The New SAT

[Depictive]

Well some schools don't ask for the essay portion of the test but you can bet the big schools do .
Just more difficulty imo.

[Suopermanni]

Hmm...I wonder if any of you would agree with this...interesting opinion of the SAT. Mind you, I'm cutting and pasting bits and pieces of it. Also, this is refering to the old SAT, not the new one.

"SAT - A system of standardized American college entry exams designed to nuture and reward functional illiteracy.

*snip*

Consisting mainly of multiple choice and fill-in-the-blanks questions, the SATs are the archetypal product of a society which believes above all in the possession of facts and the rule of expertise. In spite of 'substantial revisions' in 1994, the underlying premise of these tests is that to each question there is a single correct answer.

*snip*

The skills they seek to measure are short-term memory and the ability to reduce knowledge to structures not unlike those of basic accounting. They discourage thought, consideration, doubt, imagination and creativity. In sum, they reward mechanical skills and punish intelligence."

Sorry, I have lost the source of this opinion piece. Give me a while to find it.

[TheMathGuy]

In sum, they reward mechanical skills and punish intelligence."

*Rises up onto Soapbox, clears throat, and begins*

I think the old SAT did a fair job of measuring intellegience IF the test taker did not use any "cheater" methods. I took the SAT three times, didn't study at all. It measured what I knew. Now, Those that STUDY or use the princeton review or whatever, it doesn't measure their intelligence. Princeton review visited my high school (this was a while back) and "helped" people learn their method of raising scores. (It was a teaser, if you will, to try and hook people.) For one part, they listed out the "25th" question of the math part (the supposed hardest question.) These questions are easily answered IF you can see the trick and be a little creative with the calcs. Anyway, I solved all these questions straight-up before the presenter got to the section. When he DID get there, he didn't solve any by method of computation. WHAT IS THIS NONSENSE. NOT ONE MATH FORUMLA. Yeah, Princeton review is a cheater method. It's people like them that give the SAT a bad rep . . . well, actually, now The College Board is undercutting their OWN test by providing a study guide. The SAT is MEANT to test people's knowledge WITHOUT them "studying" for it. THEN (and only then) would it truly measure a person's intelligence not the "Short term memory and mechanical skills."

*Gets off Soapbox*

[Ultimate X]

well one thing they dont tell you is that if you go to community college and transfer from there you dont need any testing scores from sat, sat2, oact, or any of that crap

o and btw after not studying and being drunk the day before i scored an 1160