Education: Cracking the Sat Code

Of all the rites of passage faced by college-bound high school students, one of the most dreaded is the three-hour multiple-choice examination known as the Scholastic Aptitude Test. Prepared by the College Board and administered by the Educational Testing Service in the spring of junior year and the fall of senior year, the SAT is taken by 1.5 million students annually, and the results go to 3,100 institutions of higher learning. The purpose is to give admissions directors an objective measure of the students' ability as a corrective to variable grades from their schools. But the SAT has been a target...