Are colleague Doug Belkin covers higher education, which includes stuff like the SAT, the big

college entrance exam?

So, as somebody who writes a lot about the SATs, do you get asked a lot what your score

was on the SATs?

Nobody has ever asked me what my score is, but everybody knows their score.

It's one of those things that sort of, I think, tattooed on people's brains.

I have to say, I have no idea what my score was on the SATs.

The only thing that I remember about my SAT score is when I got my score back, I remember

going, ugh, wow, I'm maybe a lot dumber than I thought I was.

Well, that's kind of the power of that test.

It's sort of, it's like the sorting hat from Harry Potter.

That number goes much deeper than college admissions.

It really is sort of a magical sorting number, and that's why it has so much power and

why it's emblazoned on the brains of so many people even in a generation after they've

taken it.

But the SAT is becoming less relevant.

In the last few years, tons of schools have started making college placement exams optional.

This year, an estimated 76% of colleges and universities in the US aren't requiring

students to take them.

Now, the college board, the company that oversees the SAT, is fighting to keep the exam alive.

So, what's happening is that the SAT has become the emblem of it's a standard and a moment

in America when standards are under fire.

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