SAT is a load of crap

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
1

<p>The main reasons students give for failing to participate in the political process (is that they have demanding assignments and work at) part-time jobs.</p>

<p>A. (is that they have demanding assignments and work at)
B. (are demanding assignments and they work at)
C. (are that they have demanding assignments and that they work at)
D. (is having demanding assignments and having to work at)
E. (are demanding assignments, in addition to working at)</p>

<p>According to the answer key, the correct answer is C. (are that they have demanding assignments and that they work at). </p>

<p>Now another question in a different section:</p>

<p>The labor union (is negotiating) a contract with the hospital (that) (will satisfy) the demands of the workers and (be acceptable to) all levels of management. </p>

<p>Or (No error). </p>

<p>According to the answer key, there is no error in the sentence.</p>

<p>Both questions are a contradiction. </p>

<p>In the first question, "that they" had to be emphasized/used again. However, in the second question, "that will" was not emphasized/used again. </p>

<p>The right answer in question one is, "The main reasons students give for failing to participate in the political process are that they have demanding assignments and that they work at part-time jobs." Adding the phrase "that they" to "work at part-time jobs" makes the sentence sound heavy. It is unnecessary to add the phrase because "work at part-time jobs" flows just right without it. However, C was chosen as the correct answer. </p>

<p>However, in the second question, SAT went against their "English rule". They said that there is no error in the sentence. The phrase "that will" was not needed before "be acceptable to". It's a contradiction! </p>

<p>Do you see it? </p>

<p>... And honestly, how many people would actually use the vocabulary words which SAT test? No wonder universities are eliminating the SAT from their admission requirements.</p>

2

<p>i think it works both ways, its just a matter of preference, if the choice in question one was like this (are that they have demanding assignments and work at), I hink it will also work. unless, your explanation is copied and pasted from CB then sat is a load of crap</p>

3

<p>Actually, no. The problem is, you’re over-thinking the questions. If something sounds right, and fits right, then it probably is.</p>

<p>And remember, there is absolutely no such thing as two correct answers. There is always a difference, and there is always a best answer.</p>

<p>Lose the negativity towards the exam, else, you’ll do ****.</p>

4

<p>Space:</p>

<p>I could not disagree more.</p>

<p>True, there may be a few vague questions on the exam, but overall, I have found in my life that the people who got very high SAT scores are in fact more intelligent than those that didn’t. By the way, I only got a 1200 out of 1600 when I was a kid. The fact that a few questions may be vague does not mean that the whole test is a load of crap, as you say. </p>

<p>If there wasn’t some sort of standardized test, how could a college admissions officer possibly compare the B+ a kid got at a fancy private school, with a B+ from an innner city school, or a B+ from a public school in Iowa.</p>

<p>The move towards getting rid of the SAT is because a lot of people don’t like the RESULTS of the test. Minorities tend to score poorly. Therefore, let’s get rid of the test, they say, because the test must therefore be “biased”. Or kids from high schools that are not of high academic quality don’t like it when they get bad SAT scores despite having an “A” average in high school. </p>

<p>I am always surprised when I see someone on CC who says they are valedictorian of their high school class, but then only have a 27 ACT. To me, this shows either grade inflation, or an easy high school. </p>

<p>That being said, I think colleges are going too far when they say that a kid who gets a 2100 SAT is “better” than a kid who gets a 2000. The test was never meant to measure such minor differences. For example, my son got a 31 on his ACT the first time, and a 34 the second time. So to me, a kid who gets a 34 is not necessarily better than a kid who gets a 31. On the other hand, a kid that gets a 2300 SAT score is probably indeed a better candidate than a kid who ony gets an 1800.</p>

5

<p>floridadad is right. Even though I pretty much do **** on the exam, however, I do concede that it has sharpened my reasoning and comprehension skills more than ever.</p>

6

<p>My son got the same exact percentile on his ACT that he did on his SAT.</p>

<p>34 ACT 2300 SATs</p>

<p>So even though they were different tests, the results were the same.</p>

<p>To me, it shows that there is indeed something valid about standardized tests.</p>

<p>And that they deserve to part of the admissions process, the key word being “part”.</p>

7

<p>Floridadad, did your son take SAT II tests in any subject that he also took AP exams in? How did those correlate. </p>

<p>My son is an odd test taker. And inconsistent. Very frustrating.</p>

8

<p>

The sentence is talking about “the main reasons students give for failing to participate in the political process,” which is plural (there are multiple reasons). The first “that…” phrase (“that they have demanding assignments”) is ONE reason, and the second “that…” phrase (“that they work at part-time jobs”) is ANOTHER reason. The “that” is repeated to emphasize the individual nature of each reason, which makes sense rather than combining both reasons into one “that…” phrase, which could mean that there is only one reason with two components.</p>

<p>The main reasons students give for not voting are that they’re in school (one reason) and that they’re working (another reason).</p>

<p>It would raise some heads (be disagreeable to some people) if you said The main reasons … are that they have demanding assignments and they work at part-time jobs because that sounds like there is only one reason (with two components).

For this sentence, it is acceptable to put everything into one “that…” phrase because there is no reason to separate the two.</p>

<p>The labor union is negotiating a contract that will do one thing and do another thing.</p>

<p>Nonetheless, it would NOT be incorrect to repeat “that” because separating the reasons doesn’t create a logical problem: The labor union is negotiating a contract that will do one thing and that will do another thing.</p>

9

<p>vlines:</p>

<p>I think my son got around a 700 or 710 on two different SAT subject tests </p>

<p>On his APs so far, he has received four 5’s, two 4’s, two 3’s (in Calculus and Physics), and a 2 in Human Geography a long long time ago.</p>

10

<p>vlines:</p>

<p>his 5’s and 4’s on the APs were in english/political science/history/psychology subjects, which indeed correlates with his 800 CR and his 800 writing on the SAT.</p>

11

<p>I actually agree with the actual answers. For the first one even tho C makes the sentence seem heavy, the other answers have errors.</p>

12

<p>The answers given are definitely correct.</p>

<p>If an SAT question is vague, it isn’t on the SAT. They study the questions really carefully and make sure that students who answer a certain question correctly do better on the other questions as well. If a question gets more correct answers from students who get 500s as opposed to 700s, they’d have thrown it out. The SAT still is a better predictor of college grades than high school grades are.</p>