sales a year. When Patel went on "Shark Tank," however, sales exploded. Since his episode aired about 10 months ago, the company has achieved $6 million in sales.

"We're doing almost 10 times the sales we used to do," Patel said. "I really believe 'Shark Tank' is the most powerful marketing engine in the world."

Now Prep Expert offers classroom instruction in 20 states across the US and online programming.

Patel's success in business wasn't always guaranteed, though. He spent his formative years in the Sky Ranch Motel, a self-proclaimed budget motel in Las Vegas that his family owned and operated as well as called their home.

"At a young age I saw, like, drug deals and prostitutes," Patel told Business Insider last year.

The motel is a source of embarrassment for his mother, he said, but Patel embraces it and doesn't try to downplay its existence in his life.

Ivy League rejections

When Patel applied to colleges, he had high hopes for acceptance into the Ivy League. But soon the rejections started to pile up.

"I do think that Asian-Americans have a disadvantage applying to college," Patel said.

Patel, who is Indian-American, was referring to both his own rejections as well as recent news stories about Asian-Americans who say they face discrimination in college applications. In fact, some admissions officers acknowledge that Asian-American applicants may have a harder time getting into top schools, as they may fall into a group of peers with relatively high test scores.

Not one to dwell on disappointments, Patel took a spot at the University of Southern California on a full scholarship.

At USC, he pursued a joint bachelor of arts/doctor of medicine program that had always piqued his interest. In high school, Patel's volunteering in the emergency department of a hospital developed into a passion for medicine and the desire to become a doctor.

The joint-degree program at USC offered a way into medical school and ensured he'd be able to realize his dream of becoming a practicing physician.

More disappointment before finding success

Patel has always been the type of person who embraces having a full plate.

"I like being busy," he said.

But "busy" seems to be a bit of an understatement.

After finishing his undergraduate studies and nearing the start of his first year in medical school, Patel wrote an SAT prep book to help students prepare for the exam using the same methods he did. But his attempts to find a publisher were unsuccessful.

One editor even went as far as to give him the brutal feedback that he didn't have an engaging personality and wasn't a great writer no matter how well he scored on the SAT.

Undaunted, Patel used the last of his scholarship money — $900 — to launch his SAT prep website, then called 2400 Expert. He advertised the SAT prep course as the only one taught by a student who earned a perfect score in high school.

The initial course ran during the summer before Patel started medical school and grew exponentially from there. He had only a handful of instructors at the time, but word caught on after his pilot course showed an average improvement per student of 376 points.

Now that the test is scored on a 1600-point scale, the average improvement for students after taking Patel's course is 210 points. That kind of improvement is unheard of in the test-prep industry, according to Patel.

After that first summer, Patel trained qualified instructors and managed the company remotely from California. And more satisfying, McGraw-Hill, one of the education publishing giants, saw the momentum 2400 Expert was gaining and offered Patel a book deal.

Patel's book "SAT 2400 in Just 7 Steps" was published in July 2012.

More college aspirations

While juggling a growing SAT prep business, Patel was also studying for medical licensing board exams and taking on 36-hour surgical rotation shifts at the hospital. He still loved the medical profession, but was also highly interested in learning how to scale and grow his business.

In 2014, he decided to take a two-year leave of absence from USC to pursue business school at Yale's School of Management. He credits business school as a major reason for his current success.

"It was the best thing that ever happened to me," Patel said. "If I wasn't in business school, I wouldn't have made that hour-and-a-half trip from Yale to New York to go to that 'Shark Tank' audition."

Patel earned his MBA from Yale in May and has reenrolled in the fourth year of his medical program at USC. Still, his sights are set on continuing to grow Prep Expert, the name his company took on in 2016. He aims to make Prep Expert one of the largest test prep providers in the country.

Those are lofty goals for someone currently applying for a residency programs — in his case, a dermatology residency. Patel, however, has no plans of slowing down, and is currently writing a book with Cuban that teaches kids how to start their own business.

"We want to foster entrepreneurship in kids," Patel said.

SEE ALSO: How to answer the only essay question on the Harvard Business School application

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Forget the Apple Watch — here's the new watch everyone on Wall Street wants

High-school students all over the country are putting the finishing touches on their college applications.

Chances are, they all want to know the secret to increasing their chances of gaining acceptance into college. The answer is actually quite simple: go to the same school as one of your parents.

While legacy status — the term used to indicate a family member attended the same school — has been recognized anecdotally as providing a benefit to college applicants, education startup AdmitSee has used data it collects to definitively prove this correlation.

Admitsee is a platform that has 60,000 profiles of students who have been accepted into college. In addition to admissions essays, and test scores, the students list other data points for prospective students to browse.

The company analyzed the profiles of students who indicated their legacy status, and found that legacy students scored lower on the SAT than nonlegacy students.

Of the 3,478 profiles which responded to the legacy question, legacy profiles scored 1870 on the SAT versus 1943 for nonlegacy students.

The trend remained for students who were accepted into top 25 schools (as ranked by the US News & World Report), where legacy students scored 2133 versus 2156 for nonlegacy students. 

Preferential treatment for legacy students has been studied before. Michael Hurwitz, a Harvard doctoral student, conducted a study at 30 highly selective colleges and found that legacy students had seven times the odds of admissions as nonlegacy students.

But the issue of awarding an advantage to legacy students remains a contentious issue, especially in the face of push back over affirmative action policies in college admissions.

"It's fundamentally unfair because it's a preference that advantages the already advantaged," Richard D. Kahlenberg, a senior fellow at the Century Foundation, told The New York Times in 2011. "It has nothing to do with the individual merit of the applicant."

SEE ALSO: A former Ivy League admissions interviewer says getting rejected from college should feel like being turned down on a dating app

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Why you hold your boss accountable, according to a Navy SEAL

Shaan Patel, a 27-year-old entrepreneur from Las Vegas, had an envy-inducing high school résumé.

He was the valedictorian of his class, was crowned homecoming king, and even shook President George W. Bush's hand in 2007 as a White House Presidential Scholar, a program that recognizes two academically gifted students from each state.

He also scored a perfect 2400 on his SAT.

And yet, every Ivy League school that he applied to rejected him: Harvard, Princeton, and a special medical program at Brown. Patel also received a rejection from Stanford.

Rather than allowing these rejections to discourage him, Patel used them as motivation and parlayed his perfect SAT score into a thriving SAT test-prep company, Prep Expert, elevated in large part because of his appearance on "Shark Tank" in January 2016.

"'Shark Tank' was definitely the catalyst behind a lot of our growth at Prep Expert," Patel told Business Insider in October. "To have the exposure to 10 million people in a weekend really made a difference in our company."

While Patel founded the company in 2011, he won the backing of billionaire investor Mark Cuban on the show. The two have now partnered to bring the SAT and ACT prep course to classrooms and online. Patel received $250,000 from Cuban for a 20% stake in his company.

Before Patel went on the show, the company achieved some moderate success, doing about $1 million in sales a year. When Patel went on "Shark Tank," however, sales exploded. Since his episode aired about 10 months ago, the company has achieved $6 million in sales.

"We're doing almost 10 times the sales we used to do," Patel said. "I really believe 'Shark Tank' is the most powerful marketing engine in the world."

Now Prep Expert offers classroom instruction in 20 states across the US and online programming.

Patel's success in business wasn't always guaranteed, though. He spent his formative years in the Sky Ranch Motel, a self-proclaimed budget motel in Las Vegas that his family owned and operated as well as called their home.

"At a young age I saw, like, drug deals and prostitutes," Patel told Business Insider last year.

The motel is a source of embarrassment for his mother, he said, but Patel embraces it and doesn't try to downplay its existence in his life.

Ivy League rejections

When Patel applied to colleges, he had high hopes for acceptance into the Ivy League. But soon the rejections started to pile up.

"I do think that Asian-Americans have a disadvantage applying to college," Patel said.

Patel, who is Indian-American, was referring to both his own rejections as well as recent news stories about Asian-Americans who say they face discrimination in college applications. In fact, some admissions officers acknowledge that Asian-American applicants may have a harder time getting into top schools, as they may fall into a group of peers with relatively high test scores.

Not one to dwell on disappointments, Patel took a spot at the University of Southern California on a full scholarship.

At USC, he pursued a joint bachelor of arts/doctor of medicine program that had always piqued his interest. In high school, Patel's volunteering in the emergency department of a hospital developed into a passion for medicine and the desire to become a doctor.

The joint-degree program at USC offered a way into medical school and ensured he'd be able to realize his dream of becoming a practicing physician.

More disappointment before finding success

Patel has always been the type of person who embraces having a full plate.

"I like being busy," he said.

But "busy" seems to be a bit of an understatement.

After finishing his undergraduate studies and nearing the start of his first year in medical school, Patel wrote an SAT prep book to help students prepare for the exam using the same methods he did. But his attempts to find a publisher were unsuccessful.

One editor even went as far as to give him the brutal feedback that he didn't have an engaging personality and wasn't a great writer no matter how well he scored on the SAT.

Undaunted, Patel used the last of his scholarship money — $900 — to launch his SAT prep website, then called 2400 Expert. He advertised the SAT prep course as the only one taught by a student who earned a perfect score in high school.

The initial course ran during the summer before Patel started medical school and grew exponentially from there. He had only a handful of instructors at the time, but word caught on after his pilot course showed an average improvement per student of 376 points.

Now that the test is scored on a 1600-point scale, the average improvement for students after taking Patel's course is 210 points. That kind of improvement is unheard of in the test-prep industry, according to Patel.

After that first summer, Patel trained qualified instructors and managed the company remotely from California. And more satisfying, McGraw-Hill, one of the education publishing giants, saw the momentum 2400 Expert was gaining and offered Patel a book deal.

Patel's book "SAT 2400 in Just 7 Steps" was published in July 2012.

More college aspirations

While juggling a growing SAT prep business, Patel was also studying for medical licensing board exams and taking on 36-hour surgical rotation shifts at the hospital. He still loved the medical profession, but was also highly interested in learning how to scale and grow his business.

In 2014, he decided to take a two-year leave of absence from USC to pursue business school at Yale's School of Management. He credits business school as a major reason for his current success.

"It was the best thing that ever happened to me," Patel said. "If I wasn't in business school, I wouldn't have made that hour-and-a-half trip from Yale to New York to go to that 'Shark Tank' audition."

Patel earned his MBA from Yale in May and has reenrolled in the fourth year of his medical program at USC. Still, his sights are set on continuing to grow Prep Expert, the name his company took on in 2016. He aims to make Prep Expert one of the largest test prep providers in the country.

Those are lofty goals for someone currently applying for a residency programs — in his case, a dermatology residency. Patel, however, has no plans of slowing down, and is currently writing a book with Cuban that teaches kids how to start their own business.

"We want to foster entrepreneurship in kids," Patel said.

SEE ALSO: How to answer the only essay question on the Harvard Business School application

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Forget the Apple Watch — here's the new watch everyone on Wall Street wants

Conversations about SAT and ACT scores are ubiquitous for high school students applying to college.

Still, although most student understand the high-stakes nature of the exams, many are still unsure what their study schedule should look like to ensure top results.

Anthony-James Green, a $1,500-an-hour SAT and ACT tutor, says he knows the key to a successful standardized test schedule: beginning much earlier than most people realize.

"The trick is beginning really early, and I recommend freshman year," Green told Business Insider. "But then keep it to 20 minutes a day — that's really all it takes," he said. "You can even split it up: 10 minutes in the morning, 10 minutes in the afternoon."

The idea, he said, is to make the exam a "non-event" rather that worrying about this huge exam at the end of high school. And starting years in advance means you will see every imaginable math, grammar, or reading problem that you'll encounter on the real exam.

As for what concepts to focus on, Green, who says his students improve 310 to 320 points on average on the new SAT, explained that you should actually spend very little time on the concepts you already understand.

"On these tests if you're pretty comfortable with reading and grammar and you hate math, then you should be spending 95% of your time on math," he said. "Obsessing over your weakest points is way more important than looking at what you're good at."

SEE ALSO: An SAT tutor who charges $1,500 an hour explains what everyone does wrong preparing for the test

Join the conversation about this story »

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Gaining acceptance into selective colleges seems harder today than ever before, leading an increasing number of students to turn to test prep for high-stakes standardized tests.

Anthony-James Green, a New York City-based SAT and ACT tutor, experiences firsthand the lengths to which families will go to improve their students' scores. His $1,500-an-hour price tag may seem hefty, but to the families who want to see significant improvement in test scores, it's worth the cost.

"My average ACT students usually goes up by around seven points, and on the old SAT they were going up around 420, 430 points," Green told Business Insider. On the new SAT, Green said, his students average 310- to 320-point increases.

But for families who cannot afford such test prep costs — and he says he will work only with families for whom his rate doesn't cause a financial burden — Green offers his advice on how to prepare to succeed on the exam.

1. Start early 

Starting early, taking it slow and steady, and focusing on weaknesses are the cornerstones of Green's philosophy.

"The trick is beginning really early, and I recommend freshman year," Green told Business Insider. "But then keep it to 20 minutes a day — that's really all it takes," he said. "You can even split it up: 10 minutes in the morning, 10 minutes in the afternoon."

2. Focus on weaknesses

The content areas students focus on is also highly important, according to Green.

He suggests students obsess over their weak points, rather than spending time on problems they feel comfortable answering. "There's a tendency among everyone to continue [studying] what you enjoy and what you like," he said. 

3. Take practice tests

Most people probably know that studying old SAT questions is an essential part of studying for the exam. But Green says you must go a step further and take realistic practice tests to really ensure you will perform well on the real day of the exam. "The more realistic practice tests you take, the better," he said.

That doesn't mean that you must go to a testing center and take the exam multiple times. Instead, wake up early after a full night's sleep and take the exam exactly as you will have to on the day of the real test. "Taking plenty of practice tests improves your familiarity with the exam, enhances your confidence, allows you to calibrate your prep activities, and tells you exactly when you should take the real thing," he said.

4. Take it one concept at a time

When students come to a test question they don't know how, they must drill on this area until they master it. 

"If you get something wrong, whether it be a reading comprehension trick, a math problem, or a grammar issue, make a flashcard out of it, study your errors, and review it until it's second nature," Green said. 

That even means that they shouldn't continue on to attempting to learn other new concepts until they have the old concept down first. "I'd much rather have a student review and master a single ACT than take ten ACT practice tests without reviewing them," he said.

5. Get some sleep

The last tip may sound obvious, but that doesn't mean it's not extremely important. "Most high-school students are ludicrously sleep deprived," Green said. And while that may not seem like cause for concern, Green said sleep deprivation has a dramatic impact on standardized test scores.

"If most students just added one hour to their sleep schedule each night, they'd see their scores rise ~5-10% almost automatically, even without studying," he explained.

SEE ALSO: A New York SAT tutor who charges $1,500 an hour says college admissions have become an 'arms race'

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Why you hold your boss accountable, according to a Navy SEAL

The SAT and ACT are some of the most high-stakes tests a high-school student can take. So it's understandable why many students experience anxiety surrounding the exams.

Still, freaking out while taking a test isn't ideal, since it normally means you lose some focus and risk hurting your score.

New York City test-prep expert Anthony-James Green has a strategy to battle stress during an exam: Make it boring.

"You cannot be freaked out by something that bores you," Green told Business Insider."In other words, if you're scared of these tests, spend so much time with them that they become boring and anxiety will become impossible," he continued.

Green used the analogy of riding a roller coaster at at theme park to clarify his point. "It's like riding a roller coaster; the first time, it's horrifying," he said. "The second time, it's so-so. By the fifth time, you're wondering if you're allowed to play Angry Birds to pass the time during the ride."

To make the exam boring, he advises students to start studying as soon as possible — ideally their freshman year in high school, but keep it to 10 minutes a day. By they time they are ready to take the test, they'll have " seen every type of problem 500 times," he said.

That, combined with taking plenty of practice tests and getting the right amount of sleep the week before, will ensure you are in the best position possible come test day.

SEE ALSO: A New York SAT tutor who charges $1,500 an hour shares his top pieces of advice for nailing the exam

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Why you hold your boss accountable, according to a Navy SEAL

Most parents know to have any chance at acceptance to elite schools like Harvard and MIT, students need to get high scores on the ACT or SAT.

But there are so many questions about how to study for these tests, how to motivate your student, and how to get through this process without yelling or tears.

You want to know how to help your kid get their best possible score without all the screaming and fighting to get them to study.

I got a 35 on the ACT in one shot and a 1530 on the SAT with two. I want to share with you the tips I used and I’ve helped my students use to increase their test scores and leverage them into acceptances and scholarships.

1. Great scores = lots of scholarship money

It can be really hard to motivate a junior or senior to study for and take these tests. Yet another thing for their ever expanding to-do list. This is especially hard when there is so little intrinsic value in learning to take these tests.

One great motivator can be the lure of substantial scholarship money that can make their dream college actually attainable from a financial perspective. If they want to go to that really pricey liberal arts school, make it clear that they need to get a lot of merit aid from them. The absolute best way to do that is with outstanding, near-perfect scores or becoming a National Merit Semi-Finalist or Finalist. A $250,000+ carrot is nothing to sneeze at.

2. School does not prepare students for these tests

As much as the test-takers want to tell you the tests are meant to measure what your kids are learning in school, they simply don’t. There’s no credit for showing your work. When was the last multiple choice math test your student took in class? Grade school? Schools simply do not test your child this way, so, if they are not studying HOW to take these tests, they will be at a severe disadvantage even if they know all the content.

Be sure your student practices with official exams in real test-taking environments. Shaan Patel of Prep Expert shared with me on the Dream College Summit that his students take at least six official exams under real conditions to prepare for the test. Shaan got a perfect score on the SAT, so he’s someone I definitely listen to when it comes to SAT prep.

3. The math is less advanced than you think

With sophomores frequently taking calculus in school, as a parent you might think the SAT and ACT test on advanced math. They don’t. There’s zero calculus and very little trig.

This can be a double-edged sword. Especially for students who are very advanced at math. These students will need to review their algebra and geometry. They’ll need to review basic probability and statistics. Don’t think just because your student is a math whiz that they can skip their math review. They may not have studied some of these topics for years.

4. It’s important to learn all the ‘tricks’

These tests do not test your student’s aptitude, college readiness, or “smarts.” They simply test how well they can take the particular test. It’s important to understand that for two reasons:

1. Doing poorly on these tests is not at all a reflection on how smart a student is. It just means they need to study how to take these tests better.

2. It means you need to help your student learn as many tips and tricks for solving these problems as fast and accurately as possible.

Some of my favorite tricks apply to the math section and include plugging in the answers and substituting numbers for variables. This aspect of the test is why it is so important to study specifically for these tests. These tricks can be gleaned from tutors, test prep books, or online or in-person classes. The important thing is that your students learn them, practice them, and are super comfortable using them come test day.

5. Help comes in many forms — and everyone needs some

As I hope I’ve hammered home by now, these tests require very specific studying. Personally, I did all my studying on my own with test prep books. If you’re student has the discipline to set their own study schedule (and actually follow through), this is a great option. Just be sure to get them only practice exams from the official makers of the tests.

If your student needs more help than self study, take a look at the offerings online and around you that get the best results, work for you and your student’s schedule, and fit your child’s personality. It’s important to look for programs, classes, or tutors that have track records of significant score improvements. That means a few hundred points on the ACT or three or more points on the ACT, depending on your student’s starting point. It’s easy to promise “an increase.” It’s much harder to guarantee a 400-point increase.

6. You’d be smart to focus on one test

I took both the ACT and SAT. I got a 35 on the ACT with one shot and minimal studying. The ACT was obviously my better test, but at the time the schools I was applying to didn’t all accept it. This is no longer the case, so, if the ACT is better for your student, focus on that one, unless they qualify for National Merit.

If your student is in contention for being a National Merit finalist, they’ll need to focus on the SAT. It can also be complementary to studying for the PSAT, the National Merit qualifying exam, since the PSAT and SAT are so similar now. If they end up qualifying for one of the national scholarships or a school scholarship, this work will more than pay for itself.

If you want even more test prep tips to help your student get into and pay for their dream colleges, get your FREE ticket to the online Dream College Summit, running August 28-31, 2017, and learn from 26 top experts in college admissions, test prep, and financial aid. As a thank you, you’ll receive my newly updated Ultimate Guide to the Common App with your ticket.

Jessica is a graduate of Harvard and MIT with over ten years of tutoring experience. As a senior in high school, she gained acceptance to Harvard, MIT, Yale, Stanford, Cornell, and Columbia. She is the founder of Impress the Ivies and host of the Dream College Summit. Her students have gotten into elite schools, like Harvard and Carnegie Mellon, and received over $180,000 in scholarships. 

SEE ALSO: I graduated from Harvard and MIT — here's the smartest thing I did on my applications

Join the conversation about this story »

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(Reuters) - ACT Inc, the maker of the United States' most popular college entrance exam, said on Thursday it has canceled the ACT exam scheduled for Saturday at some of its international test centers due to a breach of the test materials.

ACT, which has been the target of widespread cheating at overseas centers, has notified affected students, who will receive instructions on how to reschedule their test, a spokesman said.

ACT said it could not give specifics as to how the test materials were leaked because the incident was still under investigation.

The breach and cancellations were confined to specific international test centers, company spokesman Ed Colby added in an email.

Separately, ACT said it was busy working to reschedule some tests scheduled for Saturday in U.S. states such as Texas, Louisiana, and Florida, that are affected by hurricanes Harvey and now Irma.

"This has been a huge effort, and our goal has been to make sure that every single student in those impacted areas can cross the ACT test off their list of worries, as so many of them have much bigger issues to deal with now," Colby said.

Would-be test-takers from countries including China, Thailand and Australia expressed outrage on social media over the international cancellations because the test, the first of the new school year, was to be used by high school seniors applying to colleges this fall.

The ACT and its rival, the SAT, are used by thousands of U.S. colleges to help choose among millions of student applicants. Both have been swamped by cheating abroad.

ACT, an Iowa City, Iowa-based nonprofit, has suffered major security setbacks in the past year. After the October sitting of the exam, ACT canceled scores for an unspecified number of students in Asia and Oceania on the writing section of the test because of a leak. Last June, the exam was canceled for all test takers in South Korea and Hong Kong due to another breach. 

(Reporting by John McCrank in New York; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)

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The SAT doesn't just test how good you are at math, reading, and writing — it tests how good you are at taking the SAT.

Preparing for the math section of the test requires lots of practice and memorization of some formulas, but it's also important to know how to recognize trick questions, sift through unnecessary details, and remember simple tricks like reading the entire question through before starting to work on it.

Here are 15 math problems from the SAT that people usually get wrong — with step-by-step explanations for how to solve them.

SEE ALSO: 18 high-paying jobs for people who hate math

Many people misread this question about the original price of a laptop.

When people read this question in a rush, they assume that it's asking about the cost of the laptop with the discount plus tax and pick "C," says SAT blog Love The SAT. But look carefully, — it's asking for the original price of the computer.

Alma is paying 8% sales tax, which can also be expressed as 108% of the price. There's also a 20% discount, meaning she's paying 80% of the price, or 0.8.

So if p is the total amount Alma paid to the cashier and x is the original price of the laptop, the equation reads as follows:

p = (1.08)(0.8)(x)

Now solve for x by dividing both sides by (1.08)(0.8).

p/(1.08)(0.8) = x

The correct answer is "D."

This question requires you to write out all the steps, even though the math itself isn't too complicated.

You're trying to figure out the price per pound of beef (b) when it was equal to the price per pound of chicken (c). In other words, when b = c, or 2.35 + 0.25x = 1.75 + 0.40x. So you need to find the value of x in order to plug it back into the "b" equation, writes Dora Seigel of PrepScholar.

Subtract 1.75 from each side: 

2.35(−1.75) + 0.25x = 1.75(−1.75) + 0.40x

That leaves you with 0.6 + 0.25x = 0.40x. So subtract 0.25x from each side:

0.6 + 0.25x(−0.25x) = 0.40x(−0.25x)

0.60 = 0.15x

The last step is to reduce the equation:

0.60/0.15 = x

4 = x

Now that you know the value of x, you can put it into the equation for the price of beef:

b = 2.35 + 0.25x

b = 2.35 + 0.25(4)

b = 2.35 + 1

b = 3.35

The correct answer is "D," $3.35.

Here, people often solve the wrong part of the equation — a common mistake.

This question is tricky because it gives you lots of numbers and letters and it's not entirely clear what you're supposed to do with them. It's crucial to figure out what the question is asking before you start doing pointless calculations that won't get you any closer to the answer. PrepScholar suggests reading the entire question through, circling the important information, and determining what you're being asked before doing any work.

In this case, you're looking for the value of sinF. 

Start with what you know: triangle ABC is a right triangle, and angle B is the right angle. That means that AC is the hypotenuse and BC is one of the sides.

You can use the Pythagorean theorum to figure out the length of the last remaining side:

A² + B² = C²

A² + 16² = 20²

A²  = 20² - 16²

A = √(400)−(256)

A = √144 = 12

The problem told you triangle DEF is similar to triangle ABC. That means C and F are corresponding vertices: sinF = sinC. 

If you know the acronym SOHCAHTOA, you'll know that sin = opposite/hypotenuse.

sin F = sinC = 12/20 = 3/5 = 0.6

The answer is 3/5 or 0.6.

• A Quora thread of difficult SAT math questions included one described as the "meanest test problem ever."
• The question gives the average test scores of two classes, one with p students and one with n students, and asks for the value of p/n.
• Presh Talwalkar of the YouTube channel and blog MindYourDecisions posted the solution. 

The SAT exam allows for about two minutes to solve each math problem. The key to conquering the math section of the test is knowing how to break down a deliberately confusing question and sift through unnecessary details to quickly find the answer.

In a Quora thread of the most difficult SAT math problems, one question emerged as "the meanest test problem ever."

It reads:

In a class of p students, the average (arithmetic mean) of the test scores is 70.

In another class of n students, the average of the scores for the same test is 92.

When the scores of the two classes are combined, the average of the test scores is 86.

What is the value of p/n?

Can you figure out how to solve it?

If not, don't fear — Presh Talwalkar, a math whiz who wrote the book "The Joy of Game Theory: An Introduction to Strategic Thinking" and tackles math questions and riddles on his YouTube channel and blog, both called MindYourDecisions, shared a step-by-step solution to this notoriously tough problem.

There are a few ways to solve it, but Talwalkar presents a simple shortcut.

The first class had an average of 70. That's 16 points below the average score of 86. In other words, 86 - 70 = 16. Since there are p students in the class, the difference from the average is 16p.

The second class had an average of 92. That's 6 points more than the average of 86. In other words, 92 - 86 = 6. There are n students in this class, so the difference from the average is 6n.

Because these classes average out together — as the problem says "when the scores of the two classes are combined"— the deficit of points has to be equal to the surplus of points. Therefore, 16p is equal to 6n.

Turning that into an equation, we can easily figure out what p/n is:

16p = 6n

p/n = 6/16, or 3/8

Still stumped? You can watch Talwalkar's full explanation of the solution below or read more on his blog.

For more great stories, head to INSIDER's homepage

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• "Shark Tank" contestant Shaan Patel bombed his answer to a question he knew the Sharks were going to ask him.
• The question was whether Patel, a medical student, wanted to be an entrepreneur or a doctor.
• Despite stammering through his answer, Patel secured a $250,000 deal from Mark Cuban.

No matter how much you practice a big business pitch, nothing compares to the pressure of actually delivering it.

For Shaan Patel, that lesson was made painfully clear on a 2016 episode of "Shark Tank."

Patel went on the show to pitch his SAT tutoring company Prep Expert to a panel of celebrity investors. Although the investors were impressed by Patel's credentials — he scored a perfect 2400 on his SAT in high school — he nearly blew his chance at a lucrative deal when he flubbed the answer to a question he knew they were going to ask him.

The question was whether Patel, who at the time was earning a medical degree in dermatology from the University of Southern California, wanted to be an entrepreneur or a doctor. 

Patel told Business Insider he had prepared for that very question on the flight to Los Angeles for filming of the show. In fact, when producers of the show asked him to write down 25 potential questions he might face from the panel, that was the first one he wrote.

But when it came time to answer the question in real life, Patel stammered his way through an answer that left the Sharks unconvinced about his commitment to his business.

"It was so funny because on 'Shark Tank' when they asked me that question, I totally stumbled," Patel said. "I could not give them a clear answer and I looked like a total goofball. Like, how did you not think they were going to ask you that?"

The Sharks didn't spare Patel their criticism.

"Your biggest problem, Shaan, is that you're not 110% committed," Kevin O'Leary said.

"I give my money to people that will die for their business," he continued. "They'll give up their lives for it. That's the kind of general I want to back. You're not that kind of general."

"I'm not sure that you know the direction you want to be," Lori Greiner said, with Robert Herjavec adding, "I can't invest in a part-time entrepreneur."

Despite the harsh words, Patel managed to come out on top when he accepted a $250,000 offer from Mark Cuban for 20% of his company and any of Patel's future business ventures.

In the two years since the show aired, Prep Expert has grown tenfold, with sales increasing from $1 million to $10 million and the company expanding from one full-time employee to 10. Prep Expert now offers live classes in five US cities, and between live and online courses, has tutored 30,000 students, a couple of whom have gone on to score perfect scores on the SAT.

Patel and Cuban have even co-authored a book, "Kid Start-Up," about how parents can teach their children to become entrepreneurs. 

At the same time, Patel finished medical school, earned an MBA from Yale, and is now in residency to become a dermatologist. 

"If I could go back to the show and answer that question, I would have said I'd like to do both," Patel told Business Insider.

Ideally, he said, he would be able to have a career as a dermatologist and as a business leader, possibly only practicing medicine "a couple times a week."

"All of the Sharks wear multiple hats. None of them are just Sharks on 'Shark Tank,'" he said.

"They do all kinds of different things, and they don't just hold one career. I think lots of people do that. I don't know why necessarily it was so astounding for them."

He continued: "But I can understand that if you're going to invest in someone you want them to be fully 100% dedicated to it. Hopefully I've been able to show the Sharks, now being one of Mark Cuban's most successful investments on the show, that I was able to grow the company and continue my education at the same time."

SEE ALSO: A 'Shark Tank' entrepreneur who won $300,000 realized previous contestants were doomed by the same type of question

DON'T MISS: A perfect SAT couldn't get this guy into the Ivy League — now he's running a successful business with Mark Cuban

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• High school senior Kamilah Campbell increased her SAT score from a 900 to 1230 when she took it a second time. 
• The 18-year-old from Miami, Florida, said she did not cheat, and that she improved her score through studying, tutors, and a free online SAT prep program. 
• But the Educational Testing Services, which oversees college entrance exam testing, has deemed her score invalid and is reviewing discrepancies on her answer key.
• Educational Testing Services doesn't cancel scores solely because of a point increase, and said other factors were at play.

A high school senior in Florida claims she is being treated unfairly after her 330-point SAT improvement was deemed invalid by the testing company.

Kamilah Campbell, 18, told CBS News that she increased her SAT score from 900 to 1230 through months of studying, tutors, and a free online SAT prep program.

But now the Educational Testing Services, which oversees college entrance exam testing, says her score is invalid and under review because of discrepancies on her answer key.

"We are writing to you because based on a preliminary review, there appears to be substantial evidence that your scores ... are invalid," the organization said in a letter to Campbell after she re-took the test in October, according to CNN. "Our preliminary concerns are based on substantial agreement between your answers on one or more scored sections of the test and those of other test takers. The anomalies noted above raise concerns about the validity of your scores."

Educational Testing Services told CBS News that it doesn't invalidate scores solely because of a point increase. Other factors that the organization would not disclose also play a role.

Campbell, who attends Dr. Michael Krop Senior High School in Miami and has a 3.1 grade point average, said she did not cheat on the test, and that her score was flagged because it was so much better than her first.

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She received a combined 1230 from the reading, writing and language, math and essay sections when she re-took the exam. A perfect score on the SAT is a 1600.

"Because it improved for over 300 points, so they're saying I improved basically too much and that's skeptical for them," Campbell told CBS News. "They are not looking at it as if, 'Maybe she focused and dedicated herself to passing this test.'"

Campbell said that because her score is under review, she missed the deadline to apply to her first choice college, Florida State University, and can’t apply for SAT score-based scholarships.

According to Prep Scholar, the average SAT score for admitted FSU students is 1260 on the 1600 SAT scale.

Campbell's family attorney, Benjamin Crump, is considering suing Educational Testing Services over the legitimacy of the teen's scores.

The superintendent of the Miami-Dade school district, where Campbell attends high school, has asked for an investigation into the teen's scores to be quick.

"Although this is a test administered by a private entity, and not M-DCPS, we feel a moral obligation to intervene," Daisy Gonzalez-Diego told CNN, calling the situation "disturbing."

The College Board released a study last year that said studying for 20 hours on a free Official SAT Practice course through the non-profit educational organization Khan Academy can improve a score by an average of 115 points. 

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• A millennial 'Shark Tank' entrepreneur who coaches teens for the SAT says adults don't realize what sets Gen Z apart
• I used this online education site to help me understand difficult topics and prepare for tests in high school and college — and I still recommend it to all students today

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• Leaders from the College Board — the nonprofit that runs the SAT exam — said the ability to master computer science and the US Constitution were the two most important skills for students to prepare for future success.
• The nonprofit has revamped the SAT and its Advanced Placement courses to reflect the importance of those two skills, New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman wrote.
• The two skills can prepare students for "nearly every job" and guide their lives as productive citizens, leaders from the College Board said.

Young people learn countless skills in school, but apparently, there are two that are considered most important for future success.

New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman wrote on Wednesday that the leaders of the College Board, the nonprofit organization that runs the SAT exam, value the ability to master computer science and the US Constitution more than any other skills.

Friedman said he spoke to two acquaintances at the College Board, who explained their reasoning. Mastering computing skills like basic coding makes students"more prepared for nearly every job" in the modern world, they said, while the Constitution "gives shape to America and defines our essential liberties" and is "the indispensable guide to our lives as productive citizens."

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Now, the nonprofit is tailoring the SAT and its Advanced Placement classes around promoting those two skills. For example, since 2014, the SAT has included at least one reading comprehension passage from founding US documents, like the Constitution, or other important texts relating to democracy.

"That said to students and teachers something the SAT had never dared say before: Some content is disproportionately more powerful and important, and if you prepare for it you will be rewarded on the SAT," Friedman wrote.

Additionally, AP government courses are now placing more emphasis on founding documents and Supreme Court cases, he said.

"Understanding how government works is the essence of power," Stefanie Sanford, the College Board's chief of global policy, told Friedman. "To be a strong citizen, you need to know how the structures of our government work and how to operate within them."

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Meanwhile, the board is also changing its angle on computer science. While the old AP Computer Science course focused on coding and programming, the board now pitches its new Computer Science Principles course as a gateway for students to build apps in a variety of industries like music, business, and art. 

According to College Board statistics, about 44,000 students took the Computer Science Principles class in 2017, the first year it was offered. Last year, that number jumped to 72,000.

Major tech companies like Apple, Facebook, and Amazon have all endorsed the new course in hopes it will draw a broader and more diverse group of students into computing. The original coding-focused computer science program — now called Computer Science A — attracted 65,000 students last year.

Overall, about 2.8 million students took a total of 5 million AP exams last year, and about 2.1 million students took the SAT.

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• Malcolm Abbott, the son of Gregory and Marcia Abbott, defended his parents after they were indicted as part of the $25 million college admissions scheme.
• Federal authorities have accused the Abbotts of paying $125,000 to boost their daughter’s SAT and ACT scores.
• Malcolm Abbott, an aspiring rapper who goes by the name "Billa,"told the New York Post the scheme has been blown "out of proportion," and said "everyone has a right to go to college."

The son of a couple accused of paying $125,000 to boost their daughter’s SAT and ACT scores as part of the college admissions scandal defended his parents while smoking a blunt outside the family’s Manhattan apartment.

Malcolm Abbott's parents, Gregory and Marcia Abbott, were among 50 people indicted on Tuesday as part of the $25 million cash-for-college scheme, in which prosecutors allege parents paid William Singer to guarantee their children’s admission to elite universities. The Abbotts were charged with Conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.

Malcolm Abbott, an aspiring rapper, smoked a blunt as he told the New York Post on Wednesday that he believes the scandal is being blown "out of proportion."

"I believe everyone has a right to go to college, man," he told the paper.

Read more:5 examples show the extreme lengths prosecutors say wealthy parents went to get their kids into elite colleges

Malcolm Abbott did not attend college, and instead raps under theme "Billa."

"Check out my CD, 'Cheese and Crackers,'" he told the Post after defending his parents.

Gregory Abbott, the founder of food and beverage distributor International Dispensing Corp., and his wife, Marcia, are accused of paying William Singer — the accused ringleader of the college admissions scam— $125,000 to improve their daughter’s ACT and SAT scores.

The scheme involved their daughter going to a test center in late 2018 to take the exams, and having a proctor correct her answers after she finished, according to a criminal complaint released by the Department of Justice.

Prosecutors said before Singer's proctor intervened to change the Abbotts' daughter's exam answers, she scored a 23 out of 36 on the ACT and had SAT math and literature scores in the mid-600s, according to the criminal complaint.

The girl's ACT score jumped to a 35, and she received a perfect score of 800 on the SAT math exam, and 710 on the SAT literature test after Singer's exam proctor intervened, the complaint said.

In a recorded call published in the criminal complaint, Singer told Gregory Abbott it was "a good move" for him to pay to have someone take the SAT for his daughter.

Gregory Abbott appeared in court in the Southern District of New York on Tuesday, and was released on $500,000 bond. He and his wife Marcia are both scheduled to appear in federal court in Boston on March 29.

• Read more:
• Lori Loughlin's daughter was vacationing in the Bahamas on a USC trustee's yacht as the college admissions scandal broke
• The college admissions scandal came to the FBI by accident, when a unrelated fraud suspect revealed it in a bid for leniency, report says
• Wealthy parents are paying up to $1.5 million for consultants to help get their kids into college — and there are ways to do it that are completely legal
• The man who helped wealthy students cheat on college entrance exams was a Harvard grad who was able to ace the tests because 'he was just a really smart guy', prosecutors say

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• The SAT will include "adversity scores" that measure a student's privilege, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.
• The score will indicate a test taker's socioeconomic status and educational access, and it will be visible only to college officials.
• The change comes in the wake of a $25 million college-admissions scandal in which wealthy parents were accused of bribing test administrators to inflate their children's test scores.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

In the aftermath of the recent $25 million college-admissions scandal, the SAT will include a new measure for privilege beginning this year.

Along with scores measuring math and reading comprehension, the test will include an "adversity score" that indicates a test taker's social and economic background. College Board, the New York nonprofit that administers the test, rolled out a beta version to 50 colleges last year and found it led to greater nonwhite student enrollment, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Adversity scores will be measured on a scale of 1 to 100, with under 50 indicating privilege and over 50 indicating socioeconomic hardship. The score will be invisible to students — it will be reported only to college officials, according to The New York Times. The Journal reported that race will not be a factor in the score.

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The number will look at 15 factors, including the crime rate in a student's neighborhood and whether the student was raised in a single-parent household. College Board did not reveal the exact metrics the adversity score measures but said it pulls from public records such as the US Census. The measure will officially roll out this year to 150 schools and extend to more schools by 2020.

"We are proud that results from our pilot of the tool show that using the Environment Context Dashboard makes it more likely that students who demonstrate strength and resourcefulness in overcoming challenges are more likely to be admitted to college," David Coleman, the CEO of the College Board, said in a statement to Business Insider.

Outrage over the $25 million college-admissions scandal, in which two college-exam administrators were charged with taking bribes to inflate SAT and ACT scores, spurred conversations about how wealthy students get an unfair advantage in the college-application process. The US Department of Justice reported that parents paid $15,000 to $75,000 to William Singer, who is accused of being the admissions-scandal ringleader, in exchange for manufactured test scores.

College Board told INSIDER that the company has an extensive process to ensure SAT scores are valid, though reports have found that superrich parents can still legally pay $300 an hour for "admissions expert consultants" or donate millions to elite colleges.

College Board released a statement immediately following the scandal that promised to offer a new approach to the SAT that would take into account the inequalities students face heading into the test.

"The SAT was built to break down barriers to admit students of merit, not just those with connections and influence," Coleman said. "With today's grade-inflation epidemic in many wealthier schools and districts, an objective measure has never been more essential."

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• The College Board recently revealed a new "adversity score" that it plans to use as part of the SAT in order to reflect students' social and economic background.
• The mere fact that the College Board sees a need for an "adversity score" is a tacit admission that the SAT isn't fair for all students.
• Despite this, the new adversity score is still deeply flawed, according to Leigh Patel, the Associate Dean for Equity and Justice at the University of Pittsburgh.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The College Board recently revealed a new "adversity score" that it plans to use as part of the SAT in order to reflect students' social and economic background.

The mere fact that the College Board sees a need for an "adversity score" is a tacit admission that the SAT isn't fair for all students. But will the new score — formally called the Environmental Context Dashboard — truly capture the challenges that students face?

As an education researcher who focuses on matters of equity, I believe the new adversity score will be an inadequate remedy for a test that has been inequitable from the start.

Read more: The SAT is adding an 'adversity score' that will quietly let colleges track a student's wealth and privilege

Here's why.

1. The 'adversity score' is flawed

There are 15 variables in three different areas: family environment, neighborhood environment, and high school environment.

The neighborhood environment includes the crime rate, poverty rate, housing values, and vacancy rate.

The family environment includes median income, whether the household is single parent, education level of the parent, and whether the family speaks English as a second language.

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The high school environment includes curricular rigor, the free lunch rate, how many Advanced Placement courses are available and how frequently students "undermatch," or go to colleges that are less selective than the ones they are qualified to attend.

These factors won't necessarily explain why a student in a particular area or household did well or poorly on the SAT.

For example, the vacancy rate doesn't capture gentrification, a phenomenon in which predominantly black neighborhoods are seeing longtime black residents displaced by white, wealthier young professionals. So a child from an economically struggling family could be in neighborhood with low vacancy and high home values, but the child's family may be struggling to stay in that area.

The adversity score also considers having a single parent as an adversity. However, a student could be in a two-parent household and still face adversity if one or both of the parents has a serious problem, such as drug or alcohol addiction.

Being able to count one of the adversity factors matters in determining the adversity score. As the Wall Street Journal reports: "An adversity score of 50 is average. Anything above it designates hardship, below it privilege."

2. The SAT is rooted in a racist past

Adding an adversity score to the SAT does nothing to change the racist origin of the test — a past that reverberates to this day.

When Carl Brigham, a professor of psychology at Princeton University, created the Scholastic Aptitude Test, now known as the SAT, he was an active member of the Eugenics Society. This society believed in the supremacy of white people and in using education to work for the purposes of preserving the purity of the race.

Brigham wrote a book about what he saw as the inferiority of immigrants and black people to white people. This belief echoed in his testing of intelligence for the United States Army. Brigham concluded that "the army mental tests had proven beyond any scientific doubt that, like the American Negroes, the Italians and Jews were genetically ineducable." He later adapted that test into the SAT.

Read more: A Florida high school student claims she's being unfairly punished after her 330-point SAT improvement was deemed invalid

Although Brigham later recanted his racist positions, the foundational purpose and theory had been cast.

This practice weighting questions to favor whites has been studied and verified in 2003 by Roy Freedle and again verified in 2010 by education researchers Veronica Santelices and Mark Wilson.

The SAT's racist origins continue to echo in today's formation of test items and how they are ranked. For example, in 2002, education researchers found that items on which black students scored higher than white students were discarded from the SAT.

A 2010 study confirmed that the test was continually shaped in a racially discriminatory way.

Newer versions of the SAT have also been found to disadvantage girls. Newer versions have also contained stereotypes and gender bias.

For instance, a 2015 version of the test asked students to analyze an argument that a woman's place is in the home. A different problem on the same test had more boys than girls in a math class.

In short, the adversity score represents a flawed attempt to fix a flawed test.

3. Test measures wealth

As has shown by the recent college admissions scandal, there are several ways that more affluent people game the test. For instance, if students can afford the expensive test preparation programs, they, at minimum, are more familiar with the test format and sample items.

The advantage of money cannot be ignored. High SAT scores are highly correlated with higher family incomes. This undermines any claims that the SAT is objective.

On a more sinister level, several individuals in the college admission scandal have paid for disability designations so that their children have more time to take the test.

In short, the SAT has never been neutral about race, class or gender.

Moving away from the SAT

So, what to do with these facts? The SAT has been proven, time and time again, to fail as an indicator of achievement in college. It also is less predictive than high school GPA averages and family income levels.

Based on these disparities, colleges and universities can choose to stop using the test. An increasing number of institutions of higher education have decided to go test-optional.

If more colleges and students opt out of the SAT, it could break the SAT's almost centurylong hold as a biased gatekeeper to college.

Short of not using the SAT, admissions officers and colleges could give more consideration to other things, such as essays or recommendation letters.

Admissions officers can also learn to see students' "community cultural wealth"— as race and education scholar Tara Yosso terms it — rather than seeing high achieving students as the meritorious individuals who have risen above their adverse conditions.

Students of color with the least advantage in terms of wealth don't need saviors — they need a more just society.

• High school juniors may find themselves at a disadvantage when they apply to college next year.
• With many current seniors looking to defer college admission for a year, there may be less spots available for the class of 2021.
• Juniors are also set to miss out on the activities that often help distinguish an application, like extracurriculars and jobs.
• Low-income students may be disproportionately impacted, especially if SAT testing moves online.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The coronavirus pandemic has thrown many current and soon-to-be collegiate careers into disarray, but some of the biggest losers have been a relative afterthought so far: the juniors who haven't even applied yet.

The reason why has to do with all the seniors who, heading into an uncertain collegiate future, may opt to take a gap year instead of enrolling as planned.

"Almost all of my students who have been admitted to top-tier colleges are reconsidering their plans for this upcoming academic year, with some submitting gap year request forms to delay the start of their freshman year so that they can have the full college experience," college admissions consultant Christopher Rim, the CEO of Command Education, previously told Business Insider.

If schools open online in the fall, 12% of high school seniors will take a gap year, according to a survey of 1,100 current high school seniors and college students by higher-ed research and marketing firm SimpsonScarborough. 

And, according to a Niche survey of 34,392 high school seniors, 7% of school seniors are considering deferring for a year or not enrolling.

For other students, deferring or not attending next year may not be much of a choice. International students, for instance, face ever-changing travel restrictions. Foreign nationals traveling from China currently aren't allowed to enter the US— and China was the largest source of international students in the 2018-2019 school year.

All of those students deferring admission — and the international students who may not be allowed to travel — will hypothetically matriculate in 2021. That means that the class of 2021 could be competing with two years' worth of high schoolers for a college spot — and the class of 2020 has already secured theirs.

Fewer college enrollments in the fall — coupled with cancelled extracurriculars and opportunities — spells trouble for juniors

"The reality is that there's going to be fewer enrollments and fewer graduates, and it's going to take time to get that back on track," Luke Skurman, CEO and founder of Niche, told Business Insider in an email. "Our recent survey shows that half of high school students are rethinking their college options and 9% are considering deferring their acceptance. That, combined with 26% of college students considering transferring or taking time off could lead to a devastating fall — but opens up the possibility of a much larger than usual spring and fall 2021 enrollment size for institutions who can weather the budgetary pain of the fall."

Of course, as Rim previously noted, it's "unclear" how colleges will handle gap year requests — and what students would even be able to do during a deferred year.

Further compounding the plight of the juniors is the loss of what Rim calls a "hook"— something that helps them stand apart in an already crowded field. For many, that comes in the form of research or extracurriculars — most of which have been cancelled due to coronavirus closures. SAT tests have been cancelled through August, meaning students will get fewer opportunities to take the test or try and raise their scores.

And lower-income students will likely be disproportionately impacted. In losing access to school buildings and libraries, they may have lost their only chance of using a quiet study space and computer. Even having one computer may not be helpful if students need to share it with a parent working from home.

The Pew Research Center found that racial minorities, rural residents, and those with lower education and income levels are less likely to have internet connectivity. That could have devastating repercussions for prospective college applicants or SAT test-takers if tests move online.

As Rim notes, many lower-income students receive SAT tutoring through public schools. If tests do resume in-person in August, they'll still be left behind by the absence of that tutoring. And, while many schools have moved to make SAT tests optional for 2021 admissions, those lower-income students who do not send in scores will find themselves going head to head with more well-resourced students who did.

All of that adds up to a bleak picture for juniors: they'll have fewer opportunities to hone the profile that colleges look for — like jobs and extracurriculars — and will find themselves competing for a reduced amount of seats. And, in an already pitched battle to ensure equal access to opportunities in college, exaggerated socioeconomic differences during the crisis can make it harder for the "have-nots" to access good colleges.

The plight of the juniors only further illustrates the tentacle effect of the coronavirus pandemic: the aftershocks will shape American lives for years to come.

SEE ALSO: The end of campus life: What colleges will look like in the fall, from Zoom classes to deserted quads and sports stadiums

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The US coronavirus response is a national disgrace

Most developed countries have throttled the coronavirus and are gradually resuming life as usual. But not the United States. The U.S. response to the coronavirus is by far the worst in the G7. And it's still one of the worst in the world.

Germany, Italy, Spain, South Korea, Japan, the UK… all were hit hard by the coronavirus. And all have now reduced their new cases to a small and manageable number.

Meanwhile, after plateauing but never fully declining, cases in the United States have begun growing again.

Here, from Our World in Data, is a chart showing new confirmed cases per day per million people. Yes, confirmed cases are being boosted by increased testing. But testing capacity has increased everywhere. And still the US is an outlier.

Nearly 120,000 Americans have died from the coronavirus, and about 750 are still dying every day. Meanwhile, our president is just saying more stupid things ("If we stop testing, we'd have very few cases") and pretending the problem no longer exists.

You can believe that the coronavirus is not a serious threat to you, your family, or your community. You can point out that the coronavirus is mostly killing old and sick people. You can observe that "life is risky" and that we choose to live it anyway. You can believe that "lockdowns" were overkill and that the government should have focused on mask-wearing instead.

But you cannot deny that the US has royally screwed this up and that we'll be paying for our incompetence for months if not years.

The US coronavirus response is a national disgrace. — HB

Finally, a coronavirus drug that appears to help!

A big drug trial in the UK has concluded that a cheap, widely available steroid called Dexamethasone helps reduce the percentage of seriously ill coronavirus patients who die from the disease.

The drug appears to reduce the impact of "cytokine storms," a part of the body's immune response that occasionally goes too far and kills people.

In the study, the drug reduced the death rate of patients on ventilators from 40% to 28% and of patients needing oxygen from 25% to 20%.

Unlike many early tests of potential coronavirus drugs, the UK trial was a robust "randomized control trial." Its results, therefore, are more likely to withstand scrutiny and additional tests.  As Dr. Atul Gawande pointed out this morning, however, the UK findings were revealed via a press release, not a full study write-up, so it's too early to celebrate.  

In light of the tragically weak US response to the coronavirus, one of the few remaining hopes has been a fast vaccine or therapy. Dexamethasone does not appear to be a miracle cure. But if the findings of the UK test hold up, it will help. — HB

The George Floyd protests have become five different movements. 

The George Floyd protest movement has branched into at least five different movements, all related but each pursuing its own goals. 

The first and most important movement is the fast-moving, highly contentious local effort to radically reform police departments. Defund the Police is a rallying cry, but this is highly varied campaign varying city by city depending on local activists, politicians, and police officials. In Minneapolis, the City Council seems serious about dismantling and rebuilding law enforcement. Seattle has the police-free Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone. San Francisco will stop sending officers to respond to non-criminal matters, instead dispatching health professionals and social workers. Every city is different, and each battle will be fought locally.   

The local movement is much more significant than the reform movement taking shape in Washington. National politicians have glommed onto the Floyd protests, some because they are true believers, and others because they're scared. Democrats are pushing changes to federal laws that are radical by the standards of two months ago — banning choke holds — but fairly weak tea compared to local efforts. The president and Senate Republicans aren't even offering tea, just lukewarm water in the form of quite limited reforms. Partisan dynamics ensure that the Democrats' most ambitious reforms will fail. So don't pay attention to Washington, which will make a lot of noise and accomplish little. 

The third movement is the continuing, anguished protest about specific acts of violence against Blacks. The police killing of Rayshard Brooks is inspiring huge demonstrations in Atlanta, and ousted the police chief. Protests over the mysterious hanging death of Robert Fuller have prompted an FBI investigation. These demonstrations, which focus on seeking justice in particular cases, are emotionally powerful. As we saw in the case of Floyd's death, these protests about individual cases can become the fuel that motivates protesters to seek broader reforms. 

The fourth movement is the widespread fight over statues, symbols, and names. Spun out of the Floyd protests, these symbolic battles have taken on a life of their own. In New Mexico, they've toppled statues of Spanish conquistador Juan de Oñate and produced conflict with armed counterprotesters. In Virginia, the Stonewall Manor neighborhood split when college students proposed taking Stonewall Jackson's name and image off it. Richmond is seething over the Robert E. Lee statue that lords over the city, and a judge's delay in removing it. The argument over Army bases named after Confederate generals, the banning of the Confederate flag at Nascar events, the defacing of statues of colonialist brutes — these are part of the same movement. It's a long overdue reckoning with American history. 

The fifth movement is the battle within workplaces about inequality and systemic racism. The media industry, for example, has convulsed over the past few weeks as staffers surfaced longstanding complaints about the toxic culture at places like Bon Appetit and Refinery 29. Hollywood and the food industry are erupting in similar ways. The Floyd protests drew attention to systemic racism, and that has emboldened workers to speak up about wrongs in their industry. 

In all these cases, the Floyd protests were the spark, but each of these movements will flow at its own pace and achieve its own ends. — DP

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Please don't ruin the Voice of America

The Director and Deputy Director of Voice of America resigned on Monday, following the senate confirmation of Trump ally Michael Pack as CEO of US Agency for Global Media, which encompasses VOA and four smaller U.S. government broadcasters. 

VOA is an odd beast: It was created to provide trustworthy news from an American perspective to an international audience, many living in countries without an independent media. And that's what it's done for 75 years, often under the leadership of great journalists such as departing director Amanda Bennett, a brilliant newspaper editor and Pulitzer winner. The Trump administration accused Bennett's VOA of spinning stories in China's favor and clearly wants to remake the agency. 

Pack, who makes conservative-tilting documentary films, is a Steve Bannon acolyte. Given Bennett's departure, Trump's record, and Pack's history, there are fears that VOA's mission will be twisted, and it will spew Trumpish propaganda rather than report the news. According to one report, Sebastian Gorka is already being considered for a seat on the USAGM board.

What we've learned agonizingly during the Trump years is that you can break in minutes something that took generations to build.  Decades of steady work has made VOA trusted worldwide. In the wrong hands, that reputation could collapse in months.  — DP

Fine — dump the SAT. But replace it with a really hard test. 

Harvard won't require the SAT or the ACT for applicants next year, joining the rest of the Ivy League and more than half of American colleges and universities in dropping the standardized test prerequisite. This is no tragedy. 

The SAT and ACT indicate nothing (or at best extremely little) about how well students perform in college. And like so much else in the college admissions grind, they're gamed by rich people, who pay for score-boosting tutors. Many of the schools dropping the tests next year will never reinstate them, because they'll discover no meaningful difference between the class of 2025 and previous classes. 

So don't mourn the loss of the ACT and SAT. 

But do mourn the high school test we don't have. As this brilliant book points out, all the best high school systems in the world build up to a grueling, challenging final exam. Not an insipid SAT, but a truly demanding test of everything kids have learned. 

The US lacks a national curriculum or even national standards, instead limping by with a mess of state guidance and local school districts. One result: American schools are way too easy. American kids would be better prepared for the global economy and more productive citizens if we worked them harder in high school, held them all to the same standards, and forced them to take a brutal final exam to graduate. — DP

Is Liberty the most important American university?

 The story of Saturday's Republican congressional primary in Virginia's 5th district is bonkers, but comes down to: Very conservative incumbent Denver Riggleman officiated at a gay wedding, got primaried by an even-more-conservative evangelical Christian, and lost in a weird drive-through vote. 

The primary is also fascinating because it represents the continued ascendance of Liberty University in Republican politics. Bob Good, who won the primary, is a former athletic official at Liberty, the school founded by Jerry Falwell and now run by his son Jerry Falwell Jr. 

Several conservative Christian colleges have dabbled around politics over the past 20 years, including Patrick Henry, The King's College, and Bob Jones, Liberty now prevails, largely because Falwell Jr. has so masterfully aligned himself with Trump. Early on, Falwell Jr. made the compromise that many conservative evangelicals have come to, that Trump's personal morality is irrelevant because he champions evangelical issues. On Israel, Charlottesville, and reopening, Falwell Jr. ends up articulating Trump's positions more aggressively than even the president does, which has made him a beloved ally of the president and made Liberty the preeminent university of Trumpist evangelicals. 

Falwell Jr. had endorsed Riggleman in the primary because he would have had an easier run in the general election. But he'll quickly align himself with Good, whose ascendance is another step up for Liberty.— DP

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