This past weekend, thousands of Long Island students went to school and paid for the questionable privilege of taking the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), an old and controversial ritual that has less place in our schools than any prayer. We're the only industrialized country that still puts its students through across-the-board college entrance exams. Instead of following the leads of countries that have stronger educational systems, our national and state educational leaders are test happy. Our young people and their families pay the price.

The Chancellor of the University of California recently called for that prestigious system to dump SAT as an admission requirement. Other campuses will likely follow California's lead. Already nearly 400 colleges and universities have dropped the SAT and ACT from all or most admissions decisions.

It's been 20 years since I went through the SAT ritual and it really looked like the gig was up on this sham event then. The early '80s was the time of the first big controversies about ethnic and racial gaps in test scores. We already knew about the gaps between male and female students. Most significantly, my year was about the last year that the College Board stubbornly insisted that preparation for the SAT was unnecessary. Test takers should be able to score based on their personal abilities, it was claimed. Very few of my classmates took any kind of preparation courses. Like most, I took the test twice, and scored over 200 points higher the second time because I was more prepared and familiar with the test.

Today, the College Board urges everyone who registers to buy the test packs at $10 each and to buy the practice CD disk at $30 and the board makes even more money licensing materials to test preparation schools. Most local high schools actively encourage and even sponsor test preparation courses. Some local tutors can get $500 per hour. In the end, these tests measure how well young people prepare for tests, which has nothing to do with the claimed benefits.

The SAT does predict, to a degree, a student's grades in the first year of college. Unfortunately, there is no correlation between test scores and four-year grades or graduation rates, which is what really matter.

The whole thing is a scam, run by a private company with virtually no oversight. I remember being particularly annoyed at being forced to complete "experimental" sections on the test, making me an unpaid guinea pig and adding to the stress of the whole affair.

Instead, let's have students complete a clear, concise three-to-five paragraph essay on any subject and then compute the interest on a credit card bill. It'd be just as valid at predicting long-range success, but without the fuss, stress or price tag.