DT> The SAT's do not examine student knowledge of history, sciences, the 
DT> arts, humanities, foreign languages, social sciences, or other 
DT> important 
DT> subjects.  It concerns itself with verbal materials and mathematics.  
    That's not a valid criticism of the SAT, which is just a test colleges 
use to evaluate applicants for their likely ability to succeed in college.
    A kid can never take a chemistry course and go to college and graduate 
cum laude majoring in chemistry.  He can learn little in his social-studies 
courses K-12 and graduate from college with honors as a history major.  But a 
kid who lacks the algebra and prealgebra skills emphasized by the SAT will 
have a very rough time even passing not only required college math courses 
(regardless of what he majors in), but he also will have a very rough time in 
many majors other than math (even business administration).  Math is the 
"killer" subject for college students in a way no other subject is.
    The verbal part of the SAT, in my opinion, is much less significant as to 
the likelihood of a kid graduating from college or having trouble in 
freshman-sophomore courses (since a kid with a small vocabulary can make up 
for it with a dictionary and paying attention in class).
DT> The scoring of an SAT is somewhat complicated (to the layman) since 
DT> the 
DT> number of right answers are converted to a scale so that a student 
DT> SAT 
DT> score could range from 400 - 1600 points.  Even a very talented 
DT> student 
DT> who only misses one question on the verbal could lose 50 scale points 
DT> (and get a scaled score of 750 instead of 800).  
    Colleges use computer software, adjusted for the experience of that 
particular college, to predict "predicted grade point average" for applicants 
based on SAT scores and percentile high school class rank.  The software also 
predicts the percent chance the kid will graduate.
    I'd guess your hypothetical applicant would have nearly the same 
predicted grade point average whether his verbal score was 750 or 800, and as 
a result his chance of admission would not be significantly effected at most 
colleges...particularly now that many colleges are so lax on admissions.
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