Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Major Changes in SAT Announced by College Board

Maybe there should be a pass/fail "ready for college" exam that has relevant curricular based limits on content. So many tests that report further out on a curve aren't normed at those levels and end up reporting perfectionism and test taking skills. For schools or programs interested in aptitudes, how bout a ramped up differntial aptitude test. For schools wanting specific knowledge depth, how about AP tests?

I like the sound of this, in principle.

Except that it's very expensive and there's still no guarantee that you won't end up working at Starbucks.

I hate that they are getting rid of "...the SAT’s rarefied vocabulary words". That part of the SAT rewarded lifetime readers. It was quite difficult to prep for the CR section in a short period of time because if it -- you either have it or you don't. My kids and I all did very, very well on that section with no prep because we are avid readers. Hate that they are dumbing it down...

But not all college bound kids TAKE AP Classes and not all High School even offer many AP classes. Particularly ones in poorer areas/districts. Are you saying the kids would NEED to take AP Classes to get into university. AP Classes are supposed to be "college level" classes. I don't want to debate the merits of AP Classes here, but they are administered by the same company that sells the SAT and are going through revisions and have problems of their own. I'm not sure they are any better indicator of college readiness than the SAT. What you are probably looking for is the SAT Subject test, and fewer and fewer school require those. Some schools like the UC System, now only require them if you are applying for programs like Engineering.

As for one test to show "ready for college", so who is going to make that test. Each college? And students are going to have to take multiple tests? At least that might stem the trend to applied to 15-20 colleges. In defense of a test like the ACT or SAT, different colleges expect different 'scores' and some look more carefully at sub scores. Grades alone without any standardized test have their own problem because there isn't one standard by witch all classes are graded even amount one high school.

I also disagree with the statement that 'college is high school'. This very much depends on what school. There are a whole range of universities & colleges in the US, with a huge variation is the level of their classwork. Many community colleges have many 'high school' level classes, and high schools have 'AP' classes. Thus making 'high school' and the first year of college a bit muddy. But I know very bright students who are at top ranked universities who worked extremely hard through high school, and now are often working harder than I certainly every did in college. This is really a topic that has previously been discussed on another tread, and I don't want to go into more here.

Back to the topic at hand. Not sure at all about these SAT changes will have to see more info. I don't think it's going to really change the SAT test prep situation. I don't like that my DS15 will be in on the first year of these new changes, and one of the guinea pig of the new test. And I do agree that these 'college' tests should test what colleges what to know, more than what high schools are teaching.

Sure subject tests, whatever. Something for schools or programs that want them. I hadn't heard of AP when I was in school, didn't realize it wasn't now ubiquitous.

The one test, seems to be where SAT is heading with the changes described.

eta: Reading a bit more, it seems that AP classes aren't required to take the exams.

All this nonsense just reinforces my inclination to have DD go to uni outside of this country. A country that still has institutions of higher learning in which academic merit, a solid work ethic and passion about ideas are still valued.

On the same, cheerful note:

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/03/07/us-data-show-2008-graduates-hit-hard-recession
Recession Hit 2008 Grads Hard
Inside Higher Education
March 7, 2014
By Andrea Watson

Americans who received bachelor's degrees in 2008 were roughly twice as likely to be unemployed after a year than were their peers who graduated in 1993 and 2000, the Education Department's National Center for Education Statistics said in a report Thursday. Mostly to blame, the researchers said: the recession.

...

When it comes to how much the graduates made annually one year out of college, the median annual salaries were much lower in 2009 than in 2001. For example, those in the humanities made $30,000 vs. $35,900.

**********************************************

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-...ow-wage-jobs-displace-less-educated.html
College Grads Taking Low-Wage Jobs Displace Less Educated
By Katherine Peralta
Bloomberg Personal Finance
Mar 6, 2014 12:00 PM ET

Recent college graduates are ending up in more low-wage and part-time positions as it’s become harder to find education-level appropriate jobs, according to a January study by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

The share of Americans ages 22 to 27 with at least a bachelor’s degree in jobs that don’t require that level of education was 44 percent in 2012, up from 34 percent in 2001, the study found.

The recent rise in underemployment for college graduates represents a return to the levels of the early 1990s, according to the New York Fed study. The rate rose to 46 percent during the 1990-1991 recession, then declined during the economic expansion that followed as employers hired new graduates to keep pace with technological advances.

AMEN.

Because now, you see, all of the onus is on families/students to differentiate themselves from the hordes of coached 1600's which will follow.

Which is going to make the grooming/prepping frenzy even worse, I predict. {sigh}

Otherwise, what WILL institutions like Stanford, MIT, Harvard, etc. use to determine who is truly the best and brightest among candidates?

This isn't-- and has never really been about-- egalitarian ethos. I sure wish that K-12 education insiders and mover-shaker types would finally figure this out. No, not everyone is equally "able." Deal with it.

I suspect there's something else driving this overhaul other than the idea that they're responsible for fixing the prep craze. I mean, really? As long as there are parents there will be at least some test-prep.