Sunday, January 20, 2013

Straight up the SAT matters too much

This year alone, tens of millions of American high school students will take the SAT. Yet very few of them will ask themselves "why?". And of those who would ask themselves that fundamental question, most would probably answer "because colleges need me to". They wouldn't be wrong either. In today's America, that 4-digit number (and in some cases 3) that is a student's SAT score represents more than just an assessment of their academic abilities, it has become, far and wide, the deciding factor that determines admissions to the nation's top schools. The SAT has become a sort of vicious cycle actually: more and more colleges are becoming selective about admissions, so they demand higher SAT scores, and as a result students are pressured into preparing more and more to aim for higher scores, and because more and more students are earning higher scores, colleges become even more selective. The emphasis that colleges place on SAT scores serves only to perpetuate this cycle. But what's the problem with this, you ask? Doesn't this just teach our kids to be smarter, you ask? Well, really and truly, no. As highlighted in previous posts, the SAT is a flawed test that does not assess how "smart" students really are. Students should not be wasting their time and money preparing for a such a test, and what's worse is how commonly accepted it has become. Nobody even bothers to question whether or not there is anything wrong with the test because it has become such an integral part of the lives of every American teenager. If colleges didn't focus so much on how students scored on an exam that doesn't even work the way it should, then maybe they'd be able to get a much more accurate measure of prospective students and their true academic abilities.

5 comments:

  1. The SAT isn't an IQ test, i.e. it doesn't test how "smart" you are. It measures your preparedness-for-college. For instance, if you bomb the grammar section, you might not be a very good essay-writer, which you'll be doing a lot of in college. Or if you bomb the math section, why should a school even consider you for their engineering program? Yes, it's standardized and bland and a stupid arbitrary number that shouldn't determine your entire future-- but it has a purpose. All in all, it's one of many tools colleges use to see what kind of student you are. A sub-par SAT isn't the end of the world. Not at all.

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  2. In actuality the SAT is definitively not the deciding factor. Usually most applicants are within an "acceptable" range for admission to the university/college. What it really comes down to is your unique qualities which are reflected in you extracurriculars and essays. Essays are so much more important than people realize. If you have great grades and SAT scores but a crappy essay that doesn't reflect interest in and knowledge of the university you will most likely be rejected.

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  3. listen bud. The SAT is the worst test ever invented. Don't try to act like it's useful because you have to realize that it doesn't actually measure your "intelligence" at all. It actually just forces you to spend countless hours every week to study for how they're going to "trick" you. The essay is pointless because it doesn't prove that you write qualitative work. It's more of a how much can I write in a 25 minute period. And to dat first anonymous person. It pretty much is the deciding factor. Ask all asian parents out there. Colleges have admission SAT scores so you can be the most active person in your community but just because you weren't able to score a 2000+ on your SAT, you can't get into the college ur in. What if you are a bad test taker too? Then you're not really testing intelligence it's more of a can I take a test test. Essays are important but the way these are graded (if you read some of my other posts) then you should know it's more quantitative than qualitative. Us teens spend way too much time just trying to figure out the curveballs and boring long passages that this monster is going to throw at us. You already know if it's not pro it's gotta go idiots.

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  4. What do asian parents actually know about gaining admission to Ivy League colleges? Most of them are first generation immigrants who don't have a clue about getting into the best colleges. Asian parents thinks that EVERYTHING is about grades and SATs (which it's not)...they think everything else is less important. So for you to say, "It pretty much is the deciding factor. Ask all asian parents out there," is pretty funny to me.

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  5. Well that was kinda the point I the post I think haha
    I'm pretty sure whoever wrote that didn't really mean to be serious at all
    But in the unlikely event that they were being serious I'd have to agree that there are some majorrrrr flaws in their logic haha

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