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<p>It is entirely relevant. The company makes nearly 9% profit. With paying 23 execs $355k salaries and the CEO a nearly $872k salary. It’s a non-profit. That profit is something a for-profit company would love to see. Half of their revenue is from AP testing. The company sells test prep materials. That’s unethical. The company is corrupt. A corrupt company cannot make a fair (or almost fair) test. A broken machine cannot make something perfect. Or even remotely similar.</p>
<p>There’s no casual relationship between being paid a lot of money and wording questions carefully, writing questions with unambiguous answers, or achieving predictive validity, etc. For example, I don’t see why my ability to construct a grammatically correct sentence (necessary for writing questions for the SAT writing section) would be negatively impacted if I were to be suddenly be paid more.</p>
<p>You don’t listen. The point is that they aren’t fair and they do not care about being fair. The salaries are part of the way the company is corrupt. You just do not wish to acknowledge it. They are able to pay these salaries because of UNETHICAL test prep sales. Learn to read and stop being a bigot.</p>
<p>Don’t forget the rush score. They can basically send the scores in a day they don’t need weeks. They take advantages of the “last-minute” applicants by forcing them to pay an extra $20 just to send something like the very next day. Also those who say you should had sent them while they were free: why whould I want to send scores that I have no idea what’s on it.</p>
<p>Also there is abosultely NO refund for this 1-2 weeks long dilevery. Once you send it, you can not cancel and get a refund.</p>
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<p>You are absolutely correct in that a student’s relationship with the CB can be an expensive one - multiple test registrations, Subject Tests, score reports, AP tests, prep material, rushed reports, late registration fees - and for many, that is a prohibitive fact. </p>
<p>I personally do not mind that their CEO makes a tidy salary. Is it unethical? Certainly not; it is America in 2012. I am not going to jealously begrudge anyone some chub change. If the CEO is working for a non-profit, he is obviously not in it for the big money. In any case, it is entirely irrelevant, as aldifgo does well to note.</p>
<p>However, to imply that CB should not be charging such fees for their services is naive. Not only do the employees of CB and the ETS have to be paid to make and administrate the tests, but testing locations (e.g. high schools) have to be rented six times a year all over the country, proctors have to be hired and advised, and CB has to waive many students who cannot afford their services. </p>
<p>To say that the company is corrupt because they have to make money in order to exist is highly accusatory. If they were truly in it for the money you would see a hard spike in prices, fewer tests dates to minimize expenditure, the obliteration of Score Choice and its legal technicalities, the obliteration of free score reports, and a CEO making a 20% profit. </p>
<p>Beyond the cost, do you have any other complaints about the SAT itself? It it rather smoothly run on the corporate level. How often have you had your test mis-scored or your scores delayed? It happens, but not very often.</p>
<p>Also, it seems strange to be attacking a company based on reasoning with a Big-Business conspiracy theory, although admittedly, you are not alone.</p>
<p>The CEO’s salary is not irrelevant. It is one of many factors that show that the company is not trustworthy. I will stress again that I said it is unethical for the company to sell test prep materials. As the AETR’s report card for the College Board states: “It is unethical for a testing company to sell test prep materials […] because it is morally and legally obligated to treat all test-takers fairly,” ([AETR:</a> Revealing College Board’s unethical conduct](<a href=“http://aetr.org/college-board-2009.php]AETR:”>http://aetr.org/college-board-2009.php)).</p>
<p>The company had a profit of $53 million dollars in 2009. Where did that come from? Half came from AP testing that they have kids brainwashed into believing is god. </p>
<p>Let’s just theorize for a second. In 2009, 23 executives made an average salary of $355k. The CEO made $872k. Let’s take the salaries down to an average $125k and $200k for the CEO. That’s about $6 million saved. And they’re still making a pretty penny. Add that $6 million to the $53 million in profit. About 3 million SAT tests are taken each year worldwide. So, let’s see…$59 million…Let’s give them a $14 million profit. So with $45 million, they could knock $15 off the cost of each SAT test. You know,I bet that’d make them more money. Because the cost is one of the limiting factors to how many times a person is willing to take it. Even if you just reduce the salaries, you can cut the cost of the test by $2 each. </p>
<p>The company is corrupt because it makes a profit far too high for a non-profit company. A profit a comparable for-profit company would not spit at. The company is tax free and operates in an unethical fashion. I never said the company is in it for the money. That was you.</p>
<p>It’s not ridiculous to have a belief against the social norm. It’s called thinking freely. It’s called not being brainwashed. It’s called knowing what is right. It’s called refusal to adapt and refusal to play the game. </p>
<p>Get back to me when you can stop building strawman arguments and actually respond to what I said instead of what you think I said.</p>
<p>You may, or may not, have noticed that the title of this thread asks you how you feel about the SAT/ACT. It does not ask how you feel about the CEO of College Board’s salary. You may talk about how fair the test is, which we did. You may talk about the injustice of socioeconomic and racial factors on the tests, which we did. You may even argue, bizarrely, about the dishonesty of studying. We did that. </p>
<p>If your point is that the SAT is expensive, say that. The cost of AP tests and the hypothetical profitable-ness of CB have no baring on the topic. Does the CB make the SAT? No. So argue about the Educational Testing Service, their CEO’s salary, and the “unethical” phraseology of CR questions.</p>
<p>Since you, yourself, have resorted to staw-grasping and side-arguments, I will reiterate your original question:</p>
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<p>I have withheld my initial reaction to be polite, but just to clarify my response:</p>
<p>Firstly, a believe against studying is taking free-thinking too far. Halcyonheather pointed out that it is an queer topic to take a stand on. I won’t say you are being lazy or misguided, but that would be the usual response. How else are you suppose to learn? We didn’t all drop out of the sky “knowing what is right”. I can’t cough up a dictionary without having swallowed it first. </p>
<p>Secondly, and this is complete conjecture, I think you actually expected a higher score rewarding you for your unorthodoxy. After all, someone who can reason at an innately higher level than the brainwashed masses must be able to naturally score well on a reasoning test. Is your score low? Of course not; it is the 90th percentile. Is it low by CC standards? Some might say yes. That is not meant to make you feel bad. I mean to say that maybe you don’t like the SAT because you could have scored higher had you studied. </p>
<p>I can only respond to what I think you said, but by your own admission, I can’t be brainwashed and thinking at the same time. </p>
<p>I hope someone else chimes in because I really dislike being demeaning and impolite on a forum, but I will indulge.</p>
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<p>Back at cha! ;)</p>
<p>“I can’t cough up a dictionary without having swallowed it first.”</p>
<p>Oh my God, that is awesome. Did you make that up?</p>
<p>I was thinking the same thing, halcyonheather!</p>
<p>And as for how I feel about the SAT: I think it is fair enough. But that is probably response bias.</p>
<p>I did. :)</p>
<p>I didn’t expect my score. I hoped for it. I hoped to hell for it. But I never expected it.</p>
<p>You refuse to see what I’m actually saying. You’re too biased and too eager to follow the societal norm. The CEO’s salary is an example of how the company is not ethical. It’s not a good company. A faulty machine makes faulty products. CB is a very faulty machine and makes very faulty products. But they obsess too much over the money to realize that they are doing unethical things. </p>
<p>My beliefs are mine. I have the right to them. I will have them. I believe it’s wrong to lie. I see studying for the SAT to be lying to yourself. I don’t care if you think it’s entirely right to study and make yourself look readier than you are. It is my belief. It is my resolve. And I will not concede to someone who can’t even read what I say properly.</p>
<p>I concede defeat.</p>
<p>Studying doesn’t make you look readier than you are. It makes you readier than you were before. That’s the point.</p>
<p>halcyon, thank you for trying. :)</p>
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<p>Before I go, I would like to say that I am not dyslexic. You are insulting my reading comprehension somewhat unfairly (how ironic). In the three CB tests I am taken, all my Critical Reading scores were perfect. </p>
<p>It is very likely that I am biased, but there is no need to resort to insults.</p>
<p>“Studying doesn’t make you look readier than you are. It makes you readier than you were before. That’s the point.”
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Ok… I have agree with this point. </p>
<p>The topic asks how do we feel about the SAT/ACT? We seen many responses. I have to say that the SAT is a good test for the college process BUT it’s not the best. Nor is the ACT. There should be better way to test college readiness then waking up on a Saturday Morning taking a test most people don’t feel like waking up for. I think if these Tests are going to continue to exist, then they need to invoke some serious reforms:
1.) Move away from the Saturday mornings tradition. Try to offer Early Morning, Late Morning, Mid-Afternoon, And Evening on Saturday. Some people like me perform way better at a certain time of the day. I get morning allergy and for a timed test that is not good. Also some of us perform better after a decent meal. Or just feel like they haven’t woke up inside a box.
2.) Eliminate Rush Sending and actually send all materials in at least one days not weeks.
3.) Offer non-timed tests or extend times. I know all tests are technically timed in a sense but being realistic, in college it’s not like you’re have 25 minute to answer 35 questions on the finals, right?
4.) Summer tests. For many people you added pressure on them since they are taking it during school. And aside from the June tests there should be a July test which would be extremely helpful to Juniors because they would had learn most of the stuff AND study a lot by then.
I had some others ideas but this is all for now.</p>
<p>A non-timed SAT? Psht, I doubt it. </p>
<p>Time-management is what separates the high scorers from everyone else. That is not elitism. Twenty-five minutes is what separates a 12 essay from a 6 essay. In an un-timed test, students would be working on that sucka for half the day trying to remember the difference between affect and effect and whether Hitler shot his dog or his wife first. </p>
<p>Not only that, testers would be flipping from section to section, which is currently known as cheating. It would not be a test in any sense of difficulty; it would be graded busywork.</p>
<p>However, I like your idea of extended time, but I don’t see compelling reason to implement it. It would simply raise the average score, cheaper semi-good scores, and make competition at the top of the chart very hair-splitting. With careless errors out of the way, the difference between a 2300 and a 2400 would be -1. Imagine how holistic college admissions would become if everyone was swaggering around with a 2100.</p>
<p>Lol I still think there should be more time. Not everyone including myself is able to even look at every problems without rushing and causing numerous error. Reading speed are different, thinking/reacting time are different, heck the filling in the bubble without making a mess is a bit time consuming. Personally I feel an extension of 5-10 minutes should be enough for many people. It also actually give you the chance to double-check for those fast pacers.</p>
<p>Sent from my LG-VM696 using CC</p>
<p>SAT writing scores have more connection to length than quality. Source: Dr. Perelman of MIT <a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/04/education/04education.html?_r=0[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/04/education/04education.html?_r=0</a></p>
<p>Don’t try to tell me that length is equal to quality. My papers are short. I get my point across. I am concise. I hate length and fluff. It’s pointless.</p>
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Readier for the test. Not college. </p>
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<p>Well, the implication that the only way to fail to comprehend is due to dyslexia insults and offends me. And the CR score is not at all about comprehension, hon. It’s about knowing what the test wants. Same as every multiple choice English test.</p>
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<p>Well, there is another way…</p>
<p>Dr. Perelman makes a most basic error. Longer essays tend to get higher scores not because of their length, but rather because good essays tend to be longer (the writers have more to write about). I don’t like to bring out the “correlation does not imply causation” mantra but I think it applies very well here.</p>
<p>If the test contains skills required for college (vocabulary, reading comprehension, grammar, math, etc.), then improvement in those skills does make you readier for college. Here is the argument in an easy to follow format:</p>
<p>Success in college requires certain skills.
Improvement in those skills results in improvement in college performance.
The SAT requires some of these skills.
Studying for the SAT results in improvement in some of these skills.
Therefore, studying for the SAT results in improvement in college performance.</p>
<p>You can tweak this around a bit but the idea is the same.</p>
<p>How does it not test reading comprehension? You have to read passages and demonstrate your understanding of these passages by selecting the correct meaning of the passage from some possible answers. This surely falls under any reasonable definition of reading comprehension.</p>