The SAT is used to predict the success of high school students in college. Suppose that the Pearson r correlation between scores on the SAT and grades at University Z during the freshman year, based on a sample of 500 participants, is + .53. A student complains that a friend of hers did poorly on the SAT but was admitted to University Z anyway and earned high grades during the first year, while another friend did very well on the SAT but flunked out of University Z in the first year. Should the student conclude from these two results that the SAT is inaccurate and worthless? Why or why not?
