Take Two! SAT Retaking and College Enrollment Gaps

Joshua Goodman (), Oded Gurantz and Jonathan Smith

No 24945, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

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.

JEL-codes: I2 I20 I23 I24 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018-08
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Published as Joshua Goodman & Oded Gurantz & Jonathan Smith, 2020. "Take Two! SAT Retaking and College Enrollment Gaps," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, vol 12(2), pages 115-158.

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Journal Article: Take Two! SAT Retaking and College Enrollment Gaps (2020)
Working Paper: Take Two! SAT Retaking and College Enrollment Gaps (2018)
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