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

Well, this will certainly fix some of THAT.

Because now colleges will be fully justified in going back to SES-loaded application line items, rather than the (previously) g-loaded standardized testing that was "so unfair" to so many merely average kids of higher SES.

Pretty sure that isn't going to make it so that more low-income students wind up at Ivies, though that may not really have been the point in the first place.

My prediction on the "what next" here is that we're probably at the event horizon for a national exit exam within the next ten years (naturally, offered by the College Board... I'd be AMAZED if this isn't part of long-range strategy, frankly, and if I were ACT, I'd be worried about market share with Coleman running CB right now given his ties to the DoEd and CCSS) and then more recentering once it becomes apparent that, well, high school students aren't doing so hot on it as a whole.

But I'm so very cynical about this at this point.

I loved the rarefied vocabulary words and, sad to say, thoroughly enjoyed taking both the SAT (7th grade and high school) and the GRE. I would have enjoyed it more if I hadn't had a terrible cold when taking the high school SAT, but I digress.

I help students get used to what to expect for standardized exams (like the MCAT) as part of my job. I have always liked that the difficult words were something you couldn't just learn by studying a list; that doesn't convey the subtleties of meaning you learn by reading. I'm all for making sure that students know important, useful words (like synthesis), but I just don't see how removing those rarified words won't make it easier for students to be rewarded for test prep.

I often work with students who have a lot of ability but may be the first in their family to go to college and lack resources for all of the expensive test prep (which is why I help them, because it isn't actually my job and I don't get paid). I would love to see more opportunities for those who are disadvantaged by not having access to test prep or familiarity with the culture of applications, but I'm just not convinced from the descriptions I've read that these changes will accomplish that.

I am not a native speaker of English. Actually my native language has the longest distance from English linguistically. You all probably can take a guess. But I prepared GRE by memorizing a book of words. I got 96% in the verbal section and I am pretty sure I got all the reading question correctly.

Since I only came to the US for graduate school. I never took the SAT. But most of my friends who took the GRE with me found the math section laughably easy. It was hard for us to believe that any graduate program thinks that is an effective screening tool. Everybody got 800. I only got 790 and was laughed at. I did get 800 in the analytical section, which most people who prepared with me found it hard or harder.

I agree. I think the GRE math section is a joke. The SAT and ACT math sections, I thought, were somewhat challenging for my middle school son (who took SAT in 7th grade and ACT in 8th grade) because he has only taken a limited number of high school math courses, but he ended up scoring really high. This made me even more dismayed that the average score of college bound high-school graduates is so low. It really tells how weak the K-12 math education is.

Same goes for reading, actually. The dismal national average score of SAT and ACT really has no excuse.

I also agree with someone else earlier in this thread who mentioned the question "why should all kids be college ready?". I think the society cares too much about a diploma instead of what a person is really capable of doing. The high school curriculum, in my mind, is so watered-down these days, we are simply sending kids to college to learn a lot of the stuff that they should have learned in high school for free!

I'm a native speaker. I read a lot and have a large vocabulary as a result. On my first GRE practice run, I got a verbal score at the 97th or 98th percentile. Then I, too, learned a lot of words (wonder if we used the same book?) and my score went up to past the 99th. Honestly, I enjoyed doing that, and I've incorporated a lot of those words into my standard vocabulary (it helps that I have a friend who's a voracious reader and a daughter who wants to get to the national level of the spelling bee).

Thank you for sharing your lived experience and viewpoint that not being from the majority culture in the USA need not be an insurmountable hurdle to academic success. Many advocate for more access to world language courses, and learning of other cultures, in the USA.

You do not mention your major nor the major of the others who took GRE with you... suffice it to say, students may study many different areas, not everyone has an equally strong interest in or affinity for math... the world needs people with expertise in many areas. It is good to have a test which distinguishes the relative strength amongst students, including the best of the best (for example 790 vs 800), in any given area.

+1 (In fact, +2 )

I didn't prepare for the SAT or GRE. One thing that is sad is if people have to invest large amounts of time into preparation, even separate from whether it is unfair that some have the ability to do so and others don't.

In my post, though, I wasn't saying it was impossible to prepare. The reality is that many people do find it hard to score well. Otherwise the average scores would be much higher.

We may also be comparing different versions of exams. I know both the SAT and GRE have changed a lot since I took them (because I'm old). However, being able to take the SAT in seventh grade was a wonderful experience for me because it was the first time I felt like I had any sort of recognition for having academic ability. It is hard to see differences when everyone is doing the same grade level work and these out of level tests can be very useful.

I was a college professor in a big urban university befor emy current job. I am in a fairly quantitive field. I always said that I did not need my students to have had calculus in high school but they need to have had a solid background in algebra. Taking calculus as a freshman with a solid background in algebra won't set back the kids. But not solid on algebra is hard to remediate. Of course, none of this applies to a gifted child who is capable of an accelerated curriculum. I am just responding to what was said in the post I quoted.

I think that is why I hang out here even though my son is only 5. What I saw in my students scared me. I am trying to make sure that his education needs are served well. And I learn a lot from all of your experiences with your kids.

So true!! My husband's words are that, with validations that the kids get from outside activities, we can afford to ignore what the teachers have to say. My DS13 has had so much trouble at school for not paying attention in class, reading in class to the point that he couldn't hear the teachers, not participating in classroom discussions, forgetting to turn in homework--all because these activities were so much below his level that it was hard for a kid to play along day in and day out. A friend recommended that we let him take the SAT/ACT and said that the tests were a huge confidence booster for her kid who had the same issues at school. And it really worked for my son!