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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

#261

Post by ro_bit »

This is a great step for accessibility, but will not go well with Collegeboard's level of incompetence. I took the GRE (administered by the same company that owns collegeboard) remotely online and as soon as I started the test their absolute spyware of a lockdown browser immediately closed. Despite me passing the system check immediately before the test, the lockdown browser thought I was cheating and immediately shut off the test without recourse. After waiting 2 weeks, they came back saying they would not refund me and despite some back and forth, the rep I was interacting with seemed convinced I was cheating and would not give me any further details on how to prevent the issue in the future or any way to further appeal my case or get a refund.

I retook the test a couple months later inperson at a testing center (where they used computers with the same lockdown browser) and got 99th percentile scores on everything, and I would recommend anyone planning to take the SAT to still take it at a testing center.

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

#262

Post by germinalphrase »

aaomidi wrote: post #229
jmeyer2k wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is what we're working on building at AutoMark ( https://automark.io ). We're currently building grading tools for teachers, but eventually want to build out a tool to accurately monitor a student's performance over time. There's a lot of potential for AI to disrupt the education system from high school to college to a career. Currently, a GPA and a few test scores (SAT, ACT, etc) are the most in depth view into…

Please think about the ethics of what you’re about to unleash into the world.

Can you be more specific? What is your ethical concern?

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

#263

Post by htrp »

donmcronald wrote: post #133
itishappy wrote: post #33

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…

> just tried putting my bone conducting headphones against my upper jawbone inside my mouth and they work fine at 30% volume.

Which brand.... and how drool proof are they over an hour long test?

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

#264

Post by hirvi74 »

bombcar wrote: post #151
johntiger1 wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Will they disqualify me if I am naked during the exam?

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

#265

Post by [deleted] »

bombcar wrote: post #147
donmcronald wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

The point isn’t to stop all cheating, it’s to catch the most blatant idiots cheating. That’s really all that’s required.

[deleted]

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

#266

Post by anigbrowl »

eropple wrote: post #155
jobmeplease wrote: post #149

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.

My approach on these things is to put that in the essay and make them suffer through it.

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

#267

Post by BriggyDwiggs42 »

jmeyer2k wrote: post #120
germinalphrase wrote: post #110

As a former educator, I look forward to the day that we can simply track student ability in a trustable manner based on long term data collection in the classroom rather than requiring these additional, often expensive, exams. We would need to mediate our classroom interactions more than we do now - but the tools do so usefully are there if packaged correctly.

This is what we're working on building at AutoMark ( https://automark.io ). We're currently building grading tools for teachers, but eventually want to build out a tool to accurately monitor a student's performance over time. There's a lot of potential for AI to disrupt the education system from high school to college to a career. Currently, a GPA and a few test scores (SAT, ACT, etc) are the most in depth view into…

I’m so glad I’m past high school so that I won’t be labeled and tracked like a piece of grocery store meat

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

#268

Post by dylan604 »

masfuerte wrote: post #174
dylan604 wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some of the math competitions I participated would penalize for skipping around. You were awarded +5 for correct answers and -4 for incorrect or skipped questions. It was not uncommon for negative scores. In one test, any stray marks were also marked as incorrect. No erasing, no changing a 7 to a 9, or anything was allowed. The questions leaned toward an increasing difficulty, but there could something very difficult…

It's cute but doesn't make any difference. Add 4 to the score for every question and you get 9 or 0. The factor of 9 makes no difference so call it 1 or 0. Now your score is just the number of questions you got right, but the ranking is exactly the same as the original scoring system.

Again, another person responding with the same trope of a response totally missing the fact that assigning 1 or 0 means an always positive score. You will never know the shame of receiving a negative score. It's part of the competition whether it was designed that way or not, it is exactly what teenage boys have turned it into. The concept of a negative score is a pretty good motivator.

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

#269

Post by renewiltord »

aaomidi wrote: post #136
germinalphrase wrote: post #110

As a former educator, I look forward to the day that we can simply track student ability in a trustable manner based on long term data collection in the classroom rather than requiring these additional, often expensive, exams. We would need to mediate our classroom interactions more than we do now - but the tools do so usefully are there if packaged correctly.

Man I hate this. The one thing I loved about schooling in Iran is that there wasn’t a constant system of surveillance. I hate the idea of long term data collection during a time a kid is supposed to be able to learn.

Same. This god-damned nightmare of needing to maintain perfection is great for some kinds of people but not me. I blew off homework often, then killed it on the tests, and killed it in grad school, and quite successful in real life. But the ideal American education is a never ending series of constant evaluation - intended to measure adherence to curriculum over everything else. Absolute nightmare. I'm really considering homeschooling my kids for this.

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

#270

Post by anigbrowl »

listenallyall wrote: post #192
ipython wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

That's like suggesting you trash a hotel room because of some grievance with corporate policy. What actually happens is some innocent housekeeper gets stuck cleaning up the mess you made. The local test proctors are tasked with following very strict procedures and not given any room for discretion, especially if the testee isn't voluntarily withdrawing. It has nothing to do with an individual lack of empathy.

No it isn't, nothing is being trashed. The proctors should be better trained instead of required to behave like unsympathetic robots.
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