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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 students 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 7 percent of the race-based gap in four-year college enrollment rates of high school graduates.

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  • Joshua Goodman & Oded Gurantz & Jonathan Smith, 2020. "Take Two! SAT Retaking and College Enrollment Gaps," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 12(2), pages 115-158, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aejpol:v:12:y:2020:i:2:p:115-58
    DOI: 10.1257/pol.20170503
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    8. Bratti, Massimiliano & Granato, Silvia & Havari, Enkelejda, 2024. "Another Chance: Number of Exam Retakes and University Students' Outcomes," IZA Discussion Papers 17400, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. 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.
    10. 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.
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    12. 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.
    13. 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).
    14. 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.
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    17. Germ'an Reyes, 2023. "Cognitive Endurance, Talent Selection, and the Labor Market Returns to Human Capital," Papers 2301.02575, arXiv.org.
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    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination

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