SAT writing section: "Fooling the College Board"

Parent Cafe
1

<p>MIT Professor Les Perelman is among the many writing experts who fear that the the push to use standardized testing for writing are harming American students.</p>

<p>
[quote]
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.</p>

<p>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>He drew particular attention to the way the College Board has openly stated that students are not penalized for not getting their history correct. ?This is a total disregard for the facts,? he said.</p>

<p>The skills students learn to do well on the SAT ?obliterate the writing process,? he said. ?They encourage false dichotomies. They discourage history. You are punished for taking time to think.?...</p>

<p>Judson Odell, a senior content specialist at the College Board, said that Perelman?s tips on how to do well on the test were not accurate, and that in fact, students are better off looking at the College Board?s advice, which is more oriented to writing.</p>

<p>The College Board ?has spent a lot of time and money to ensure that the construction and grading of essays is of extremely high quality,? Odell said, and many of the ideas about the essays and scoring come from writing experts ? including high school and college writing instructors.</p>

<p>While College Board officials have previously said that students are not penalized for factual errors, Odell offered a more limited guideline, saying that students would not be penalized for ?minor factual errors.? He said that the essay must be viewed as a ?first draft,? so such a policy is appropriate...

[/quote]
</p>

<p><a href="http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/03/26/writing%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/03/26/writing&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

2

<p>I am very happy my D was able to take the last SAT before implementation of the writing section. For one thing, I am sure it saved us a lot of money in SAT prep courses. I can't imagine any kid walking into a marathon SAT session cold and trying to write a good essay. I understand one prep technique is to write and memorize a number of essays with the plan to adapt one to the SAT topic.</p>

3

<p>Enlightening.</p>

<p>I knew that the questions were broad & invited or at least tolerated superficial answers. The other aspects to the articles were new to me, but do not surprise. They would explain why at least a few parents on CC have been perplexed about the scores of excellent-writer S's or D's.</p>

<p>Does the collegeboard (or those reading the essays) discourage subtlety, sophistication, & complexity -- or are those qualities simply over their heads? Classmate of older D (both now in college) was award-winning writer with advanced but unpretentious vocabulary. Received some horrifying low score on essay portion for one sitting, for "forumulaic" reasons cited above. (Parents ordered hand-scored test results.) Very brilliant student retook the test (dumbing self down). Admitted to Harvard, where she is now. </p>

<p>Above citation also illustrates why colleges like Mt. Holyoke prefer their own essay examinations, and it reinforces the recent posted comments on another thread of the SLC Prez. (Myers)</p>

4

<p>The topic when my son took the SAT was about whether competition or cooperation is more important. He wrote a very good essay that analyzed settings in which either competition or cooperation is more important and took a stand on which he thinks is more important in the final paragraph. I thought that he did an excellent job, with good vocabulary usage and no errors, but he got an 8 on that essay. He’s always been homeschooled, so he hasn’t had to take the yearly state writing exam and hasn’t been programmed to write the formulaic 5 paragraph essay that they’re apparently looking for. He didn’t miss any questions on the rest of the test, so he didn’t retake it just to get the higher writing score, but I think the College Board should be more specific about exactly how they will be grading the essays.</p>

5

<p>Amen, amen, amen.</p>

<p>Like edad, I'm glad DS escaped a year ahead of the new writing component. Everything I've read is that high scores are achievable via formulaic writing. No flames, please, I'm sure some kids who are great writers get great scores. But the training kids are getting, from what I've read, is all about # of examples you give to support each point, etc. Essay writing should not be about the numbers, imho.</p>

6

<p>If the colleges don't believe in the value of the writing section, they don't have to utilize the scores from such (and many don't). </p>

<p>If they believe the format is harming students, and I do not doubt their conclusion, they should just announce that they do not consider the writing component in their admissions formula and ignore it!</p>

7

<p>My son is an excellent writer, but could not break 700 on the writing section in his 2 attempts. He felt the time was too limited and... he no longer knows how to compose with paper/pencil! In his HS, many essay exams are taken in the computer lab.</p>

8

<p>for a contrary viewpoint and a parent with a '10 (who had to take the new test), the good news is that this essay is absolutely the easiest part of the SAT for which to prep. Moreover, one only needs to spend a half hour thinking about it. As the Professsor notes, 2-3 quotes, 2-3 references to history and or a high school-level author, a few multi-syllabic words, and a five paragraph standard (boring) HS essay will earn a ~10. But, since these are being scored by English and not history teachers, historical facts don't have to be in evidence.</p>

<p>Even kids who really are good writers s/b able to follow the formula for 30 minutes! :)</p>

<p>All the tips are explained by PR, Barrons, et al in their books which one can read for free at the local bookstore or library.</p>

9

<p>I'd agree with bluebayou (I was one of the first to take the new SAT). Formulating thoughts into an essay within in a time limit is, in my view at least, a fine way to test reaction and clear thinking under fire. Though of course, if all else fails, this part of the SAT, like the others, can be prepped for.</p>

<p>A Quotation to start, an example from literature, throw in a dash of history/ethnic ideas, a good conclusion, and you have yourself a 11-12 essay. :)</p>

10

<p>"he no longer knows how to compose with paper/pencil!"</p>

<p>Interesting, I just read somewhere this year that many students are not comfortable using cursive and it is slowing them up on the SAT writing section. Many students today seem to use a form of printing and/or keyboard.</p>

11

<p>Strange, I've always thought with pen/pencil, and always, always in cursive. (We don't really have a print/cursive distinction out here). Still, it's understandable. Though of course, writing on paper's in no danger of extinction.</p>

12

<p>"I understand one prep technique is to write and memorize a number of essays with the plan to adapt one to the SAT topic."</p>

<p>edad,
Collegeboard tries to discourage this by stating that an off-topic essay gets the lowest possible score. You can't just pick a keyword out of the essay prompt, start with, "Integrity reminds me of something my uncle once told me...", and then proceed to execute a brain dump of a memorized essay. That makes memorizing essays a risky approach especially since the test is so new and the subject range of essay prompts may not be well established.</p>

<p>I don't think all that many schools regard the SAT writing section all that highly. It doesn't tell them much that isn't already indicated through SAT verbal and application essays.</p>

13

<p>The SAT Essay, is, yes, a little ridiculous, but I don't think of it as really being all that much more of a bugbear than the rest of the test. Most good writers - those who could compose eloquent college papers or fantastic works of fiction - should also be readily capable of limiting themselves to heartfelt five-paragraph vignettes studded with the words "ubiquitous" and "eponymous". It's a certain style of writing that has to be prepared for, but I don't see it as particularly stifling all other forms of discourse. The only truly difficult part is the time limit.</p>

<p>Also, for what it's worth, I don't think it's counted all that heavily in the scoring. I've never managed to get over a 10 on the essay, but I still got an 800 on the writing section. If you're sufficiently proficient in English composition/grammar, you should be able to get an excellent score even without paying too much attention to the essay.</p>

14

<p>I'd agree; I got an 11 in my essay but still received an 800.</p>

15

<p>For all its problems, the writing prompt has one thing going for it: it's the only writing sample that a student has to write him/herself. It's therefore a small piece of additional evidence when you have a case, for example, like a C+ English student with essays that sound like they were written by William Faulkner.</p>

16

<p>
[quote]

It's therefore a small piece of additional evidence when you have a case, for example, like a C+ English student with essays that sound like they were written by William Faulkner.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>As my freshman English instructor told my class, your final exam really can't help you, but it can hurt you an awful lot. He continued that if you have been writing C essays all along and get an A on the exam, he really couldn't give you an A for the course and he probably couldn't even give you a B. However, if you had been writing A essays and turn in a C effort on the final, you will likely end up with a B. Likewise I think the SAT essay can hurt you more than it can help you. A C+ student writing like Faulkner on one prompt is still a C+ English student.</p>

17

<p>My son received two 8's and an 11 on his three writing scores. There was no appreciable difference between the quality of writing among the three essays (I read them). The only difference I could see was the first essay had only two examples (but they were very good technical/scientific explanations), the second had three but his conclusion was given short shrift due to time limits, and the third (the 11) had three examples, one history, one current event, and one literature, and another very simple abrupt conclusion. The vocab and structure in all 3 essays were identical, as far as I could see. I think the grading is VERY formulaic and in no way helpful. His application essays were very folksy, simple but relevant. His writing in his AP classes and other honors classes has always been A work.
People are going to start "cracking" the essay writing portion of the SAT, and I predict as students move through high schools and are groomed more and more toward this formulaic approach, that the scores will get higher over the next 5-10 years.</p>

18

<p>When I took AP english, when we actually covered stuff for the AP (75% of the time we didn't, no wonder no one got a 5 in the whole class), we basically learned the "formula" for the essays. We studied the SAT II writing at the same time as it is very similar. I would imagine it's even more formulaic for the SAT I now.</p>

<p>But that's not surprising considering how formulaic writing is in high school anyway (with very little flexibility), when both are compared to college writing.</p>

19

<p>Been said before, but I'll add again:</p>

<p>This was pre-new SAT, so it pertains to the SAT 2 Writing, which was very similar format:</p>

<p>D--NMF, 4 AP English, 770 SAT 1 V, 800 writing PSAT, 800 on MC part of SAT 2 Writing--accolades on her writing from HS and very good LAC instructors, wrote a 5 par, 3 example, error-free essay (I saw a photocopy of it, and I teach writing for a living), very engaging writing.</p>

<p>Got a 6. They would not rescore or explain why. Big aarrgh from us.</p>

20

<p>
[quote]
Likewise I think the SAT essay can hurt you more than it can help you. A C+ student writing like Faulkner on one prompt is still a C+ English

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I think that was precisely the poster's point - if a student's SAT essay (not score) is conspicuously mediocre, it can serve to cast warranted doubt on those who don't actually write their own college essays.</p>

<p>(When in the name of all that is holy did I become an apologist for the College Board? Argh.)</p>