<p>hereshoping, this particular article in the NYT pointed out that the drop in scores was not "blamed" on test fatigue. For the moment, until the data from more cohorts of test takers becomes available, the drop is labelled a "mystery". Hopefully, the significance of the drop and an explanation of the mystery will be forthcoming -but is certainly is grist for the mill.</p>
<p>I was just pointing out that more people watch television to get their news than read the NYT. Television viewers last night were being told that fatigue was suspected as the reason for the drop in scores, which is why they were considering two sittings for the test.</p>
<p>hereshoping,
I didn't mean to imply that you didn't make a good point - just that the NYT article indicated something else was at play. I missed that particular tv news story but here is a link to an article that picks up this story line:</p>
<p>aris: Thanks for the link. Also, since you appear to be knowledgeable about the writing portion of the new SAT, could you tell my why the questions demand that a student take a position on what are moral, even political issues? Why does the essay have to persuade? I know in my son's high school English classes, the students spend a large amount of time learning to write <em>persuasive</em> essays about <em>controversial</em> subjects. I don't believe the CB ever said they wanted to use the essay portion as a means of finding out how deeply the kids can think. Also, they're not billing it as a test of knowledge, i.e. judging the quality of the examples they choose to back up their topic sentences. Their expressed purpose is simply to see if kids can write a coherent, logical essay. Why not choose innocuous, good old tried and true topics such as, for example: the person who most influenced my life; how I would spend a summer's day; the happiest day in my childhood; my goals for the future; etc., etc.</p>
<p>It concerns me that kids are being forced to choose one side of an issue. This is a snapshot of their opinions at one time in their lives, yet the results of the writing sample will be part of their permanent record, which will follow them as long as they are applying to schools.</p>
<p>Looking at the writing prompts xiggi has posted, I can't really figure out what the CB is trying to test in the sample (especially since it's not primarily grammar, spelling or even vocabulary). Can you explain this to me?</p>
<p>Why did I write aris? I meant asteriskea. Sorry! Any ideas...anyone?</p>
<p>Recent CNN story on the same subject: <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/05/12/sat.scores.fatigue.ap/index.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/05/12/sat.scores.fatigue.ap/index.html</a></p>
<p>My senior D is an A+ student, but she found the length of the SATs exhausting. She arrived at 7:45am with a snack and came out about 12:45. She was wiped out. Too long for one day's testing IMO.</p>
<p>idad, thanks for the link. </p>
<p>Maryc, my S came home after the May test and literally crashed for the rest of the afternoon. His group was given, I think, two very short "stand up and stretch breaks". He didn't have any time to eat the snack he took with him. Obviously, test angst, as well as test fatigue, is taking a toll on even the best of the best. We will just have to wait and see if something else is at play, and just how the CB will respond if it becomes evident that the new test is not giving the colleges desired statistical results.</p>
<p>hereshoping, I understand your concern but I don't think you have anything to worry about. All the information that I have culled about the new SAT writing test indicates that it is scored as a first draft, so varying degrees of grammar and spelling errors will be overlooked - an essay can have "minor" errors and still earn a score of 6. If the essay demonstrates more serious lapses in quality and grammar, the score decreases accordingly. All of this is outlined in the SAT scoring guide.</p>
<p>The students are expected to "develop a point of view" and effectively argue their position. The prompts, which would give me a good case of brain freeze, are not designed to elicit a persuasive moral or political stance. In fact, the whole essay can be as bland as a bowl of warmed over oatmeal and still get a good score. The CB is interested in the mechanics of writing and not the opinion expressed - this essay is not by any means an English paper. Hence, the caveat against over-complicating this section of the test. The prompts deal with controversial issues most probably because those issues lend themselves to a broad range of responses within the yes/no dichotomy needed to formulate an effective topic sentence. A mastery of the English language - reduced to the least common denominator of basic essay structure - is all that is required.</p>
<p>Obviously, and this goes back to my other posts, those students who take care to dot their "i"s and cross their "t"s will probably do well enough - and these same students are most likely the same students who will take care to produce carefully polished admissions apps. The CB itself recognizes that students have to prepare ahead for the essay section: "On test day, too much time spent on planning will result in not enough time for writing." Students are encouraged to prep as much as they need to because there is simply not much time to think and map out a strategy once the page is turned and the timer starts.</p>
<p>I don't know if a link to this site has been posted elsewhere, but I thought it would be appropriate to do so here since we all have concerns about standardized testing.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.fairtest.org/univers.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.fairtest.org/univers.htm</a></p>
<p>Just to be fair, I thought I ought to post the link to the ETS' "fairness in testing" site.</p>
<p>My S came home after the May test, refused to discuss it, and crashed on the couch until I made him mow the lawn, bag the clippings, and make sure they got to the dump before four. (My husband has a broken ankle). My sister says I am movitating him to go away to college. Since I almost sent him to the wrong test center (he checked the admission slip one more time in the morning), I expect to hear the story for many years to come. Hope he did well. The problem with the new test and the scoring problems is that it is going to take much longer to get the results back.</p>
<p>UPenn claims it noticed the 5-point drop. <a href="http://www.dailypennsylvanian.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2006/05/18/446c0f50cb099%5B/url%5D">http://www.dailypennsylvanian.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2006/05/18/446c0f50cb099</a></p>
<p>Perhaps another reason why many colleges look favorably on athletes:</p>
<p>D's 18's (mostly seniors) volleyball team was scheduled to play in a two-day regional finals tournament on SAT Saturday in May. Setter (not my D) is a junior. Setters are like quarterbacks -- they're run the show and are involved in every rally. It's an exhausting job. </p>
<p>Setter traveled 3 hours on Friday night to where the tournament would be, slept in an unfamiliar hotel bed, took the SAT w/Writing at a nearby high school, then went straight to the playing site, arriving before 2pm to grab a snack and set for her team until 9:30pm, ate dinner at the hotel, returned to the facility at 7:30 the next morning and set all day Sunday until 6pm. There was absolutely no mention of the SAT test, how hard it was, how long it was, or talk of her being "tired." Her whole focus was on the tournament and no one would have suspected she'd already put in a long day before arriving at the playing site on Saturday. </p>
<p>When the tournament was over, she got in the car, ate dinner on the road, and drove for 3 hours to get home by 10pm Sunday night to start her homework.</p>
<p>Similar scenes were played out on other courts that weekend (there were 90 17/18's teams), and are in fact played out all over the country on softball and soccer fields, on the track, in swimming pools, on the tennis court, etc. After years of competition, the kids get used to mental, emotional and physical pressure. I don't think it makes them better or smarter than anyone else, but it does toughen them up and help them learn to manage stress and run on empty -- which is something college admissions folks know is a good thing to be able to do in college.</p>
<p>Stamina is an admirable quality and no doubt does give serious atheletes an important competitive edge - but whether or not the drop in SAT test scores is directly related to test fatigue yet to be determined.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Stamina is an admirable quality and no doubt does give serious atheletes an important competitive edge - but whether or not the drop in SAT test scores is directly related to test fatigue yet to be determined.
[/quote]
Hmm. I'm confused. Not sure where I said that the drop in SAT scores is related to fatigue. Don't think I did. I draw no conclusions from the drop in test scores. I also didn't say that athletes have an important competitive edge in taking SAT tests, but maybe you didn't say that either. The competitive edge is in some college admissions and there are plenty of people who question that, don't like it, and ask why. One answer could be that athletes aren't as likely to need to collapse on the couch all afternoon after a tough morning. Like I said, they're not better or smarter, just used to having to keep going.</p>
<p>1Down2go, I don't think that there is anything to be confused about, except perhaps the point of your post in relation to the drop in SAT scores, which is the topic of this thread. Stamina, discipline, focus, drive, and above all maturity are all laudable qualities that student athletes acquire as they make their way from competition to competition. My niece competed in local, regional and state competitions in gymnastics until a recent leg operation put a halt to it all. From what I can tell, though, she does not regret giving it up because she had stopped enjoying the sport long ago. Stress and a manic coach took its toll. In any case, if we were discussing college admissions I am sure that most people would agree that athletes display ample qualities that distinguish them as not just desirable but sought after college applicants.</p>
<p>For the rest of us, some students hold part-time jobs, others muddle through as best they can. Apart from whatever degree of hyperbole we have used to try to understand what might be best described as "test fatigue", the above posts only give a snapshot view of our S's and D's at one particular time - a time that we are trying to decipher signals, on purely anecdotal levels, to figure out what might be going on with the SAT. Indeed, maybe nothing at all is going on and students merely need to take the test more often. My S is a sophomore and was the only student in his class who signed up to take the SAT - not because he wants to prove that he is a whiz kid but simply because he doesn't like standardized tests and would profit by taking it more than once. Apparently, the administration of our high school now sees it the same way - this week a memo was posted to advise rising sophomores to take the SAT at the end of that year.</p>