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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

#51

People dont talk about this, but the SAT used to be more of a signal of intelligence and academic ability. In the 70-90s, you could really trust a good SAT score. Its been nerfed, they purposefully removed the performance aspect, its now very common for not that intelligent people (relative to the true intellectual elite) to get perfect scores. This changes who ends up at elite institutions, and effectively who makes…

> This changes ... who makes decisions in society.

Does it? Seems to me that wealthy bankers still control society.

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

#52

From what I've heard the new test is more volatile/less informative. I wonder if this is a result of College Board reacting to the trend that started a few years ago where universities started saying that the SAT was a bad indicator for equity reasons.

> I wonder if this is a result of College Board reacting to the trend that started a few years ago where universities started saying that the SAT was a bad indicator for equity reasons.

Most of those universities have flipped flopped into requiring the SAT/ACT again because the other indicators (GPA, class ranking, extra curriculars) were actually even worse for equity reasons.

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

#53
An extended family member is going to take the digital SAT next week.

- The digital test is now adaptive: https://blog.collegeboard.org/what-digital-sat-adaptive-test...

- I'm curious how this year's test will perform to the released analysis of the 2022 test: https://reports.collegeboard.org/media/pdf/2022-total-group-...

From the 2022 report:

1,737,678 total took the test.

Female: 6% of 890,254 = 53,415 females got 1400-1600 (highest scorers)

Male: 9% of 841,224 = 75,710 males got 1400-1600 (highest scorers)

American Indian: 2% of 14,800 = 296 got 1400-1600 (highest scorers)

Asian: 27% of 175,468 = 47,376 got 1400-1600 (highest scorers)

African American: 1% of 201,645 = 2,016 got 1400-1600 (highest scorers)

Hispanic: 2% of 396,422 = 7,928 got 1400-1600 (highest scorers)

Native Hawaiian: 2% of 3,376 = 67 got 1400-1600 (highest scorers)

White: 7% of 732,946 = 51,306 got 1400-1600 (highest scorers)

Two or More Race: 10% of 66,702 = 667 got 1400-1600 (highest scorers)

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

#54

Here's the company's description of how they will secure it: https://satsuite.collegeboard.org/sat/test-security-fairness Still relying on the test being taken in a monitored environment, like at school or a test center. They emphasize that this new digital delivery means questions are less likely to be taken out of the test environment and published.

The standardized test cheating industry will still pay people to take the test and memorize certain questions, just like they've been doing forever. But that form of cheating might become a bit less useful when adaptive testing means that individual test takers are less likely to see the same questions.

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

#55

This sounds more about cuttings costs than anything else.

Agreed; this will further devalue these standardized tests when the results cannot be fully trusted and stop correlating with academic success.

"Students will still take the exam at a test center or at a high school."

You're not going to be able to take this with an iPad on your couch (or with a friend/parent nearby). Likely just as draconian as today, except no pencils required.

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

#56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed; this will further devalue these standardized tests when the results cannot be fully trusted and stop correlating with academic success.

I don't know why the above got downvoted - it's absolutely true. There is a reason I have to go into a testing center or sit there with my camera on with a proctor watching when taking cloud exams. I don't see how hard it can be to keep organizing SATs once a year - plus it really does generate a shared identity, which is something we are all sorely lacking. It was a big event to go to a different school to take the…

You will still go in, but it will be on a computer there.

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

#57

I'd rather go into a testing center and use someone else's device than infect my own system with whatever spyware they'll insist students install to try and prevent cheaters.

It will only be offered in testing centers and high schools. However, students will use either school-owned devices or their own. I believe they can download and take a practice test on the device in advance, to make sure everything works smoothly. I still wouldn't want to install the stuff on my device!

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

#58

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?…

As a current high school student who will be taking the digital SAT this March, I can assure you that paper is alive and well both in the classroom and in testing. I don’t love the new digital testing system, and I see it as a failure of their system that students can no longer self pace through the test.

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

#59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed; this will further devalue these standardized tests when the results cannot be fully trusted and stop correlating with academic success.

This are big statements to be making with no rationale. These will still be proctored exams in person, so there is no reason to believe that cheating will increase . Additionally, there is low indicators from the start that standardized tests correlate with academic success, hence the number of higher ed institutions no longer requiring them. People who want to cheat will always find a way to cheat. All you need to d…

Doing these online will create Lots of opportunities to cheat. You guys underestimate how much money there is in cheating these tests. It’s easily worth 100k per head maybe more.

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

#60

This sounds more about cuttings costs than anything else.

Agreed; this will further devalue these standardized tests when the results cannot be fully trusted and stop correlating with academic success.

How will this devalue the test? The only way in which the test is easier is that it's shorter, so students who lose steam toward the end will perform somewhat better. But this shorter test is dynamic, so it will still be able to assess students fairly, at all levels. In truth, it could even open the door to allowing for a higher ceiling, by offering even harder questions to students who score super well on earlier portions. That could make the test (and a coveted 1600+ score) even more trusted as a marker of academic ability/readiness.
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