Although the format and scoring methods for the SAT were revamped earlier this year, some tutors and testing experts are concerned the questions are inherently biased in favor of male students.
The New York Times reported a number of SAT tutors who took the revamped exam in May identified gender bias and questions that “might trigger stereotype-driven test anxiety” for girls.
The tutors took issue with two specific questions.
A question in the math section involved a chart that showed more boys than girls enrolled in math classes overall. The test takers argued that this was an example of a “stereotype threat.”
“When people are reminded during a test of a negative stereotype about their race or sex, psychologists say, it creates a kind of test anxiety that leads them to underperform,” the Times wrote.
The other question under scrutiny asked students to analyze a 19th-century essay on slavery and abolitionism, which argued a women’s place was in the home. The essay appeared next to a counter-argument that said no person’s rights should be limited based on sex.
The tutors didn’t complain about the content of the questions, but argued that their placement at the beginning of the test would allow the subject to linger in student’s minds for the duration of the exam.
Joshua Aronson, an NYU psychology professor who also conducts test-taking research, told the Times that topics like these should be avoided if possible, as they may create “cognitive fatigue” for girls who are bothered by them.
However, Aronson also said the most recent research on stereotypes and testing has found that girls are not as aware of gender stereotypes as they were when the original research was done in the 1990s. “What I think is in part responsible for that is that in the last 25 years, the gender roles for boys and girls have totally reversed,” he said. “Girls are the good students now; boys are a mess.”
The College Board reported there was no difference between the scores of boys and girls with comparable ability on either of the challenged questions.
