The Conservative Cave
Current Events => General Discussion => Topic started by: JohnnyReb on December 03, 2012, 10:12:40 AM
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The S.A.T. has an essay part these days that they didn't have 50 years ago when I took it. For the essay part he was to chose 3 great leaders and discuss their different styles that made them great leaders. He chose Stalin, Napoleon and Robert E. Lee.
I don't know if they grade on grammar, spelling and punctuation or what but I told him he screwed up. From what he told me, he gave a very accurate description of their leadership styles. I told him if they grade on content, his ass is grass.....and not the smoking kind. First, he picked on a socialists dream leader and made him look bad. Second, he picked a French war monger and liberals hate those. Then he picked a fine southern gentleman like Robert E. Lee which put salt in the wounds he had already opened with any liberal/progressive/socialist that would be grading his essay.
BTW: This was his first time to take it. There were other classmates of his there that were taking it for the third and forth time. Son said they were trying to improve their scores. Wassup wid dat?
Oh joy, next weekend I get to haul his butt 40 miles for (?) ACT testing?
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The S.A.T. has an essay part these days that they didn't have 50 years ago when I took it. For the essay part he was to chose 3 great leaders and discuss their different styles that made them great leaders. He chose Stalin, Napoleon and Robert E. Lee.
I don't know if they grade on grammar, spelling and punctuation or what but I told him he screwed up. From what he told me, he gave a very accurate description of their leadership styles. I told him if they grade on content, his ass is grass.....and not the smoking kind. First, he picked on a socialists dream leader and made him look bad. Second, he picked a French war monger and liberals hate those. Then he picked a fine southern gentleman like Robert E. Lee which put salt in the wounds he had already opened with any liberal/progressive/socialist that would be grading his essay.
BTW: This was his first time to take it. There were other classmates of his there that were taking it for the third and forth time. Son said they were trying to improve their scores. Wassup wid dat?
Oh joy, next weekend I get to haul his butt 40 miles for (?) ACT testing?
You can take the SATs as many time as you can afford. Colleges take your top scores from each area. If the essay was well organized and strongly defended, it should ideally get a good score. Alas, as it is graded by English teachers, it may not.
ACTs are a little trickier than SATs
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I took the ACT in high school. I've heard that some schools will no longer accept an ACT score for admissions.
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Some colleges aren't taking SATs anymore either.
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I must be getting old. I don't remember an essay portion to the SAT?
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I must be getting old. I don't remember an essay portion to the SAT?
It's relative new--4 or 5 years old. SATs are now scored out of a possible 2400 points.
I do SAT prep on weekends. One of my students went up 140 points in his verbal score from one test to the next. (Results not typical)
JohnnyReb, if your son is interested, I can email you some pointers--on the house! :-) PM me if you're interested.
Also there's a great book on doing well on the test--Up Your Score. I highly recommend it.
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It's relative new--4 or 5 years old. SATs are now scored out of a possible 2400 points.
I do SAT prep on weekends. One of my students went up 140 points in his verbal score from one test to the next. (Results not typical)
JohnnyReb, if your son is interested, I can email you some pointers--on the house! :-) PM me if you're interested.
Also there's a great book on doing well on the test--Up Your Score. I highly recommend it.
Phew! I am NOT getting old. :-)
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It's relative new--4 or 5 years old. SATs are now scored out of a possible 2400 points.
I do SAT prep on weekends. One of my students went up 140 points in his verbal score from one test to the next. (Results not typical)
JohnnyReb, if your son is interested, I can email you some pointers--on the house! :-) PM me if you're interested.
Also there's a great book on doing well on the test--Up Your Score. I highly recommend it.
H5.
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When my bunlets were getting ready for their aptitude tests they asked me,"What is arc welding?"
I said, "That's how Noah built his boat."
"So, what's a meterologist?"
"That's someone who studies meat."
And then I send them off into the world.
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When my bunlets were getting ready for their apitude tests they asked me,"What is arc welding?"
I said, "That's how Noah built his boat."
"So, what's a meterologist?"
"That's someone who studies meat."
And then I send them off into the world.
Thank God. I was beginning to lose hope that the oxy-acetylene welding torch had ever been discovered prior to 1657.
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My GED Essay question was difficult. "What recent invention has played a significant role in your life?" I wrote about a video game called Minecraft cause I was bored. I passed it though. Did better on writing than I did Math.
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I only took my SATs 10 years ago and they didnt have the essay. I would have been screwed if they did I got an 800 on the math but only 450 on the reading. I would guess the essay grading is mostly formatting, vocab, spelling and grammar because that it all they teach in in high school and even the 2 writing classes I had to take in college the essays wernt graded on content.
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Some colleges aren't taking SATs anymore either.
How can they judge a student's educational record without them, besides their transcripts? A student getting "a's in college prep classes would do much better than a student getting "a"s in a level c classes
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How can they judge a student's educational record without them, besides their transcripts? A student getting "a's in college prep classes would do much better than a student getting "a"s in a level c classes
The boxes that are checked for "Race" and "Gender" are the most important requirements.
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The boxes that are checked for "Race" and "Gender" are the most important requirements.
Sadly that wouldn't surprise me
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The boxes that are checked for "Race" and "Gender" are the most important requirements.
If your family is from foreign soil with $$$$$ that seems to help. So I hear.
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Whelp, back in my day, nearly 3 decades ago, there was the standard SAT, for which there were your Verbal and Math sections, with an average score of around 900. Then, should you be so lucky (or stupid) to try for a prestigious university which required a little more knowledge, you were required to take what was then known as the SAT Achievement Tests.
For some strange reason, people thought I was smart, and should apply to places to which I'd never be allowed to darken their doorstep, but apply I did, and took the SAT Achievement Tests in Calculus, Physics, and English Composition. Apparently I did well enough I was rejected by exactly one school, to which I'd have never been able to afford in any event, so no matter dropping names.
Well, the SAT and SAT AT's became the SAT I and SAT II's, which then were "recentered" to an average score of 1000, because darn it, it just sounded better. Then the SAT I's became a three-subject test, as has already been mentioned.
And yeah, just for shits and giggles, I took the ACT as well, as a junior. 32 composite. Pretty much tells ya all you need to know. But no, the school I eventually attended only took the SAT, and after that debacle, the school I THEN eventually attended determined qualification based on the ASVAB and NFQT.
Bottom line--tests are not an indication of success, merely potential. If you don't apply yourself, it doesn't matter how smart you are, you'll still be a failure.
But seriously, Reb--if your son presented a logical argument and did so without it looking like a 14-year old girl's text messages, he'll do fine.
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I have a question and it's not meant for anyone in particular.
If you can't make a judgement of a students progress based on test scores how do you make a judgement?
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I have a question and it's not meant for anyone in particular.
If you can't make a judgement of a students progress based on test scores how do you make a judgement?
I refer you back to our illustrious comrade Thundley's post:
The boxes that are checked for "Race" and "Gender" are the most important requirements.
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Whelp, back in my day, nearly 3 decades ago, there was the standard SAT, for which there were your Verbal and Math sections, with an average score of around 900. Then, should you be so lucky (or stupid) to try for a prestigious university which required a little more knowledge, you were required to take what was then known as the SAT Achievement Tests.
For some strange reason, people thought I was smart, and should apply to places to which I'd never be allowed to darken their doorstep, but apply I did, and took the SAT Achievement Tests in Calculus, Physics, and English Composition. Apparently I did well enough I was rejected by exactly one school, to which I'd have never been able to afford in any event, so no matter dropping names.
Well, the SAT and SAT AT's became the SAT I and SAT II's, which then were "recentered" to an average score of 1000, because darn it, it just sounded better. Then the SAT I's became a three-subject test, as has already been mentioned.
And yeah, just for shits and giggles, I took the ACT as well, as a junior. 32 composite. Pretty much tells ya all you need to know. But no, the school I eventually attended only took the SAT, and after that debacle, the school I THEN eventually attended determined qualification based on the ASVAB and NFQT.
Bottom line--tests are not an indication of success, merely potential. If you don't apply yourself, it doesn't matter how smart you are, you'll still be a failure.
But seriously, Reb--if your son presented a logical argument and did so without it looking like a 14-year old girl's text messages, he'll do fine.
You know , Sparky, I have known you through the forums, for the last 7 years. I always knew you were a smart cookie!!!! I also thought you would be a good political science teacher, or social studies. You taught me well my friend!!
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I have a question and it's not meant for anyone in particular.
If you can't make a judgement of a students progress based on test scores how do you make a judgement?
Because standardized testing is only one tool in a selection process, including GPA, quality of courses, extracurricular activities, and personal interview (rare, but still done for the more elite schools.)
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You know , Sparky, I have known you through the forums, for the last 7 years. I always knew you were a smart cookie!!!! I also thought you would be a good political science teacher, or social studies. You taught me well my friend!!
No, I barely tolerated Poly Sci and Sociology, since I thought it was so much mental mealy-pap.
Then again, at one point I was tempted to become a lawyer, but my mother, a legal secretary for over 30 years, put it to a swift end with one statement: "You'd be a crappy lawyer, because you don't play political games very well at all and have no tolerance for it."
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No, I barely tolerated Poly Sci and Sociology, since I thought it was so much mental mealy-pap.
Then again, at one point I was tempted to become a lawyer, but my mother, a legal secretary for over 30 years, put it to a swift end with one statement: "You'd be a crappy lawyer, because you don't play political games very well at all and have no tolerance for it."
Yeah, well, you are blunt, honest, and don't take anyone's shit!!!!
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Because standardized testing is only one tool in a selection process, including GPA, quality of courses, extracurricular activities, and personal interview (rare, but still done for the more elite schools.)
Thanks Sparky, that was an excellent answer for collage selection.
And this is my bad for not being specific enough but what I was thinking about was testing that would allow one to proceed through to high school graduation.
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Thanks Sparky, that was an excellent answer for collage selection.
And this is my bad for not being specific enough but what I was thinking about was testing that would allow one to proceed through to high school graduation.
I think a lot of it has to do is that the SAT doesn't necessarily "grade" on how well you'll do in school. It's a score on how well you learned to take a particular exam. I say this based off my experience prepping and taking the GMAT. The GMAT didn't really test my knowledge, it tested how well I could take the GMAT. It's pretty much useless in my opinion and I did well on it. I've heard the GRE is even more of a joke.
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I think a lot of it has to do is that the SAT doesn't necessarily "grade" on how well you'll do in school. It's a score on how well you learned to take a particular exam. I say this based off my experience prepping and taking the GMAT. The GMAT didn't really test my knowledge, it tested how well I could take the GMAT. It's pretty much useless in my opinion and I did well on it. I've heard the GRE is even more of a joke.
I have a GRE study guide at home and after thumbing through it I realized it was basically a test of how awake and sober you were the first two years of your undergrad degree.
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I think a lot of it has to do is that the SAT doesn't necessarily "grade" on how well you'll do in school. It's a score on how well you learned to take a particular exam. I say this based off my experience prepping and taking the GMAT. The GMAT didn't really test my knowledge, it tested how well I could take the GMAT. It's pretty much useless in my opinion and I did well on it. I've heard the GRE is even more of a joke.
There have been studies done which support both sides of that issue (big surprise with academia), but believe it or not, the current thinking is that the SAT actually IS a fair predictor of college success. The test goes in and out of vogue every couple of years, but it still is a pretty weighty element of the college application process.
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I have a GRE study guide at home and after thumbing through it I realized it was basically a test of how awake and sober you were the first two years of your undergrad degree.
I took it back in my senior undergrad year, and killed it (1480/1600), but really never had any occasion to use it, since I couldn't afford grad school anyway. I joined the Army instead, then went to law school on GI Bill (And law school uses the LSAT, not the GRE), then picked up a couple of graduate degrees almost incidentally after that while working...the 'Cum laude' on the law degree was enough for the additional degrees, none of them cared about my outdated GRE score or wanted additional tests.
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How can they judge a student's educational record without them, besides their transcripts? A student getting "a's in college prep classes would do much better than a student getting "a"s in a level c classes
They are looking at high school transcripts to see a well-rounded student who applied themselves. They are also placing greater emphasis on community involvement and sports much like the National Honor Society (although grades will always be the qualifying factor to submit an application, the successful NHS candidate will have great leadership experience and community work on their resume).
There are quite intelligent students who can ace tests but never apply themselves in any facet of their lives, to include classwork. SATs are going the way of the dinosaur, especially in this age of technological advancement.