On 2 Mar 2005 13:38:12 -0800, "lukne"  wrote:

>
>When mathematically talented 12- and 14-year-olds took the SAT in 1980,
>the journal Science reported, the ratio of males to females who scored
>over 700 (out of a possible 800) was 13-to-1. Now the ratio is only
>2.8-to-1, a clear sign of progress.

It's a clear sign that SAT test scoring was changed:

http://www.lagriffedulion.f2s.com/women_and_minorities_in_science.htm

"A few years ago the College Board changed its scoring system.
They called it "recentering." Ostensibly, recentering was
designed to bring both the verbal and mathematical averages
closer to 500. There were, however, other only rarely mentioned
consequences. Recentering compresses the distribution of scores
near the top, so that the best students become difficult to
distinguish from one another. The new scoring system blurs
the line between excellent and exceptional. Truly special
students get lost in the crowd of very good students. In
the year just before the SAT was recentered, 32 students
nationwide scored a "perfect" 1600 on the combined math
and verbal exams. The following year, after recentering,
545 students scored 1600, about 17 times more than under
the old system.  Coincidence or not, recentering is part of
a leveling process in education, which attempts to minimize
differences between students. With recentering, high scorers
cluster together near the top of the distribution, making
it easier for very selective schools to justify admitting
more minorities."




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