More Reasons To Be Dis-SAT-isfied With the SAT. (Trees And Things)

rombuu: Re: More Reasons To Be Dis-SAT-isfied With the SAT

Mon, 4 Dec 2006 14:17:39 EST

The point is to pick people who will do well in college, but why does someone who wants to be a programmer need to know the vocabulary around golf, competitive sailing, or geology?

To be a well-educated person? Isn't this why we make people

Steve Urkel: Re: Res Ipsa Loquitur

Mon, 4 Dec 2006 13:55:20 EST

She's lucky there's no memorization involved in getting a law degree and passing the bar exam.

marduk: Res Ipsa Loquitur

Mon, 4 Dec 2006 05:44:42 EST

I hated every class that required the memorization of obscure vocabulary. I actually dropped a physiology class because it came down to "memorize the names of all your bones, muscles, tendons & ligaments."

So I guess the SAT predicted yo

Steve Urkel: Re: What I want

Sun, 3 Dec 2006 16:01:03 EST

"get personal"? I didn't realize your relationship with Tahlia was such a sensitive subject.

Seriously, the SAT has made college admissions more meritocratic. You and your non-girlfriend may think things aren't meritorcratic enough, but the changes in

Lou: What I want

Sun, 3 Dec 2006 14:59:19 EST

What my girlfriend and I want is ground pounding, sweat inducing, exploding heart of a star sex.

I have no idea what Thalia wants.

I agree that the SAT was introduced to make college admissions more meritocratic. But you know...the Iraq

Steve Urkel: Re: Speaking of contradictions...

Sun, 3 Dec 2006 13:38:06 EST

It's not a contradiction to think that working with a geometry tutor can raise a students grade in geometry but taking a test prep class won't raise that same students standardized test score.

I don't understand what it is you and girlfriend want. The

Steve Urkel: Re: More Reasons To Be Dis-SAT-isfied With the SAT

Sun, 3 Dec 2006 13:35:00 EST

"My friend who has ADD is actually much smarter than I am"

I'm sure the blind and parapeligiacs have added difficulty taking the SAT as well, but I don't see how, and you haven't given a reason, this invalidates the test for the majority of the populati

Thalia: Re: Shooting from the hip

Sun, 3 Dec 2006 03:48:40 EST

I completely agree. If they tested problem solving ability, especially problem solving where all data is provided, and what they're testing is how you absorb data, and based on it solve problems would be much more useful. I found it fascinating

Lou: Shooting from the hip

Sat, 2 Dec 2006 23:39:12 EST

I'm looking up stuff about indicators of ability to learn. In the meantime, I'll take a stab at this.

Reading speed and the ability to acquire vocabulary are indicators of an ability to learn, aren't they?

I always thought (well, at leas

Lou: Speaking of contradictions...

Sat, 2 Dec 2006 23:29:22 EST

So, Thalia utters conflicting statement? Pot...meet kettle.

To wit...

wealthy people can get better grades because they can hire math and english tutors, etc.

and a few lines later...

Expensive test prep is a waste of time and

Thalia: Re: More Reasons To Be Dis-SAT-isfied With the SAT

Sat, 2 Dec 2006 23:06:24 EST
Well, my college experience was more about learning math and programming than irrelevant vocabulary. In fact, I do not recall a single vocabulary test in college. Do you? I hated every class that required the memorization of obscure vocab

Thalia: Re: More Reasons To Be Dis-SAT-isfied With the SAT

Sat, 2 Dec 2006 23:02:20 EST
Reading speed is not particularly an indicator of the ability to learn. It's just an indicator of reading speed. I am not smarter than my friend who is dyslexic. My friend who has ADD is actually much smarter than I am (which takes some d

Steve Urkel: Re: More Reasons To Be Dis-SAT-isfied With the SAT

Sat, 2 Dec 2006 14:12:39 EST
Reading fast and having a large vocabulary are associated with intelligence.
Notice all of your complaints are just as true of grades: Slow readers with poor vocabularies have a harder time getting good grades, people with ADD or dyslexia or who are sp

profwhat: Re: More Reasons To Be Dis-SAT-isfied With the SAT

Fri, 1 Dec 2006 21:10:14 EST
it asks irrelevant vocabulary questions, because having college prep classes available in your school gives you a huge bump, and because the biggest correlation to doing well on the SAT is having a high reading speed
This is not a good criticism.

Thalia: Re: More Reasons To Be Dis-SAT-isfied With the SAT

Fri, 1 Dec 2006 19:59:27 EST
I also think the test is biased, and I did quite well on it. I've always done very well on standardized tests.
It's biased because it asks irrelevant vocabulary questions, because having college prep classes available in your school gives you a hu

rombuu: Re: More Reasons To Be Dis-SAT-isfied With the SAT

Fri, 1 Dec 2006 10:42:50 EST
Wow, that was underwhelming.... some tests were lost but found and there was one bad proctor somewhere in the country. Amazing. Let's chuck the whole thing. Oh, and people who don't do well on a test think its biased? Well, I've nev

Dvandom: Re: More Reasons To Be Dis-SAT-isfied With the SAT

Fri, 1 Dec 2006 10:07:50 EST
The biggest problem with the SAT is simply its own success. There doesn't have to be any incompetence or stupidity or malfeasance involved to get incidents like the ones described above when it seems like everyone in the nation is taking the thing. &