Seems like the math portion is becoming less about math and more like an MBA reading comprehension test.
New SAT, New Problems
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Re: New SAT, New Problems
#12It's very hard to be perfect when you want to get competitive while considering 'no-child-left-behind' in college education. There are many financial aids, the famous affirmative action, the public and private college system separation, local community colleges for some low-incomes, the rich pays more tax while the poor pays none, the K-12 for all etc are all into play, if those are not enough to care for the disadvantaged, we may just open the door to take whoever wants to get into which college on a lottery basis? do we really think that communism world has arrived?
Re: New SAT, New Problems
#13> It is fine—good, even—to ask students to carry out these tasks, but in many cases these are skills that students unfortunately haven’t yet mastered. If they aren’t being taught to think about graphs that way, let alone articulate their reasoning in that matter, chances are only the smartest (or well-prepared) teens will be able to arrive at the correct answer under the time and emotional pressure of the test.
But isn't that the point of the SAT? To sort the kids who have mastered these skills from the ones that haven't?
Re: New SAT, New Problems
#14Can someone explain why both answers A and B are not valid on the metacarpal problem? If the line indicates a linear relationship between these two values, and the choice of axis is arbitrary, it seems to me you could just as well predict one from the other as vice versa.
Re: New SAT, New Problems
#15I know what that graph-line question is trying to ask, but I can't figure out those possible answers.
The answers are so ungrammatical and mystifying that it almost seems like the designers were trying to kill the test on purpose. The "correct" answer is this:
The predicted height increase in centimeters for one centimeter increase in the first metacarpal bone
...as far as I can tell, the answer written for sentient humans would be something like:
As the length of the metacarpal bone increases, so does height.
But my translation is so obvious that I sat there for five minutes wondering if I was looking at some kind of otherworldly trick question. Nope. They just made a wretched problem.
Obviously, the original SAT was an IQ test (as the article says) that allowed poor but smart kids from poor schools to get into college. But that process is self-defeating, as poor areas have all their smartest people leave for everything from state schools to Harvard. As inequality becomes more rigid groups like the College Board are flailing and improvising.
Re: New SAT, New Problems
#16Here's the College Board's page on the redesigned SAT: https://www.collegeboard.org/delivering-opportunity/sat/rede... Here's a 200 page PDF on the new format with lots of sample questions: https://www.collegeboard.org/pdf/sat/delivering-opportunity/... The sentence completions are gone; now we have words in context. Essay is twice as long. No independent writing section. Math is more algebra and prob/stats focused,…
More coachable is probably the goal. A big problem for the college board is that insofar as the SAT is difficult, math driven, and g loaded, Asian people tend to score too high.
This creates political pressure for colleges to stop using the SAT in admissions, an existential threat to the college board.
Re: New SAT, New Problems
#17Can someone explain why both answers A and B are not valid on the metacarpal problem? If the line indicates a linear relationship between these two values, and the choice of axis is arbitrary, it seems to me you could just as well predict one from the other as vice versa.
The line of best fit changes depending on the choice of independent variable, even for the same data. The quantity being minimized is different for the two cases. (sum of squares of vertical distances between the line and the data points vs. the same for the horizontal distance)
The question is very specifically about the interpretation of the slope, and because the slope would be different for the other case, only one of the answers is correct.
Re: New SAT, New Problems
#18> It is fine—good, even—to ask students to carry out these tasks, but in many cases these are skills that students unfortunately haven’t yet mastered. If they aren’t being taught to think about graphs that way, let alone articulate their reasoning in that matter, chances are only the smartest (or well-prepared) teens will be able to arrive at the correct answer under the time and emotional pressure of the test. But i…
The original point of the SAT was to measure "aptitude" in order to identify students might perform well in college, but did not have good opportunities to demonstrate that in high school. This was before things like "aptitude" and "intelligence" became dirty words.
Re: New SAT, New Problems
#19Can someone explain why both answers A and B are not valid on the metacarpal problem? If the line indicates a linear relationship between these two values, and the choice of axis is arbitrary, it seems to me you could just as well predict one from the other as vice versa.
Sure, you could just as well predict one from the other. But the question asks "What is the following is the best interpretation of the _slope_ of the line of best fit in the context of this problem?", and you are expected to interpret "slope" in the usual jargon sense (as the the ratio of vertical change to horizontal change, rather than vice versa).
(By "vertical" and "horizontal" here, I mean with respect to the graph, not the interpretation, although it happens to be the case that the vertical axis corresponds to height and the horizontal axis corresponds to length.)
Re: New SAT, New Problems
#20I know what that graph-line question is trying to ask, but I can't figure out those possible answers.
The answers are so ungrammatical and mystifying that it almost seems like the designers were trying to kill the test on purpose. The "correct" answer is this: The predicted height increase in centimeters for one centimeter increase in the first metacarpal bone ...as far as I can tell, the answer written for sentient humans would be something like: As the length of the metacarpal bone increases, so does height. But my…
Your translation does not capture what they are saying. They are asking what quantity the slope of the line (as in, rise over run) corresponds to. The answer should be a noun phrase describing some numerical quantity, not a sentence describing a true or false fact about the world.