<p>Check out this article written by a student. Some great points.. Would like some college reps to respond</p>
<p>SAT</a> Cheaters Commack</p>
<p>Decisions are made everyday and depending on the desired outcome various criteria are used. Coaches deciding who gets on a team or what position is played. Colleges picking students to craft a class. Casting directors picking actors. Publishing companies picking up authors. Employers picking employees. Standardized testing is just one of the criteria colleges use. “Success” at college cannot be predicated on one criteria but overtime data points can be used to make solid correlations. I’m not a college rep.</p>
<p>What’s the question? A “good indication” of what?</p>
<p>Does the SAT ‘predict’ Frosh grades? Yes. Is the predictor a high correlation? No.</p>
<p>Does the HS gpa predict Frosh grades. Yes. Is the predictor a high correlation? No.</p>
<p>Is the SAT+GPA better than either data point alone in predicting Frosh grades? Yes.</p>
<p>Are other tests even better predictors than the SAT/ACT alone? Yes. (AP/IB are best predictors. Subject tests alone are next.)</p>
<p>No need for college reps to respond. There are plenty of public studies available online. The Univ of California has been studying this issue for decades.</p>
<p>btw: the Editor in Chief needs to check her ‘facts’. Practically all highly selective colleges allow multiple test takes and superscore the results, so “one” bad day is not an issue. The SAT is not an “intelligence” test. “It is not fair…” Seriously? Whining is the crux of her editorial?</p>
<p>fwiw: high stakes tests like these do disadvantage those students who suffer from extreme bouts of test anxiety – which seems to affect girls more than boys – but the editor missed that real point. But that is also what test-optional colleges are for.</p>
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Is there a school out there that judges student’s capabilities based on the SAT or ACT alone? I don’t think so.</p>
<p>No need to get nasty…just asking for the point of view of a college rep in response to the article. Take a chill pill really? There are many students who feel the stress of this whole process and it does make you wonder the validity of how these tests are used.
Whatever…do not think I will post again.
Thanks</p>
<p>OP I mean this in the kindest way, but it sounds like you need to chill. As long as your high school GPA and test scores and curriculum are college ready there are many, many colleges that would welcome you. Try to tune out the “noise” and absorb other people’s stress.</p>
<p>From a practical (and political matter), no college rep will comment on such an article. And if they did, the official policy is always, 'test scores are just one of several items in the application…" What they will not tell you is that low scores will exclude most unhooked candidates, absent something else in the application that is REALLY compelling.</p>
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<p>Yup, it IS a stressful process, but only for those that choose to play the game. Most state Unis have wide open acceptance policies.</p>
<p>fwiw: CB’s results are found on the link below. Univ of California has a lot of testing research as well on its website.</p>
<p><a href=“http://professionals.collegeboard.com/profdownload/Validity_of_the_SAT_for_Predicting_First_Year_College_Grade_Point_Average.pdf[/url]”>Higher Education Professionals | College Board;
<p>IMO, the article is factually inaccurate and poorly reasoned. It also contains numerous grammar errors.</p>
<p>As far as we know, nobody who paid Sam E was aiming for a top ranked college and/or a merit scholarship. The destination colleges that have been identified include the U of Colorado and Tulane. Both are good colleges, but they aren’t HYPSMC/AWS, etc. While the names of the “customers” have not been released, their identities are known in the community. If any of them had received a merit scholarship, it is probable that fact would have been reported in the news. There have been no such reports. </p>
<p>The essay score is not determined by whether the graders had their morning coffee. There are rubrics for grading that must be followed. Each essay is read by two graders. If there is substantial disparity in the grades they award, a third reader grades the essay. I’ve know a lot of people who have taken the SAT over a long period of time and I only know one whose essay was assigned a third reader. </p>
<p>The editorial itself implies that the author took the SAT more than once. So, it is false to state that “one bad day” can ruin a student’s chances. </p>
<p>The author doesn’t identify the “groups” who are disadvantaged by the SAT. If there are such “groups,” does that justify scrapping the test for people who don’t fall into one of those groups?</p>
<p>Fair test has been around a lot of years. The complaints about the fairness of the SAT are not a recent development. The article implies that they are. </p>
<p>The idea that “cognitive ability” is tested by what one knows is absurd. The fact that the author thinks it is speaks volumes about her lack of knowledge in this field. </p>
<p>Cheating is not limited to the SAT. In the past few years, there have been cases in which students hacked into school computer systems to change grades and scandals in which students stole AP tests before they were administered. We all know that students cheat on regular school tests and other assignments. So, why single out cheating on the SAT and argue that it should be eliminated because some people cheat? Doesn’t the author’s line of reasoning suggest that all tests and all assignments should be eliminated? </p>
<p>Switching to a system where testing for college admissions would be based on what students already know about subject matter would be even more skewed in favor of kids from good school systems than the SAT is.</p>
<p>OP, noone was getting nasty with you. It was with the article of hogwash (though it would have helped if you had elaborated on what your actual question was).</p>
<p>Some great replies. I’d like to add that I never understand the argument that the SAT just represents 4 hours of work. That’s like saying the Olympics are a fraud because they only represent a few moments in the life of an athlete. Barring some extreme physical affliction on the day of the test, performance on the SAT’s is a culmination of years of critical reading and reasoning. If performance on the test was subject to the vagaries of chance and luck, you would expect large variations in results with each sitting. Studies show this doesn’t happen, unless of course there is a concerted effort to study between sittings. However it does appear to be true that colleges favor GPA over SAT scores in admissions. Check out the stats for UC admissions, the range of SAT scores is far greater than the range of GPAs for admitted students.</p>
<p>“However it does appear to be true that colleges favor GPA over SAT scores in admissions.”</p>
<p>Yup.</p>
<p>The high school GPA is the single most powerful predictor for all standard measures of “success” in college (freshman GPA, final GPA, sophomore continuation, graduation in 4 years, etc.). Perhaps not as powerful as one might like, as indicated above by bluebayou, but still the most powerful one.</p>
<p>Lots of fun reading on the topic is available at [The</a> National Center for Fair & Open Testing | FairTest](<a href=“http://www.fairtest.org%5DThe”>http://www.fairtest.org)</p>