Their talents were discovered by SAT tests. The politics is simple. The abolition of affirmative-action programmes in 1997 led to a dramatic reduction in the number of blacks and Latinos in the university, in part because both groups score substantially worse than whites and Asians in SAT s. Ever since then, Mr Atkinson and his friends have been trying to improve UC 's racial profile. Admittedly, there are some genuine problems with the SAT system.
Preparation substantially improves test scores.
So it makes sense to use SAT s alongside other measures. The University of California does so. Which sounds irresistible. The problem is that this ignores both educational experience and Californian reality. Looked at this way, the SAT test still does its job fairly well.