<p>My daughter just took the new SAT., It lasted a full 3 hours and 45 minutes. The kids only got two 5 minutes breaks! Besides being much too long and difficult, the lack of breaks created a major problems especially for the ladies. There were several kids that didn’t make it out of the bathroom in order to start the next test section on time. This is outrageous in my opinion.</p>
<p>Moreover, they now will be trying to grade an essay. I can’t imagine how any essay can be objectively graded. There has to be not only some subjectivity creeping in, but the grading has to be somewhat different from reviewer to reviewer. </p>
<p>What the college board needs to do is as follows:</p>
<li><p>Either allow more or longer breaks for bathrooms etc. or give the exam over two days or shorten the exam.</p></li>
<li><p>Do not grade the essay! In stead, and this may be a novel idea, send the essay right to the college for them to review. Frankly, an essay written under test conditions seems to be more valuable and valid then those required by the college application. They can do away with the college application essay under these circumstances.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>What do you think? If you agree with either or both premises, please write the College Board and complain.</p>
<p>I agree with you on the Writing Portion. Adding the writing portion was completely unnecessary and turns the exam into a marathon. Colleges always had the option of requiring the SAT II Writing Test but fewer than 100 required it. At the least, they should make this optional - like the ACT.</p>
<p>Likewise the SAT II Math options are superior to the SAT I. Give students the option, based on their background, to take the appropriate level math test. </p>
<p>The only change I agreed with was the elimination of analogies.</p>
<p>It seems like the big problem with this first sitting is consistency in the administration. S said their breaks were too long (note my other post about the proctor going to Starbucks on one of the breaks) and S was at the testing site for 5 hours!</p>
<p>Taxguy ~ I like the idea that the SAT essay should be sent to the colleges...but somehow I thought they were already. Do you know if the CB sends the essay?</p>
<p>Add one more piece of evidence to prove that the SAT is gender biased. The 5 minute rule at your test site was obviously created by a male who easily qualifies for making the "idiot" decision of the week.</p>
<p>This is another evidence that seemingly gender neutral policies have very gender-specific consequences. But even without the inherent gender bias, having only 5 minutes for break is calculated to increase tension. How many students know exactly where the restrooms are?</p>
<p>It reminds me of my days as a graduate student. Female students who took finals in one building found out that there were no women's restrooms in that particular building and had to go across the road. In the middle of winter, it was no fun having to done coats and trudge across snow or rain so that we could wait in line, all the while knowing that the clock was ticking.</p>
<p>drusba, that is a ridiculous argument....you sound like a typical feminist desperately searching for ANYTHING that moderately would qualify as gender discrimination. Quite frankly, I do not believe the SATs are gender-biased at all; if anything, it would be biased towards females on account of the writing section addendum.</p>
<p>I think the 5-minute break rule was broader based than just one testing center. My D had the same experience, and the same result - kids standing in line to try to go to the bathroom. Considering there were over 500 kids at the test center, with roughly half of them female, that's 250 kids trying to go to the bathroom in the exact same 5 minutes.</p>
<p>You don't have to be a male rocket scientist to realize that's crazy and adds unnecessary stress. It's not necessarily "gender discrimination" - but it sure qualifies as stupidity.</p>
<p>I disagree with you about the essay grading portion of the test. I would assume they'll use the same system they use to grade the SAT2 Writing. They give the essay to two readers who give it a score. If their scores differ by more than one increment, it gets sent to a 3rd person and they all read it again. Something like that.</p>
<p>It's inherently imperfect because of the subjectivity of the grading, but at least it is somewhat standardized and you would get a similar score every time you take it.</p>
<p>yes, CB sends the new essay to every college to which a kids sends SAT scores.</p>
<p>Marite:</p>
<p>you make a great point -- in most cases, the test site is not a kids home school, so both boys and girls won't necessarily know where the restroom is....</p>
<p>while I agree in principle, a better solution is to vote with your pocketbook. Take the ACT first, and if its a great score, don't even take the SATI</p>
<p>shizz,
the limited number of SAT II writing tests meant a limited number of essays we being graded by people with some experience with the test ... and even then there would have been objectivity problems. With the SAT and ACT essays, the number of tests and experience readers is vastly expanded, with a strick time limit imposed. This really doen't bode well for quality assurance for the next few administrations. I agree with taxguy's take on the essay - just have the kids write it. If that know it is some to the colleges (and not to game the college board) it will likely be a better piece of work.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>they'll use the same system they use to grade the SAT2 Writing. They give the essay to two readers who give it a score. If their scores differ by more than one increment, it gets sent to a 3rd person and they all read it again. >></p>
</blockquote>
<br>
<p>This is exactly correct. We know someone who will be a grader for the SAT writing sample. The trainers received online training with a rubric for the test scoring. Then they did a LOT of sample essays which were reviewed. The problem I see is that there will be many THOUSANDS of these being done and the test is administered many times over the course of the year. I hope they have enough trained personnel.</p>
<p>Re: the break situation...Our high schools don't have enough bathrooms for use between classes. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that having 300-500 folks in one test center, using the bathrooms at the same time is ridiculous. The break should be longer. Maybe some of these "kinks" will be ironed out by the time DD takes the test in May....I sure hope so!! Her school does not offer the SAT (ever) and she will be taking it at a nearby HS...where she would first have to FIND the bathrooms (having never been in the building before).</p>
<p>
[quote]
An SAT Without Analogies is Like: (A) A Confused Citizenry...
By ADAM COHEN </p>
<p>When Grover Norquist, a leading conservative activist, was on the NPR program "Fresh Air" a while back, he casually made a comparison that left the host, Terry Gross, sputtering in disbelief. "Excuse me," she said. "Did you just ... compare the estate tax with the Holocaust?" Yes, he did. </p>
<p>We are living in the age of the false, and often shameless, analogy. A slick advertising campaign compares the politicians working to dismantle Social Security to Franklin D. Roosevelt. In a new documentary, "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room," Kenneth Lay compares attacks on his company to the terrorist attacks on the United States.</p>
<p>Intentionally misleading comparisons are becoming the dominant mode of public discourse. The ability to tell true analogies from false ones has never been more important. But to make room for the new essay portion of the SAT that was rolled out this weekend with much fanfare, the College Board has unceremoniously dropped the test's analogy questions, saying blandly that analogical reasoning will still be assessed "in the short and long reading passages."</p>
<p>Replacing logic questions with writing is perfectly in keeping with these instant-messaging, 500-cable-channel times, when the emphasis is on communicating for the sake of communicating rather than on having something meaningful to say. Obviously, every American should be able to write, and write well. But if forced to choose between a citizenry that can produce a good 25-minute writing sample or spot a bad analogy, we would be better off with a nation of analogists.
Moreover, they now will be trying to grade an essay. I can't imagine how any essay can be objectively graded. There has to be not only some subjectivity creeping in, but the grading has to be somewhat different from reviewer to reviewer.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Have you ever complained about the SAT II Writing test, then? That has an essay too.</p>
<p>
[quote]
if anything, it would be biased towards females on account of the writing section addendum.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Hey, I'm a guy and I did better on the verbal section of the old SAT I. I certainly wouldn't have complained if they had emphasized the verbal section more.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>if anything, it would be biased towards females on account of the writing section addendum. >></p>
</blockquote>
<br>
<p>I don't agree with this at all. DS is a fabulous writer. He did well on the verbal portion of the old SAT (720), but would have preferred a writing sample over the analogies. He is convinced that his errors on the SAT verbal section were ALL in the analogies section. DD on the other hand...wishes the analogies were still a part of the test.</p>
<p>Has anyone had a child take the ACT? My son's school (catholic highschool in CT) likes the ACT and is slowly switching to it. This year, they are having both the SAT and ACT at the school. The ACT seems more thorough (and longer) but it's nice that it can be the ONLY test you send to a school. It seems all the ones I've looked at Ivy-down, say ACT or SAT plus 2-3 subject tests.</p>
<p>Hm....I've seen colleges that require either the ACT or SAT 1 AND SAT 2 tests also. The SAT 2 requirement for some schools is not satisfied with the taking of the ACT.</p>