<p>What got the petition going:</p>
<p>From Today's Boston Globe:</p>
<p>Counselors air concerns over length of new SAT
Students complain test is exhausting</p>
<p>i believe that breaking the test up into 3 days may be good int he sense that people can concentrate on one test at a time. but, then again, the one day test is stressful enough, and having more than one day is even more stressful. also, about administering the test only one time, i strongly disagree with that. ppl have lives. if ou don't feel well one weekend, that ruins your chance of getting into college. what i do think should happen is that the sat should be administered in separate sections just as the act is done like all math then all english etc., but the point is to have the test concentrated into sections same like how the sat 2's are organized. also, sat 2 scores tend to be better because of this.</p>
<p>I love the idea. Would each of the three sections still be required by colleges? Or would that change the requirements?</p>
<p>Honestly, I think people need to deal with it, not to sound harsh or anything. The SAT is 1 saturday of a student's life...5 hours...and then it's over. Longer breaks are good...and just take each section one by one...and really, it's not too bad.</p>
<p>Think of the some other situations. AP exams...sure...they're only 3 hours each, but what about AP Lang/Lit? 2 hours of straight essay writing? That's tough. Then there's college finals. My school has 3 hour long tests, and when you have more than 1 in a day it's tough as well. PLUS there are many more standardized tests along the way. A vast majority of CC students are pre-med, and they're going to have to eventually face the MCAT, which is just an absolute marathon of a test.</p>
<p>I'm not trying to sound harsh/take over the parent's forum, but if students are prepared well and ready for the length of the test I trust many will endure. Just my opinion...please don't attack me!</p>
<p>i mean, i would just like longer breaks and like all verbal first and then all math and then all essay but the switching subjects every section gets on my nerves. that's probably how my score went down. o crap, i'm taking ap comp this year! is it really that bad?</p>
<p>It's not that bad. I mean, your hand hurts after awhile, but you have to do it. Just stick to the task and hand (as with any of these tests) and it's really a doable thing.</p>
<p>loveduke22 I am surprised that you say that "the majority of CCers will be pre-med". Is this based on any data? I know that the pre-med forum is pretty extensive, but none of those rosters created on individual college boards (Ivys and such) have a majority of any major, never mind pre-med.</p>
<p>This is ridiculous and outrageous. The current SAT is the standard for college entrance examination, and if some kids can't handle it, too bad!! Maybe they weren't meant to attend college. </p>
<p>Besides, if it really is so tiring etc, it would reflect in all the kids who take it, so it technically changes nothing.</p>
<p>Oh just a hasty generalization...but many people I've talked to are. Probably not a majority but more than a few. </p>
<p>Anyway, I don't mean to be confrontational. Just bringing in another side.</p>
<p>did anyone notice that less than 100 students took the collegeboard's amazing survey? In fact, those with an essay scored over 100 points better than those that did not have an essay in the survey. Sounds like this could hardly be a definitive set of information that is capable of extrapolating the results of 1.whatever million high schoolers ever year.</p>
<p>There is something about the format of the SAT that makes it mentally exhausting for some kids. My d DETESTED this exam- Took it once. and then went the ACT route. It's not just the lenghth of the exam as the ACT with writing is also about 4 hours. I think the SAT has about 10 sections. So you are constantly switching back and forth in subject matter. Also the writing component comes first- so you can probably start "handcramping" before you get to the test itself. I do not think the ACT has as many sections- so you concentrate on all the math-- all the english and I believe the writing component is at the end of the exam. Also the writing prompts on the ACT are a lot more straight forward. Did you ever read the writing prompts on the SAT?? Sometimes its not very clear what they are asking without reading it 2 to 3 times. My d found the SAT "mind numbing" but the ACT was tolerable. Both tests were about the same time period so it's more then the lenghth of the SAT test that is making it unbearable to a lot of kids. The first thing I would suggest ETS to do is to put all the English sections together- math sections together- and do writing at the end. Just the way ACT does it. The SAT is only an exam. Not a test of endurance.</p>
<p>Sorry I am coming late to the game but I agree with Xiggi's proposal. Administer the SAT in the HS (or the ACT or both). Schools already administer the PSATs and other standardized tests, i.e. NEDT, ASVAB, Iowa, CAT, AMC10/12, etc. Students that are not in college prep classes can opt out.</p>
<p>Subject tests the "week(s)" of the AP tests also sounds about right. I think more students take the SAT 2 tests than APs. The AP tests could be done on the weekend or almost anytime at a testing center. Taking the classes at school would remain the same. Taking the test afterwards would show "initiative". Additionally, I would suggest that colleges stop eliminating APs for college credit. If you know the subject then why must you take it again?</p>
<p>The only issue I have with Xiggi's proposal is that is limited to one sitting. I would suggest 2 sittings, one the end of May or first week of June of a students Junior year. A second sitting sometime around the middle of September.</p>
<p>So, how do we make it so?</p>
<p>"The AP tests could be done on the weekend or almost anytime at a testing center." Explain please.</p>
<p>glucose,</p>
<p>Right now the College Board administers the SAT 1 & 2 on Saturdays throughout the year. I would think they could administer the AP tests on weekends throughout the year instead of just one week in May.</p>
<p>There are currently 3o+ APs offered. In order to take the tests, the students must have covered the materials. This means the tests can only be offered at the end of the semester for students on the block system or at the end of the year for students in the traditional year-long course. It would be impossible to scatter the tests throughout the year. I believe currently, the AP tests are given over a 2-week period. While some could be administered on a weekend, it would take quite a few more weekends to administer all AP tests. There would also be a question of fairness if students in some AP courses had more time to cover their materials than students in other courses.
The SAT tests, by contrast, are given several times during the year to enable students to re-take them if they so wish. The SAT could be given more frequently.</p>
<p>It doesn't make sense to have the APs on weekends...</p>
<p>Marite, Glucose,</p>
<p>The SAT subject tests are given on weekends. They are not tied to "completion" of a particular class but do test knowledge based of subject matter. I do not know for sure but I believe that there are more SAT 2 tests administered than AP tests. </p>
<p>I do not see any real reason to only administer the AP tests during the week during the first 2 weeks of May. Many of the subjects are really semester based classes. Perhaps they should be administered twice a year, once in December and once in May. However, I think it would be best to administer them on weekends. The tests can be administered with students taking other AP tests than the subject a particular student is taking, similar to how the CB administers the SAT 2 tests today.</p>
<p>It would be a good idea to administer the AP tests twice for students on the block schedule. But, I repeat there are 32 AP tests and the combination of APs is daunting--hence the need to administer them over two weeks, AM and PM.
There are far 17 SAT IIs (not counting the SAT-II with listening). The only reason they are given so often is that students can re-take them after reviewing materials. Most students will either take no SAT-II (only about 60 colleges require them) or take only 2 or 3. Very few students take more than 3, and they often take them in tandem with APs in the same subjects. Furthermore, most students take several SAT-IIs at the same time, which they cannot do with the longer APs.</p>
<p>Marite,</p>
<p>I understand that there are 32 AP tests. But no one takes them all. Just like the SAT 2 tests, they could be administered together in the same test room as others taking the same test.</p>
<p>What I would like to know is how many students take the AP tests and how many take the SAT 2 tests. I don't know for sure but I believe the numbers of test takers would be similar between the 2 tests. Further, no college requires the AP test but many do require SAT 2 tests. If a schools is a college prep school I believe that it would make sense to take the SAT 2s at school and have the APs administered separately.</p>
<p>Yeah, this would change the adminstration of the tests but the focus of the high schools would be high school and the AP, which is a college level test, would be administered outside the school for those who want college credit.</p>
<p>Whether or not AP tests are administered at the school is of marginal relevance. In fact, my S took a couple of AP tests outside his school because the school ran out of space for the different AP tests that were being administered while continuing to hold classes for non-test takers. The question is how to schedule them. Some students do take 4 or 5 APs per year, even more if they self-study. How to accommodate them in a single weekend would be a real headache since each AP is 3 hour long as opposed to SAT-II which are one hour long each. Spreading the APs over several weekends would introduce inequalities.<br>
Personally, I am for administering APs right after the end of school so that they do not take up two weeks that would be better spent studying.</p>