New Research Confirms Standardized Tests Are Predictor Of 'College Success - Without Bias' Some universities recently began requiring SAT or ACT scores from applicants after dropping the requirement during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some scholars advocated for the testing requirement to be removed permanently – bringing up issues like systemic bias and racial inequality. But the new research indicates that standardized tests are not biased and may even have the opposite effect. Lead author Professor John Friedman, who teaches economics at Brown University, shared with The College Fix some of the details of his team’s work. Regarding the research sample, Friedman said the team used data from first-year students at “multiple Ivy-plus colleges.” “The choice to look at first year scores was entirely driven by data, in that we were able to collect comparable data on first year grades from our partner institutions but not for longer-term grades,” Friedman explained to The Fix in a recent interview. “We’ve looked at grades in later years of college within individual schools, and the broad pattern (test scores are predictive, high school GPA is not) remains.” “In a separate paper, I have also shown that test scores but not high school GPA predict students’ post-college outcomes, including earning higher incomes, attending elite graduate schools, and working at prestigious firms,” the professor said.