ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the effect of planning to take the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) on students' growth in mathematics achievement of high school. It focuses on the SAT as an institutional feature of the American educational system and its possible influences on student achievement. The chapter explains how the SAT can act as an incentive system by determining whether sophomores who planned to take the examination had higher growth rates in mathematics over the last two years of high school compared to sophomores who did not have these plans. It shows three types of control variables: social background, exposure to and success in mathematics, and educational aspirations. These three factors need to be taken into account because they may affect not only mathematics achievement and students' plans to take the SAT, but also, the relationship between mathematics achievement and students' plans to take the SAT.
