I grew up fairly poor in a rather mediocre school district. I wonder if I'd have even gotten into college without the SAT (which is the better test, in my opinion). Getting 99%s on that made a difference for me.
University of California Will Stop Using SAT, ACT
121–130 of 393 posts
Re: University of California Will Stop Using SAT, ACT
#122Earlier quoted context omitted.
Haha.. I think you have this backwards! If you think money can buy a good SAT score - go make some. Reality? Much easier to pay for a trip to "volunteer" in africa or at the local hospital, get on sports teams etc etc. If you have $$ being head of club X is a cakewalk! I had life changing SAT scores, and while prep helps, that slacker kid isn't getting 1600
It's 2400 now btw. There are three sections
No it is not. In 2005 it went from 1600 to 2400. In 2016 it went from 2400 back to 1600.
Re: University of California Will Stop Using SAT, ACT
#123Personally, I would like to a see a government sponsored test where the study materials are provided for free. I feel like that would help decrease the amount of people who couldn't afford the prep courses or tutors. Not ideal, but better than the current system where wealthy parents pay for the best tutors and materials.
Today, the official preparation materials for the SAT are provided for free to anyone with internet access through Khan Academy, and others in this thread have claimed they are as good as privately available tutoring. I suspect that no matter how effective the publicaly available test prep is, somebody will always be able to convince parents to pay them to do better, whether or not that actually works. For strong cultural reasons, having the police enforce a ban on all nonfree activities intended to prepare students for the test is not viable.
Re: University of California Will Stop Using SAT, ACT
#124I know some people protest measures that are considered more "objective" over measures that are more "holistic", whether this is in school admittance, performance evaluation, promotion consideration, interviewing, determining welfare benefits, choosing who makes the rules and governs. However it has been my experience that whenever an explicit test or hierarchy is removed another shadow one builds up that is more sub…
One thing I’d like to see is freezing grade inflation. A more normal distribution curve for grades rather than an abnormal amount being rated A/A+.
Why does this make any sense?
Generally speaking, students at top universities are intelligent and hard-working. Their talent is not normally distributed, and this is increasingly the case as admissions becomes hyper-competitive. Not to mention, students self-select into courses to which they are most suited and likely to perform well.
If all students in a particular class master the subject matter, why should some students be forced to receive failing grades?
Should the purpose of higher education be to rank students on increasingly marginal criteria or to...educate?
Re: University of California Will Stop Using SAT, ACT
#125Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm obviously speaking about the SAT/ACT in the context of the US system. The entire Finnish education system is extremely different than the one in the US - to say that they don't use the SAT and have better educational outcomes while ignoring everything else is just not a valid comparison. It would be equally valid to say "Finland teaches school in Finnish and they have better outcomes, so we should be teaching sch…
There some people who assert that it is in fact the Finnish language that gives them an advantage in early schooling, that the language is much more regular and easier to learn that it gives school children something like a 2 year advantage over English learners. Not disagreeing with you at all. Just wanted to point out another facet of the debate.
It's an interesting idea. The other major language similar to Finnish is Estonian. Recently Estonia has been above Finland in PISA results, but I am still extremely skeptical of this idea. From a grammar standpoint I'm not sure that Finnish is actually easier to learn than English.
Re: University of California Will Stop Using SAT, ACT
#126Earlier quoted context omitted.
Haha.. I think you have this backwards! If you think money can buy a good SAT score - go make some. Reality? Much easier to pay for a trip to "volunteer" in africa or at the local hospital, get on sports teams etc etc. If you have $$ being head of club X is a cakewalk! I had life changing SAT scores, and while prep helps, that slacker kid isn't getting 1600
It's 2400 now btw. There are three sections
They got rid of the writing section in 2016, it's back to 1600 (with optional essay)
Re: University of California Will Stop Using SAT, ACT
#127Yes, finally! As someone who underwent the standardized testing grind, I have been waiting for an announcement like this by a university system for years. I understand that there needs to be some standardized way to objectively score students, because allocating college seats to students seems to be an induced scarcity problem. However, as someone who scored highly and is currently studying computer science at UC Ber…
The problem is that whatever fills the void left by SAT and ACT will likely be _easier_ to game. Standardized tests are not perfect but they're a better signal than extracurricular checkboxes or professionally-edited essays.
Yeah...i'm pretty sure that is the whole intention. Us New Yorkers have been having the same problem as they tried to take away standardized high school entrance exams. Most doubt the intention was to make it fair -- the intention was to make it opaque so admins could pick and choose students rather than leave it up to people studying their way in.
Re: University of California Will Stop Using SAT, ACT
#128UC Berkeley alumni here. Don’t know that this is a good thing.
Currently, the UC’s provide a lot of weight to holistic applications. These often favor privileged kids, as they have access to far more opportunities than others. For some, the SAT provided a sort of leveling field in that regard.
Still, it wasn’t perfect, but I fail to see how what they come up with will fix the issue.
Of interest is that all of this is taking place in a state that has banned affirmative action.
Re: University of California Will Stop Using SAT, ACT
#129Earlier quoted context omitted.
One thing I’d like to see is freezing grade inflation. A more normal distribution curve for grades rather than an abnormal amount being rated A/A+.
Why does this make any sense? Generally speaking, students at top universities are intelligent and hard-working. Their talent is not normally distributed, and this is increasingly the case as admissions becomes hyper-competitive. Not to mention, students self-select into courses to which they are most suited and likely to perform well. If all students in a particular class master the subject matter, why should some s…
Because the average score should be a 2.0 GPA.
If that university has a better fount of students then an A at that uni is better than an A at another uni. Don’t worry, institutional reputation is already a thing, so that’s not a problem. Grade inflation means you have no idea how poorly of well someone is because everyone gets a “participation” score.
Re: University of California Will Stop Using SAT, ACT
#130[deleted]