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U.S. students will take the SAT online

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Re: U.S. students will take the SAT online

#151

My friend took an important law school exam (GRE or BAR, not sure which) in the past 2 years that was self administered, and she described her experience as "harrowing." The kernel level malware they installed to monitor the exam crashed her device 4 times during the exam. This was after she got it running on a secondary device because it wouldn't even start on her M1 MacBook Air. The software recorded her screen and…

Can't her husband just stand in front of her, behind the laptop webcam? There's often ridiculously simple real-world workarounds these complex device security process

They want to see your face and will disqualify you if you glance away from the monitor too often.

Re: U.S. students will take the SAT online

#152
post #11

When I took the GRE in 2017, everything was digital as well. But I couldn't believe how locked down the experience was. The testing center in downtown SF had no windows, a metal detector, and you had to check all food outside of the testing room. Just in case you were going to try to cheat off of your banana. I think each computer was also recording a video of you taking the test although I might be mistaken here. Ce…

When I took the GRE in 2017, I got a really bad bloody nose right when the test started and I couldn't pause the test. The person monitoring wouldn't let me have a bunch of tissues at the computer (Perhaps due to cheating concerns), so each time I needed a new tissue I had to raise my hand and she gave me one. I didn't end up scoring very well.

Sounds like you should have bled all over the computer and let them deal with it. The lack of empathy they showed is abhorrent. Ugh. I’m sorry to hear that.

Re: U.S. students will take the SAT online

#153
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who is looking at your SAT score from 10 years ago?

I applied to Canonical a few months back and they made me write an essay describing my high school grades, extracurriculars, and test results. I've never had that experience in any other job app so it's pretty Canonical specific but it does happen.

I thought that part of the application was a bit odd. High school me is so different from current me that I might as well be writing about a different human being entirely.

Re: U.S. students will take the SAT online

#154

My friend took an important law school exam (GRE or BAR, not sure which) in the past 2 years that was self administered, and she described her experience as "harrowing." The kernel level malware they installed to monitor the exam crashed her device 4 times during the exam. This was after she got it running on a secondary device because it wouldn't even start on her M1 MacBook Air. The software recorded her screen and…

I've taken some tech certifications in the past and had the option of taking it at home (PSI) or at a test center (Pearson). The amount of intrusive demands the at home tests required and the absurd amount of monitoring made sure I never take a at home exam. Test centers I just bring my ID, leave my phone an keys in a locker and go to the assigned PC.

One memorable instance, I have a 37" 4K screen. In full screen mode the questions are in the top left and the multi choice answers are bottom right. The test proctor kept interrupting my exam because they assume I was looking away from the screen. I had to remind them repeatedly I'm using a large screen.

Re: U.S. students will take the SAT online

#155
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who is looking at your SAT score from 10 years ago?

I applied to Canonical a few months back and they made me write an essay describing my high school grades, extracurriculars, and test results. I've never had that experience in any other job app so it's pretty Canonical specific but it does happen.

Canonical's interview process is legendarily invasive and dumb, and they get very touchy when you tell them so. I enjoyed how, when I pointed out that the questions about high school extracurriculars would narrow down many of my demographics and let you guess at a few others (and just the way I write would let you make strong inferences about others), they clammed up and told me I could do it or drop. I dropped.

Re: U.S. students will take the SAT online

#156

My friend took an important law school exam (GRE or BAR, not sure which) in the past 2 years that was self administered, and she described her experience as "harrowing." The kernel level malware they installed to monitor the exam crashed her device 4 times during the exam. This was after she got it running on a secondary device because it wouldn't even start on her M1 MacBook Air. The software recorded her screen and…

That's crazy because I imagine cheating is trivial for those that want to do it. All you would need is a clean install, an HDMI splitter, and a tiny earbud stuffed in your ear. Then someone in an adjacent room can feed you answers. Even if they start making people put their ears up to the camera, that won't help much. Bone conducting headphones built into the arms of glasses will be virtually undetectable. Do you ban…

oh shit that is a good idea

Re: U.S. students will take the SAT online

#158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I applied to Canonical a few months back and they made me write an essay describing my high school grades, extracurriculars, and test results. I've never had that experience in any other job app so it's pretty Canonical specific but it does happen.

Canonical's interview process is legendarily invasive and dumb, and they get very touchy when you tell them so. I enjoyed how, when I pointed out that the questions about high school extracurriculars would narrow down many of my demographics and let you guess at a few others (and just the way I write would let you make strong inferences about others), they clammed up and told me I could do it or drop. I dropped.

I've heard similar things from former employees too. One glassdoor reviewer (so take with a grain of salt) said that they were called stupid by leadership for suggesting that the process might be biased, which of course it is. It also feels dehumanizing. It may take months to go from applying for a job to talking to a real human being.

Re: U.S. students will take the SAT online

#159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm shocked at how laissez-faire we've gotten for college entrance exams, to the point that they stopped requiring SAT altogether, but are starting to bring it back. there's a lot of things they've done is head scratching. i loved when they changed the scores so that your result from 10 years prior suddenly become a lower result so people had to know when you took the test to properly weight the result. The laissez…

They stopped requiring road tests? Man, seems like that would cause a bunch of cybertrucks to drive into hotels or something.

Yes, when I received my license, I had to do a road test with a state trooper riding shotgun. Four years later, my younger sibling did not have to do the road test. I don't know what the particulars were of qualifying to not have to do the test, but taking a certified driver's ed class was still a requirement. So it's not like there was someone just taking a multiple choice test with no behind the wheel training.

Re: U.S. students will take the SAT online

#160

tbh I'm most interested by this: > "Today's students, they do a lot of their living digitally, they do a lot of their learning digitally and they do a lot of their test taking digitally," says Priscilla Rodriguez, who oversees the SAT for the College Board, the organization behind the test. How do kids work out math problems these days? Do they draw equations with their finger on a tablet/phone? Tablet pen on tablet?…

My kid is doing prealgebra now online (AoPS). When she's on an iPad Pro, she uses the Apple Pencil in the Notes app, side-by-side with the AoPS window. When she's on a non-Pro iPad she uses pencil and paper. I assume kids will use scratch paper with the SAT, along with calculators. > Are they learning math typesetting at a young age? My kid loves doing LateX on AoPS, for some reason. I guess it will be useful if she'…

Due to wrist injuries I used to type and turn in printed copies of my homework for a variety of math heavy engineering classes. It was quite nice once I got used to it especially because it reduced the friction of fixing a mistake and reduced the cost of including connecting or explanatory prose statements. It really improved the quality of my written work (especially the diagrams and the greek letters).

Anyway, I just got excited because I hadn't heard of anyone else doing that, I hope it remains a useful technique for your daughter for her classes.

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