<p>The ACT also introduced a new writing section this year. Do the colleges feel the same way about this?</p>
<p>I have no quarrel with the SAT IIs, including writing. However, I think bringing a very short essay into the SAT I Writing test is ill conceived, primarily because of the format of the test. In addition, there's no evidence yet, obviously, that the SAT I writing scores correlate with anything - it's a different test than the SAT II Writing, and it will have a very different set of test-takers. </p>
<p>Even if freshman GPA is the thing that you want to predict, finding out how well the Writing section of the SAT I does will take years. Why not keep the SAT II Writing instead? Require it if you want to. </p>
<p>I took the SATs in 1971, and I don't remember any writing at all, so that section must have been dropped by then.</p>
<p>Justadog: re writing test that doesn't allow for revisions, drafts: that's like essay questions on exams. However, it is a lot easier to write if, as in an exam, you've studied and thought about a subject and thus have something to say, as opposed to being given a topic and being required to come up with ideas on the spot.</p>
<p>If the SATIIs are so predictive, then what were the UCs complaining about? They have always required them and could weigh them whatever way they chose to.
Now they have a writing portion of the SAT that doesn't even correlate with the old SATII writing, and they have no SATII writing. They were better off before the changes.</p>
<p>Neither they, nor the CollegeBoard, knows whether they are better off or not. But since the writing portion was modeled on the old SATII Writing, the current assumption is that they are indeed better off. CollegeBoard didn't lose its biggest customer. And in a few years, UCal will know whether they got what they want. Then there may be another round of changes - the CollegeBoard has changed the SATs repeatedly over the past 4 decades, and will continue to do so according to customer preference.</p>
<p>In the meantime, the limited information they have "suggests" that the writing portion of the SAT will give them a more accurate measure than anything else.</p>
<p>mini, I'm not convinced that the College Board changes due to customer preference. They change in order to keep the income...coming in. The more tests, the more changes, the more the fees, the more prep services, etc they can charge for. I still think it's much more about the profit than the colleges or the students.</p>
<p>We don't disagree - but the point is the customer preference (ONE customer - their largest - the UCal system) was their greatest source of profit.</p>
<p>I don't think colleges get the actual text of the essay, they just get the score... so they really can't compare essays to find cheaters.</p>
<p>I just want to ask you what you think about hte following situation: </p>
<p>I took the SAT and got a 9 on the essay, a fairly average score. I'm satisfied with the overall score so I'm not retaking.</p>
<p>But this summer I'm going to a summer programme in the US (I'm not for the US) and I'll take a "College writing course" which I suppose will help me improve my writing. moreover, I will have time to think about my application essays - anouther reason why they will be much better. </p>
<p>So why should this look suspicious?</p>
<p>i'm in the same situation as VerBore's. I did something to improve my writing after a mediocre score on the SAT essay. Thus my application essays will be much better. Will colleges be suspicious?</p>
<p>Just a few notes...</p>
<p>We started getting scans of the written essays along with our monthly score uploads last year. If I wanted to see a student's SAT essay, I would have to access the scanned data from the month of the exam and look it up. It sounds easy, but it's a pain to do this. </p>
<p>I personally haven't seen much variation in the grading of the essay. Now, I haven't done any real analysis, but my memory is of seeing lots of scores in the 8-11 range, a handful of 12s and one 4. In the small amount of time I spend looking at standardized test scores, I find myself looking at the three digit numbers more than that essay score.</p>
<p>My 8th grader wrote nothing but an introductory paragraph and got a 3 from one of the graders. My 11th grader wrote a standard five paragraph essay and also got a 3 from one of the graders. Seemed odd to me.</p>
<p>^BAck when it was an SAT 2, my then 11thgrader wrote five grammatically perfect, organized paragraphs, and got a 6. We will never understand that.</p>
<p>Question to the admissions rep, you said you look more at the three digit number than the essay score, yet you noted that there were only a handful of 12s. If you see a 12 does that have any impact on your evaluation?</p>
<p>Some admissions committees never see the SAT writing score. At UChicago, for example, an admissions counselor explained that the SAT sores they see have been transcribed onto a form with the writing scores removed, thus, they cannot be even informally influenced by them since they never see the score.</p>
<p>I despise the notion of students purchasing prepared essays, and I know many receive far too much help from parents or others, but I don't think comparing the college essay to a writing test essay is a valid method of identifying cheaters, or even raising a red flag. Writing and rewriting (at a computer) an essay on a topic of your choice will naturally produce a very different result vs spending 25 minutes in a pressurized situation writing with a #2 pencil on an unfamiliar topic. Both exercises are "writing" but they are different. I don't think it's fair to make students worry (as 2 in this thread have already expressed concerns) that their essay is "too good."</p>
<p>Although some schools do have transcribed forms where they do not have the writings scores, many schools do have all information reported. Yes, it can hurt you at some schools to have a low SAT2 that is an extra, because they can see that score, and it is hard to ignore what you see. They are not going to ignore it if there are too many kids for a seat, and they have to go to the nth degree to make a decision.</p>