<p>Article in USA Today cites a study indicating that SAT Writing Component is the best predictor of freshman grades. Approx 150,000 studied at 110 colleges by College Board. Apparently, UC system has found similar results. That should answer your question of whether or not that component will be important to schools.</p>
<p>Studies:</a> SAT writing portion good predictor of grades - USATODAY.com</p>
<p>Hmm, this pleases me. Hopefully the writing section gains some credibility before I apply to schools next year...it's much better than my other scores.</p>
<p>I cannot imagine how the writing portion could be a good predictor of anything one does in college. Who writes with a pencil and paper anymore? Heck, a lot of kids don't even take notes with writing instruments but rely on their laptops and recorders. </p>
<p>I want more proof.</p>
<p>I agree with the above comment. The essay is a very tricky thing, and it doesn't show a students' writing skills. It's preposterous to give someone a random essay topic, tell him or her to choose sides with one of the topic's issues, and write about it in twenty-five minutes and expect to do the best job possible. And what's worse is that it counts as 30% of the Writing score! (Correct me if I'm wrong) As for the rest of the writing section, fencersmother, I think it's very useful in the sense that it shows a student's ability to write sentences, and know how to spot an error. I'm sure you already know this, but everything on the writing besides the essay is really useful, and hopefully colleges will start taking the writing section more seriously.</p>
<p>I think it's a bit of a logical stretch to say that one portion of a test (the most controversial one, too) could be the best predictor of college grades.</p>
<p>First of all, I'd say that people's grades in college aren't always consistent with their SAT Writing scores, either due to having unfavorable circumstances during the test or during their freshman year in college. So a lot of factors over which the subjects tested had no control can cause us to have a reasonable amount of doubt in evaluating these results.</p>
<p>But second, even if people with high SAT Writing scores happen to get high grades in college (on a proportional basis), it still wouldn't be enough to say that SAT Writing scores can directly predict having high freshman year grades. Sure, there might be a strong correlation, but not necessarily enough to prove predictability.</p>
<p>i hope not cuz i sure suck ass at the writing</p>
<p>It is not the essay alone that makes up the score. It is the question part also. I think the weight of the essay is not that high in the total score. D got a 10 on the essay, but 790 on the total score. However, other than the basic data given in the article, number of students and number of colleges looked at, it would be nice to see the exact methodology. On the other hand, apparently a UC study mirrored it. </p>
<p>Regardless, if the results hold up in further studies, you can bet the colleges will now use it more seriously. Which is why I posted it in the first place.</p>
<p>My theory is that this is due to the writing section, specifically grammar multiple choice, being the most "learn-able" out of all the SAT sections. Some people are naturally good at math, some naturally feel out the answers to the reading section, but who can say they're naturally good at grammar? The kids who are willing to learn the grammar rules are the ones who excel in the writing section, and are the ones who continue to use their skill of learning in other subjects and in college.</p>
<p>Does SAT score give a big effect in order to get an entry to a university?</p>
<p>my score is very bad, below 1500 for the first time. i plan to retake in october/november. it's hard to get high scores since i'm not from non-english based country.</p>
<p>Can TOEFL will be a "back-up" score especially for the critical reading and writng sections in SAT?</p>
<p>I actually agree with it. I do PSEO at the University of Minnesota and you basically have to write papers for most classes (unless you're doing science or math) and since each of those is like 25-30% of your grade you have to be a pretty good writer. Maybe the SAT isn't a complete predictor of your grades, but I think it does give the general idea.</p>
<p>The best predictor of grades in college is grades in high school. In my mind, four years of high school grades vs. one component of a standardized test score based upon an essay written in 30 minutes in response to a prompt is no contest. I would be very surprised to hear a member of any college admissions committee state otherwise.</p>
<p>Also note that it was the college board that conducted the study. A study that they conclude supports the writing section, which MIT exposed as at minimum suspect. And the UC system was the cause of the college board instituting the writing section as it was threatening not to use the SAT in admissions before the college board came up with the writing section. Neither organization is unbiased. I go with the MIT view. It is hilarious to think that someone who writes lengthy commentary with incorrect facts and faulty logic will somehow perform better than another student during the first year of college.</p>
<p>bull$hit. the SATs dont prove a damn thing.</p>
<p>Harvard certainly buys into the SAT Reasoning Test writing section, using it as one element in deciding on applications, just as it used to do with the SAT Subject Test in writing.</p>
<p>I'm no expert but I've always the thought the addition of the writing section was a very good move. I especially think the real time, non-edited essay is important.</p>
<p>actually, this is no real surprise. UC data show that the former Writing Subject Test was a fine predictor of Frosh college grades. That is why UC literally forced CB to incorporate it into the new SAT.</p>
<p>Many colleges ignore SAT writing test -from the boston globe in September 2007:
Many</a> colleges ignore SAT writing test, frustrating high school students. - The Boston Globe
By Linda K. Wertheimer, Globe Staff | September 20, 2007
"Hundreds of universities, including several top schools, ignore or pay little heed to students' scores on the writing section of the SAT in admissions decisions, skeptical about how well the essay reflects writing skills.
Reservations about the validity of the essay portion of the writing exam frustrate students who spend hours and sometimes thousands of dollars preparing for it and raise questions about the test's future.
Criticism about the essay has been building for more than a year since an MIT professor's experiment indicated that students could get high scores simply by writing longer and throwing in big words.
Georgetown University, Smith College, and MIT are among the schools that ignore the writing score altogether, while Wellesley College, Tufts University, and Harvard take varying approaches, with none placing high importance on the score.
Students get only 25 minutes to read the essay question and answer it, too little time to produce a valuable writing sample, said Deborah Shaver, Smith's director of admissions."</p>
<p>On MIT Professor Perelman's "experiment" and his view of the College Board:
Fooling</a> the College Board :: Inside Higher Ed :: Higher Education's Source for News, Views and Jobs</p>
<p>"Perelman issued a “call to arms” for educators to not just ignore the essay, but to try to kill it. “It does harm,” he said repeatedly in his talk, which was illustrated with slides (received with chuckles and applause by the audience) comparing the College Board to snake oil salesmen. Mixing metaphors a bit, Perelman said colleges must “chase the money changers from the temple” of higher education.
The essay is harming students, Perelman said, because it rewards formulaic writing that views the world as black and white, isn’t based on any facts, and values a few fancy vocabulary words over sincerity. He also said that while most college instructors work to “deprogram” students from the infamous “five paragraph essay” they learned in high school, the SAT test reinforces that approach. Perelman and others noted that the problem isn’t limited to the time students spend actually taking the SAT, but that many students devote months or years of study with coaching services to learning how to write the way the College Board wants — and with students fearful that a poor score will hurt their chances of college admission, they focus on that kind of writing."</p>
<p>^ utter nonsense - the essay on the SAT is, IMO, the great outing of those who never learned to write coherently. You bet there will be those screaming over it. Too bad.</p>
<p>Check the link. Below is an exact quote from an essay that received a 10 from SAT graders. Incorrect facts, misspellings, utter BS and it was given a 10! This is Dr. Perleman's point. The test is only as good as its graders. Graders are instructed not to care about factual accuracy. This is the "utter nonsense." </p>
<p>"In the 1930’s, American businesses were locked in a fierce economic competition with Russian merchants for fear that their communist philosophies would dominate American markets. As a result, American competition drove the country into an economic depression and the only way to pull them out of it was through civil cooperation. American president Franklin Delenor Roosevelt advocated for civil unity despite the communist threat of success by quoting “the only thing we need to fear is itself,” which desdained competition as an alternative to cooperation for success. In the end, the American economy pulled out of the depression and succeeded communism."
Fooling the College Board :: Inside Higher Ed :: Higher Education's Source for News, Views and Jobs</p>
<p>All such an example suggests is that many high school students (those scoring in the bottom half on the SAT writing section) may write even worse, which would not surprise me at all. In any kind of system for scoring student work, there are some scoring errors and disagreements about what the correct standard is--the same applies to high school grades in English classes.</p>