<p>It DEFINITELY favors formulaic writing. I got 1 grammatical question wrong on the writing section, but I got an 8/12 on an essay that my English teacher said would have been an A- (as it was, without any edits.) My friend who got an overall score of 1190 also got an 8/12, despite making five major grammatical errors.</p>
<p>Just because your friend got the same essay score and a lower overall SAT score doesn't mean anything. It means you got an 8.</p>
<p>perhaps this is because there is one more section of the sat to juggle when taking the test. it is probably not too easy to swtich from mindset to mindset every twenty five minutes. "ok now im on reading. that's exactly what the author was saying and now...math." twenty five minutes later "yes. i get it now. yes, inversely porportional and...sentence errors? ok." twenty five minutes later "that passage was a cinch! that was totally a comma splice and...back to sentence completions?! AAAAAAAARRRRGGGGGHHHH!"</p>
<p>plus your brain can pull a neuron when comprehending the tricky wording of the questions. </p>
<p>you guys can probably tell that I'm an ACT person. which is interesting b/c before i bought all these SAT books and started getting really into it. then i took a practice ACT. the questions are black and white plus it makes so much more sense: you do a section. and then you are done with that section. no mind switches. anyways, got a 29 without any prep.(my school is deficient in the math dept so that would explain my 24 math. i have no clue how to use a graphing calculator. and wth are logs or those curvy graphs? but lets not get into that) so i can probably can improve to at least a 33. that seems so much more acheivable than going from a 600 to 700.</p>
<p>o yea and who can forget the benefits of no guessing penalty and score report choice?</p>
<p>I took the SAT last June, and after maybe 3 hours in the testing room, i swore to myself that I would never take the test again. I arrived at the test center at 8 am, left at maybe 12:30 pm. 5 hours of my life i'll never get back... Of course, after I received my scores and realized that I bombed the writing section, i'll be taking it again on October...
I would definitely support the idea of breaking the SAT into 3 sections, that way if someone needed to boost their score on just one section, they could take it and be over with it in under two hours, without having to take the whole friggin test again.</p>
<p>oh yeah, here's my hypothesis for the low 2006 SAT scores: World of Warcraft.</p>
<p>i took the stupid test twice (both times the new version) and got 90 points lower the second time around. i like the act better. i hated that the writing part was first, and the fact that the entire test was in the morning. my brain doesn't start to function until about 2 in the afternoon.</p>
<p>Yeah, I'm one of the kids who only took it once. I got a 1350/1600 and 2000/2400 but I just didn't have time during the spring to take them again, and I'm set to take the SAT IIs in October, so I geuss I'll never know if I can improve my scores...</p>
<p>The test length plus the money is just completely deterring me from it.</p>
<p>I'm going to take the ACTs in October though, I'll see how those go.</p>
<p>Yeah, after taking that test I found myself desperately hoping that I wouldn't have to go through that again...it's just the fact that it turns a saturday morning into such an ordeal...</p>
<p>"Taking the SAT is an unpleasant experience" = understatement
..and then there's the issue of studying for the thing...
I was so ridiculously happy I only had to take it once, there are so many more rewarding ways to be spending your time than studying for the freaking SAT</p>
<p>AFAIK, the SAT is scored on a curve- that is, the average score is supposed to be as close to 500 as possible (RAW score is discreet, so it is impossible to make it exactly 500). The test scoring changes depending on the average score. If students took the same test year after year, it would mean something. But that isn't how it works.</p>
<p>You guys are a bunch of whiny babies.</p>
<p>I'm surprised that everyone is making a big deal about such a small drop in scores. It seems like it could just be normal statistical variation. And a 7 point drop is not going to make it easier for anyone to get into any college.</p>
<p>"the cut off between elite and not elite high schools Anne Arundel's scores remain 10 to 20 points higher than the national average on each section of the test, but participation has slipped. The percentage of seniors taking the test countywide dipped from 54 in 2005 to 51 in 2006.</p>
<p>Only one of the county's 12 high schools, Severna Park, averaged better than 550 on the three sections of the test. That number traditionally has served as a rough dividing line between elite high schools and others. Severna Park averaged 556."</p>
<p>an interesting article from the washington post about the cut off between elite and non elite high school's sat scores</p>
<p>bump bump bump</p>
<p>i didn't study at all but now i wish i did since im applying early desicion and i cant send the new SAt scores that i will get from taking the SAT in OCt.</p>
<p>I don'th think the test was hard but wayyyyyyy too long. I was out the day before the test and fell asleep like at 12ish, and when i took the test i was dieing near the last 2 sections.
LOl yea yea call me dumb, but i def. felt it.</p>
<p>"You guys are a bunch of whiny babies."</p>
<p>Agreed.</p>
<p>Jeez, if a 13 year old with short attention span can get 2130, you can too. Quit complaining. The test isn't THAT long. </p>
<p>Anyway, I'm hoping this will make the October curve easier.</p>
<p>Are a few points going to matter that much?</p>
<p>Wow, didn't know this.</p>
<p>The test is too long, in my opinion. It's do-able; I don't think it should be too much of a strain to stay awake for four hours. But by the end of the test, too many students "don't care" because they're tired. If it was shorter, I think it would better represent the students' best.</p>
<p>I have no clue about a SAT test... I have never had to take one and I am in my fourth year at the University. I cant agree on it being long, short, or complain. Oh, well some people just luck out I guess.</p>