<p>Okay, I really hold back for a long time, despite being REALLY tempted to ask, but I really have to.</p>
<p>What's the purpose of the SAT, really?</p>
<p>I mean, those tests are EASY. Let's be serious, anyone with half a brain is able to get 600+ on them, so I don't even see how 700+ is useful as a cut-off.
Not to mention, when I see people write something like "my SAT scores suck, because everyone else gets to attend those fancy prep courses and I don't", it feels just sad*... I mean, come on... I'm a self-tought international who's never even been to an English-speaking country, and I still got 750+ on the reading section... :|</p>
<p>So how do those tests measure anything? Any ability? And graphing calculators on the Math 2? Not to mention how random the whole thing is.</p>
<p>So, dunno, the way I see it the tests are useless, and I wonder why don't the schools try to do something about it? Or am I actually wrong and the tests do serve some purpose?</p>
<p>(*Meant in relation to people who aspire to be MIT/Princeton/Harvard/itd. students and who still use these excuses, not to everyone in general)</p>
<p>Really, in my experience I have found the SAT to be less of a test of actual math and reading (minus the very simple math/vocabulary questions) and more of a test of a particular thinking style. It’s a test of reasoning and pacing yourself.</p>
<p>Don’t be so quick to dismiss the SAT as an “easy test” because you got a very good score the first time you took it. The vast bulk of questions are, I will admit, extremely easy. But there are always that handful of tricky questions that will determine whether you score in the 600’s or 700’s, assuming you scored correctly on the other questions, which are there to make sure you have a pulse. These questions are vaguely worded or present the problem in an overly-complicated way to trip you up or make you panic. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, I was one of the sad fools who let them trip me up when I took the test, and as a result I scored mainly in the 600’s in my three areas. This was a terrible mistake. I was rejected almost everywhere I applied.</p>
<p>What’s the point of AP tests? I took AP Biology, it was /easy/. My teacher prepared us super well and I breezed through the entire thing in about half the allotted time. I can’t believe that anyone gets college credit for this!</p>
<p>Oh, and calculus, don’t get me started on calculus. So simple! How can they measure anyone’s calculus ability with the BC test? Everyone in my class got a 5!</p>
<p>If you look at the statistics, the SAT grade breakpoints are actually supposed to describe your performance in relation to other students who took the test, if I remember correctly. For colleges, it’s a useful tool to establish a baseline. No one gets into MIT because they scored a 2400 on their SAT - in fact, MIT rejects tons of perfect scores each year. But, just as the AP calculus test was a good way of determining whether I’d achieved some baseline understanding of calculus, the SAT can be a good way to determine whether a student has achieved some baseline understanding of reading, writing, and math.</p>
<p>Standardized tests are just one component in a college application. As long as you can show that you’ve had adequate preparation for college (often by getting a good score on these standardized tests and / or having a good GPA), then you’ll pass the initial cutoff. A decision can then be made on more subjective things - like your essay, your recommendations, your activities etc.</p>
<p>The main purpose of the SAT is that it provides objective data (as opposed to, would you rather admit the applicant with international awards or the applicant with published research?). It doesn’t really test any high-level thinking. It only tests how good you are at taking that test.</p>
<p>Don’t worry, I also dislike the SAT. Once you’re in college, you can pretty much forget about SAT/ACT tests…</p>
<p>Unless of course you need the GRE, MCAT, LSAT,etc.</p>
<p>These tests are useful not only in that they are the only objective measure that EVERY applicant takes, but also in that MIT has enough data to correlate SAT results with subsequent academic performance and they correlate surprisingly well below 700.</p>
<p>Yeah, I admit. The test is way too easy for something that’s “college-preparatory”. But I think the biggest challenge of SAT is not the difficulty of the questions but the sheer length of the test, with alternating subjects that are probably designed to perplex you.</p>
<p>So mental fortitude is as important as keenness in this test. Some kids are very smart but lack attention span. It could be the other way around.</p>
<p>The SAT is not completely useless. What’s ridiculous though, is that you can opt to choose the BEST scores BY SECTIONS (Yale doesn’t allow this I know, but most others do) from ANY TEST DATES. This is just way too absurd!</p>
<p>I say, colleges should ask for ALL the SAT tests from the first one to the last.</p>
<p>See, I don’t necessarily see this as a good thing to test an applicant’s ability to get past in much of a serious way. With a little practice, I found it not difficult at all to score well on SATs, but quite honestly I don’t think that sort of skill has really helped me in the future. Basically, tricky multiple choice questions never appeared again. Well, except for, as Mikalye points out, that you might need to take similar tests some day for some admissions process.</p>
<p>But for a lot of paths, the GRE is pretty much thrown out. Doing well in a good college curriculum is simply the best way to show you know what you are doing.</p>
<p>The SAT is useless for some applicants, sure, because they’ve clearly shown in objective ways that they can read, write, and do math better than almost all applicants. For all the others, as said before, it’s a baseline.</p>
<p>I’d say if someone has scored a 5 on an AP exam involving lots of reading and writing, the SAT doesn’t matter anymore for the reading and writing components. Same goes for a 5 on BC Calculus and the SAT math. </p>
<p>For someone who hasn’t done both these things, you kind of have to have the SAT, just to make sure they can read with some subtlety and won’t get tripped up by basic calculations. Beyond which, you look at what their specialties are.</p>
<p>You know, it’s funny how life and time can teach you lessons. It’s been a while seen I’ve been on this site, and now, at age 22, I can’t believe some (many!) of the things I used to think back when I was younger. So based on that:</p>
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<p>I understand you meant it as manner-of-speaking but regardless, that phrase is still very insulting. If you did well, good for you. A lot of people don’t. That doesn’t mean they have half a brain. Please be respectful of others.</p>
<p>MIT has a very good way of humbling you down. If you ever do make it here, you’ll meet people so amazing- so incredible- that whether they got a 550 (rare but they exist at MIT) or a 750 is irrelevant. The test is there as one of the factors- pretty much to test your analytical skills. Education (unlike what you seem to believe) does play a role here: some students, specially from extremely poor backgrounds, from failing schools and uneducated families will not be exposed to this type of thinking and hence, the SAT will be difficult to them. You cannot imagine that because you didn’t grow up in such a background. There is such a thing as failing schools and the United States is filled with them. Schools were As are given out on the basis of “bring a few extra crayon boxes to class” and “don’t be late.” A lot of teachers are bad teachers. Schools in poor neighborhood get less funding and hence less resources. Teachers get paid very poorly and so there is very few good ones, etc, etc. </p>
<p>These kids will have a hard time in the test. But yet the SAT is important to see where you stand in your analytical skills- how hard is that math class going to be for you in your freshman year. If you perform poorly, you need to practice that type of thinking some more. That’s it. </p>
<p>MIT takes it into consideration because of how hard the classes are. A kid who performs poorly in the SAT Math will probably have a harder time than his/her peers. However, with effort, that student will catch up. There’s no thing as “half a brain” here- some kids get admitted into MIT with <500 in some sections. They are rare but they exist. And some perfect 2400s get turned down. Why do you think that is? Maybe due to community involvement, a sincere passion and dedication, proven leadership, and most of all, compassion.</p>
<p>I have to agree that for some who attend less well funded schools in poor neighborhoods the SAT is a very challenging exam. I was one of those students who took the exam in the mid 1970’s when an 800 in math made the newspaper and the verbal section included straight definitions and analogies. It was a much more difficult exam ( are the 1970’s students half brained because back then a 650 was the score to get for an Ivy?). I guess we are making our kids smarter these days ( lol ). I became a great student in college and a physician from an American Medical school thereafter ( no minority or hardship status). Medical School was as difficult to fain admission at that time as today and the MCAT in 1978 was just changed to a very long and difficult exam (6+ hrs rather than 3hrs).
So to look down your nose at students who achieve less than a 700 or even 600 is being an academic snob. The ones I ran into all my life who stated they never studied but continued to get A’s medical school courses ( give me a break ). I just put my head down and stopped listening to those smart idiots and surpassed them ( along with there stellar (at that time 650) SAT scores). Hey how about helping your fellow students improve and showing some compassion rather than looking down your preverbal snobby nose at them! Show dome compassion. Who knows, you may need some extra help in your freshman year at MIT from a nice half brained kid like me ( and believe me they are at all levels of academics) who Understands how to teach and communicate, anticipating the questions a full brained student like yourself may have before you ask. Good luck to you and perhaps there will be some room in that full brain of yours to listen, learn, and accept.</p>