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Take Two! SAT Retaking and College Enrollment Gaps

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  • Joshua Goodman
  • Oded Gurantz
  • Jonathan Smith

Abstract

Only half of SAT-takers retake the exam, with even lower retake rates among low income and underrepresented minority (URM) students. We exploit discontinuous jumps in retake probabilities at multiples of 100, driven by left-digit bias, to estimate retaking’s causal effects. Retaking substantially improves SAT scores and increases four-year college enrollment rates, particularly for low income and URM students. Eliminating disparities in retake rates could close up to 10 percent of the income-based gap and up to seven percent of the race-based gap in four-year college enrollment rates of high school graduates.

Suggested Citation

  • Joshua Goodman & Oded Gurantz & Jonathan Smith, 2018. "Take Two! SAT Retaking and College Enrollment Gaps," NBER Working Papers 24945, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:24945
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    2. Bizopoulou, Aspasia & Megalokonomou, Rigissa & Simion, Stefania, 2022. "Do Second Chances Pay Off? Evidence from a Natural Experiment with Low-Achieving Students," IZA Discussion Papers 15139, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Wouter Dessein & Alex Frankel & Navin Kartik, 2023. "Test-Optional Admissions," Papers 2304.07551, arXiv.org, revised Nov 2023.
    4. Machado, Cecilia & Szerman, Christiane, 2021. "Centralized college admissions and student composition," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    5. Francesconi, Marco & Slonimczyk, Fabián & Yurko, Anna, 2019. "Democratizing access to higher education in Russia: The consequences of the unified state exam reform," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 56-82.
    6. Arcidiacono, Peter & Kinsler, Josh & Ransom, Tyler, 2022. "Asian American Discrimination in Harvard Admissions," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    7. Germ'an Reyes, 2023. "Cognitive Endurance, Talent Selection, and the Labor Market Returns to Human Capital," Papers 2301.02575, arXiv.org.
    8. Rodriguez, Viviana, 2023. "Student effort response to shifts in university admission policies," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    9. Todd R. Jones & Daniel Kreisman & Ross Rubenstein & Cynthia Searcy & Rachana Bhatt, 2022. "The Effects of Financial Aid Loss on Persistence and Graduation: A Multi-Dimensional Regression Discontinuity Approach," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 17(2), pages 206-231, Spring.
    10. Joshua S. Goodman & Michael Hurwitz & Christine Mulhern & Jonathan Smith, 2019. "O Brother, Where Start Thou? Sibling-Spillovers in College Enrollment," CESifo Working Paper Series 7974, CESifo.
    11. Georg Graetz & Oskar Nordström Skans & Björn Öckert, 2020. "Family background and the responses to higher SAT scores," CEP Discussion Papers dp1698, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    12. Bernal, Gloria L. & Penney, Jeffrey, 2019. "Scholarships and student effort: Evidence from Colombia’s Ser Pilo Paga program," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 121-130.
    13. Albarran, Pedro & Battaglia, Marianna & Sartarelli, Marcello, 2022. "The psychological effect of a math signal," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    14. Saygin, Perihan O. & Atwater, Ann, 2021. "Gender differences in leaving questions blank on high-stakes standardized tests," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    15. Michael D. Bloem & Weixiang Pan & Jonathan Smith, 2021. "College entrance exam‐taking strategies in Georgia," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 88(2), pages 587-627, October.
    16. Aspasia Bizopoulou & Rigissa Megalokonomou & Stefania Simion, 2022. "Do Second Chances Pay Off?," Bristol Economics Discussion Papers 22/762, School of Economics, University of Bristol, UK.
    17. Zhenyu Yao & Wei Zhang & Xinde Ji & Weizhe Weng, 2023. "Short-Term Exposure to Air Pollution and Cognitive Performance: New Evidence from China’s College English Test," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 85(1), pages 211-237, May.
    18. Mangrum, Daniel, 2022. "Personal finance education mandates and student loan repayment," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(1), pages 1-26.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I2 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education
    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

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