<p>News:</a> The SAT 'at War With Itself' - Inside Higher Ed
"When American high school students take an SAT that is an hour longer than it used to be, and that includes a writing test many top colleges ignore, Richard Atkinson may be the man they have to thank."
"He argued that high school grades and the SAT II (the subject matter tests) could give admissions offices the information they need far more than the SAT I (the main exam, which most people just call the SAT). Atkinson was particularly critical of the "critical reading" portion of the SAT -- and said that it appeared to serve no real purpose, and that it was "remarkable" (and not in a good way) that adding a new test and an hour's time to the SAT had failed to improve its validity."</p>
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<p>Let’s be honest here. The new SAT was designed to decrease the black/white scoring disparity. It didn’t do that (shocking!), so I guess it failed. I think it still does the same good job it used to do.</p>
<p>Really? What evidence do you have to support this? The little I have read indicates the writing portion was added to try and nip competition from the ACT.</p>
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<p>The real problem with college admission tests is that college administrators aren’t brave enough to use them, when buffeted by political demands.</p>
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<p>I don’t feel like looking it up. I know the UC’s were the main supporters of the changes and they’re notoriously supportive of affirmative action programs. The SAT has always been under scrutiny primarily b/c of the racial gaps (and economic gaps but not as much). This is the most polemical and the changes would be instituted to converge the scores. Clearly, they failed.</p>
<p>Why would anybody think that adding the writing test would converge the scores? It seems to me that the essay would be even more susceptible to prepping than the other parts of the test.</p>
<p>dontno: are you thinking of some research that showed that SAT Subject Tests (which the UCs started requiring when this controversy was originally brewing) were less subject to effects of income and ethnicity than the SAT Reasoning Test? I think that some of that effect has subsequently been shown to be the result of students submitting Subject Test scores from second languages spoken in their families.</p>
<p>I was at a Harvard Information session, and the Head of Admissions says they want the SAT Writing score in order to validate that the person can write. Apparently there are a lot of ghost writers out there. It has nothing to do with “validating” the other parts of the SAT.</p>
<p>While it can be argued that there are other more effective ways to predict future success, all the pieces paint the picture. If one piece is a little hazy, then other parts compensate. What if schools only took Grades, but no standardized tests? There would be no way to compensate for low grades at a highly competitive school.</p>
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<p>And now the UCs want to get rid of the SAT2 requirements.</p>
<p>from Tokenadult “University of California is moving in the opposite direction. The university is dropping the SAT II tests as requirements, while keeping the SAT I.”</p>
<p>SAT II becomes irrelevant when a university recommends that students have at least 17 contact hours of AP level classes to be considered for admission. </p>
<p>D’s BS recommends that students take the equivalent AP class before taking the subject test. The overlap is rather strange. All these tests mean that May is a cascade of SAT/ACT/ 4 APs/ 3 subject tests plus Junior year final exams.</p>
<p>“All these tests mean that May is a cascade of SAT/ACT/ 4 APs/ 3 subject tests plus Junior year final exams.”</p>
<p>The College Board has a June test date, so not everything needs to be crammed into May.</p>
<p>Before the “new SAT” ALL top colleges required SAT II Writing test.</p>
<p>The reason the writing section was ignored in the past 2 years or so was that it was new, so there was little or no point of comparison. I am sure it will be used in the future just like the other 2 sections - as a part of a whole picture.</p>
<p>The University of California was for the SAT2s and Writing before they were against them.</p>
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from <a href=“http://www.ucop.edu/news/sat/welcome.html[/url]”>http://www.ucop.edu/news/sat/welcome.html</a></p>
<p>UChicago still does not report the SAT I writing test to the admissions committee (it is removed before they see it) and they do not use SAT IIs. They also dropped standardized tests from important to considered. I’m not sure if any of those tests mean anything if students have done very well in the most demanding HS curriculum their schools offer. I’m sure high performing students and good test scores are highly correlated anyhow (as the UofC SAT distribution seems to indicate).</p>