"The SAT's, usually taken by high-school juniors and seniors and used solely as a criterion for college admission, are now following many people through college and into the workplace as a defining performance measure. A certain cadre of companies that hire large numbers of fresh college graduates have ling asked about SAT scores, but many other large employers took up the habit in recent years because of the dismal job market. With thousands of resumes flowing in for even a single open position these days, employers see the scores as one more way to differentiate among applicants.

"And most employers who ask about the SAT say they want someone whose scores are well above the national average. According to the New York based College Board, the association that administers the SAT, the 1.4 million SAT takers in the class of 2003 earned average scores of 519 on the math portion of the test and 507 on the verbal section, for a total of 1026. The math average is the highest in more than 15 years, meaning that those who are applying for jobs right now on average scored lower.

"A number of ads placed by recruiters and staffing firms set clear SAT goals. Consider this recent ad on HotJobs.com for an entry-level investment banking position: "Minimum expectations include an overall score of 1350 on the SAT's...You will be required to provide official scores and transcripts, so please do not respond if you do not meet the aforementioned requirements."

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