Academics Stance on Direction of the SAT

Test Preparation
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President Atkinson’s wish to junk the SAT in UC admissions merely continues an ongoing nationwide process. A decades-long worry has been the continuing decline in the median national SAT score and the decrease of students achieving extremely high scores. Few know of the Educational Testing Service’s method of “fixing” the problem in 1995 by renorming the tests so that the current median (900/1600) became 1000/1600 and, as a bonus, hordes of students began to receive scores near 1600. So no need to abolish the SAT—let’s just keep watering it down. </p>

<p>Paul Chernoff, professor of mathematics
Berkeley

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<p>I completely agree with this professor. The SAT has been watered down to a point where its just ridiculous now.</p>

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<p>ummm...u make it sound like now its a piece of cake and anyone who doesn't get a 1600 is just plain dumb...i don't think that SOOO many people get perfect scores even after it has been "watered down"..... besides the sat is the lamest thing about college admission in the US. Luck and so many other random factors influence the scores one gets thus it isn't really a fair and "standardized" way of comparing everyone's intelligence or some bs like that. Many people may be incredibly smart and incredibly worthy of admission to the most prestigious colleges yet the SAT just isn't their thing. And sadly their dream of a higher level education ends as they fail to break through the 1400. I know people who get 42s in the ib diploma ( for those of you who are not familiar with the ib grading system a 42 in ib would be like getting 6 5's in ap) and get like 1350 on the sat...that doesn't seem reasonable and it defiantly isn't measuring their academic capabilities. I wish the American educational system could just drop that lame excuse of forcedly and somewhat unwillingly ripping off peoples money...</p>

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<p>i agree with elodie, SAT is still difficult for some of us, people like myself :(</p>

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<p>SAT's just stupid. It tests your abily to take tests( like PR said). If U plan on going to an Ivy, u know all the information the test tests. u probly don't get 1600 because of annoying nuiances of test and freuqent traps( that somehow test your "innate" abilities).. If you don't know the information they test, that doesn't mean you will stink in college. U don't need math in most disciplines (esp, the esoteric math SAT gauges)., you don't need to know how to form idiotic analogy bridges, and you don't need to know how to read boring passages.</p>