<p>My son’s taking the June test today. I would think the test would be curved and graded before the August takers have a chance to affect the curve.</p>
<p>The whole thing of course stinks to high heaven. There are many kids who would take advantage of a program like this. There are kids who have a 2350 and are still paying $165 an hour for tutoring in my area and there are other kids who just can’t get the scores that they and their parents want them to get.</p>
<p>Btw, the extra time for disabilities is also a scam but I think it’s not that easy to get it and the religious exemption doesn’t really work to anyone’s advantage. Taking the test on Sunday with all Jewish kids probably doesn’t help anyone. I always thought that colleges should know if someone had extra time.</p>
<p>The Jewish kids get one extra day to prep, even assuming they don’t go to Temple that day. Big deal (and my kid always took tests on standards days). This stinks.</p>
<p>Extra time for disabilites is not always used properly or fairly but to call it a blanket scam is wrong. My older son, who has type I diabetes, was give an exemption for extra time (in case he needed to test or eat a snack). He did not use any extra time but it was a burden he did not need to think about. (They actually don’t get extra time if they need to test they can take a zero loss timout to test and resume the SAT.) </p>
<p>Agree that the summer test should be available to all or none! Anything else is blatantly unfair.</p>
<p>Is there any evidence whatsoever that shows that prep helps with scores? I never prepped, but standardized testing always came very, very easily to me. I’m curious as to whether there is any evidence that shows that prep- either by book or in a class- actually improves test scores anymore than simply taking it a second time (because the second time, you’ll be familiar with the format and whatnot). </p>
<p>Really, I don’t think this is a big deal because I don’t think prepping has that big of an impact. But that’s JMO.</p>
<p>OTOH, I really don’t understand why the CB doesn’t offer at least one summer date to everyone. They’re all about the money and I’m shocked that they wouldn’t take the opportunity to bring some more of it in.</p>
<p>One extra day to prep for Jewish kids? Everyone has a lifetime to prep. We had a Catholic SAT tutor who said, “Do not take it on Sunday with all the Jewish kids”.</p>
<p>I don’t think we will ever know the real answer to this, because the people who have access to the data don’t want people to stop feeding the monster SAT machine.</p>
<p>While not really sure why a tutor would qualify himself as a Catholic SAT tutor, but it remains that the above comment speaks volumes about the utter non-sense that is spoken and … repeated. One would hope that the person who said “Do not take it on Sunday with all the Jewish kids” would learn a bit about the test, and that the person who repeated it would realize how clueless that statement is. </p>
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<p>It all depends how you define “prep” and which evidence you might believe. The College Board has produced reports that test prep indicates a mild improvement. The test prep industry would like customers to believe that preparing for the test adds 200 to 300 points. My belief is that the organized group classes produced by PR or Kaplan are far from that productive, and are a total waste of time. On the other hand, students working with some of the star tutors (regardless of their affiliations) are improving their scores by a considerable margin.</p>
<p>If you care to believe non-scientific evidence, and care to believe personal experiences shared on this forum, I think that students can (and do) really improve through peer-based learning and participation in forums such as CC SAT forums, including fabulous rises in score to sheer work and determination. </p>
<p>As everything in life and especially in academics, the impact of help versus personal abilities is extremely variable. There are areas of the SAT that are very hard to improve; and others where a deeper knowledge of the test yields impressive results. The bottom line is that there are NO individual panaceas, and why the success is often defined by individual efforts and the leadership of a very competent tutor.</p>
<p>Courageous? Thanks for the laugh! I would prefer to use a term such a “hypocritical competitor!” Does the courageous person not offer her own “summer SAT prep” in partnership with Summit Test Prep? Fifteen minutes of fame are truly priceless, as some organizations … know too well. </p>
<p>A Fair(er)Bob would know that, to various degrees, the entire cottage industry has only ONE master, and that is how to EARN the most money from parents. Some do it openly; others do it cynically. And the worst, do it under the pretense of a non-profit. Examples are the Education Conservancy and one mentioned in this … thread!</p>
<p>I think it’s not the test prep that bothers a lot of us, bluebayou. It’s the fact that in a lot of places, the students who are involved in very high-level academics and demanding EC’s are really quite tired during the school year, most of the time during junior and senior years. The opportunity to take the test in the summer, instead, when it’s a little less hectic, could make a significant difference to a lot of those students. Then relabeling the August tests as “June” is really misleading.</p>
<p>In the south, there are some schools that are out by June, so that students could be a bit more rested, but that does tend to come on the heels of AP exams, school final exams, and other testing, so it’s still not quite as good as August. June is not much help for a lot of students in the north, who still have school finals and final projects coming up. </p>
<p>I thought that July SAT testing used to be available, many years ago. There are many university and community college sites that are open year round, and could be used for summer testing.</p>
<p>It’s hard to believe that College Board doesn’t have any employees who are parents of students in high-pressure high schools, who might have told them in advance how unfair this would seem.</p>
<p>As QM says, it’s not the prep that grates, it’s the summer test date option. As the parent of kids who participated in demanding school year-round ECs that included weekends, I would have paid double for a few summer test dates. The stress of testing during the school year was enormous.</p>
<p>It would seem to me that the summer test should be open to any student who wants to travel to Amherst and take it. They must realize that this will open the flood gate up to any school that wants to offer a summer test regardless of whether it is bundled with SAT prep or not.</p>
<p>News coverage didn’t “make it controversial”. News coverage doesn’t make anything controversial. College board made a controversial decision. Their effort to save face by calling it a “pilot program” after news reports pointed out the obvious flaws in an August testing date is not fooling anyone. </p>
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<p>The controversial decision making continues. If a student is getting an advantage, colleges should be made aware. They took the test in August, to say otherwise is lying. I am very offended by this as a junior in high school who had to prep for the SAT on top of 4 AP classes, 2 part time jobs, an internship, music classes, etc. Taking the test over the summer would have given me the opportunity to spend the time to raise my 2190 to a 2300. </p>
<p>When it was made clear that yes, this blatant elitist advantage was a problem, instead of having kids face the music for their elite advantages, college board further shielded them. Again, poor decision making.
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<p>And yet many still do. Are you seriously suggested that a kid should not take the SAT and go to Wake Forest or Bowdoin (both excellent schools) and not try their luck at HYPMS? Whether or not it is universal, the SAT is a widely used testing tool, and to invalidate it is insulting to the kids who put hours of prep into it. </p>
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<p>And conversely, every school that takes the ACT takes the SAT. These 50 elite children, who already have an advantage simply because they are wealthy, will have a huge advantage on the SAT. The SAT is taken at schools, and there is a “reliable” ACT/SAT conversion. Kids who have this advantage to score, say a 2340, roughly equivalent to a 35 ACT, will obviously fare better than an equivalent candidate with a 33-34 ACT. Regardless of the test itself, advantages on the SAT are simply wrong. </p>
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<p>No one has a problem with rich kids prepping for the test. I don’t care how intense their prep course is, the reality is that that is not the problem. </p>
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<p>College Board really shouldn’t be collaborating with any test prep companies. Period. </p>
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<p>Obviously a test taken after the June test scores are reported will not mess with the June curve. What are they going to do, take all the kids’ scores back and change them? A group of 50 wouldn’t be significant enough to change the curve anyway. No one is denying that the test will be of roughly equal difficulty. The advantage is the DATE, not the test itself. These kids will be given the opportunity to perform higher because they will not be distracted or exhausted from day to day activities. This argument really has no basis in the problem.</p>
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<p>While you may or may not read this, I will be sending you an email. My input is that I really don’t care if they go to an “elite summer SAT prep program.” I really couldn’t care less if parents choose to spend their money on a residential prep course, because I can teach myself the same things at home with a prep book. I do, however, have a huge problem with these kids being given a special testing date, which you didn’t even bother to put in your sentence. You are skating around the problem. It is simply unfair, and in my opinion, disgusting, to give 50 kids a special testing date. An August testing date would help me SO MUCH, but alas my family is middle class and I have to work this summer, rather than pay $4500 for a special testing date. </p>
<p>If the college board wants to have an August testing date, fine. Community colleges, community centers, and select high schools are open. But make it available to EVERYONE. I am sick and tired of missing opportunities that rich kids have, and I am frankly very disgusted by the idea of special SAT testing days.</p>
<p>Bay, considering that you “would have paid double for a few summer test dates” and that many, many people might share your feelings, could we not imagine how POSITIVE the impact of such program might be in the future? </p>
<p>Is the real problem that it has been confined to a small (and elitist) program? What if next year this would be made available to a number of dedicated free or low-cost programs? What if 2013 saw the old Stanford based SEE get an extra testing date in Palo Alto and Los Angeles? See [SAT</a> test prep, college counseling, college resources, low-income, under-resourced schools, under-served, CollegeSpring](<a href=“http://collegespring.org/]SAT”>http://collegespring.org/) What if Mr. Deasy decides to seek support for an extra summer session for the LA School District? </p>
<p>Here is one reality. There are people who are TRYING to make the system better by launching new initiatives. And there are others who are simply protesting, criticizing, all the while never offering any concrete solutions. </p>
<p>While the critical focus on the elite element of the SAT prep is often warranted, many forget that the standardized tests are HELPING many students who happen to attend lower SES schools and utterly uncompetitive school districts. Ever wondered why students from such districts seem to do well (really well) in admissions at highly selective schools? Do adcoms really focus on the stellar GPA and rankings (often plenty of them in low performing schools) or do they notice a 2200 SAT in ocean of 1500 to 1800 scores (or the corresponding ACT.)</p>
<p>In the end, I would prefer to applaud a new initiative (and recognize that they usually start with … some money) over voicing empty and hypocritical criticisms a la Stone, Fair Test, and the Wake Forest luminary.</p>
<p>If they want to try something new, they shouldn’t hide behind a June label. They should be honest. How is the college board supposed to hold us students to a standard of testing integrity when they themselves do not carry out testing integrity?</p>
<p>Furthermore, how is anyone supposed the evaluate the influence of a summer testing date if the experiment is not controlled? There are two variables here - summer testing and a prep course. If we wanted to examine simply the result of a summer date, there would simply be a test offered, even to a select few areas, in summer. Anyone who would travel there could sign up. By adding the confounding variable of test prep, it is very unclear what affected the scores. </p>
<p>Furthermore, Fair Test Bob clearly stated that it was termed a “pilot program” after the news discovered the controversy. Clearly this wasn’t intended as a pilot program, but rather as a corrupt deal between this test prep center and the college board. I see no integrity, statistically significant data, or positive result to come from this, other than 50 already elite kids gaining yet another advantage.</p>
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<p>Have you not seen the concrete solutions proposed here? Offer the test in August to everyone. Even if it is just a select few locations, losing the $4500 price tag will overcome a huge hurdle. Again, please point out what is to be gained by this initiative. If you have taken statistics, you will realize that data confounded by a prep course is unusable for any sort of analysis, and that the data is not an SRS. Even in first year stat you would throw out this problem without doing any sort of analysis.</p>
<p>For me, it’s not even the summer test date. It’s the LIE that this group is taking a test in August but adcoms are being told these kids took it in June, disguising the fact that they’ve had an advantage. It’s always the cover-up.</p>