The SAT Writing Section Revisited - this time by the College Board

<p>Inside Higher Ed :"Coaching and Lasting Out New SAT"</p>

<p>"It took the College Board years to admit that coaching could help students taking the SAT. At the board’s annual meeting Friday, officials admitted that the new writing test — a key part of the new and expanded SAT — is coachable, with significant gains possible for those who would otherwise receive low scores.</p>

<p>At the same session, board officials suggested that they aren’t likely to please those who have been pushing the board to let students — many of whom complain that the SAT is now too long — take the different parts of the SAT at different times. The College Board had previously announced that it was reviewing the idea, which high school counselors have been pushing. But the head of a College Board committee said Friday that the only approach under consideration was letting students retake the SAT’s parts in separate sittings, and that everyone would need to take the entire SAT at least once in one sitting...</p>

<p>Andy Lutz, head of research and development for the Princeton Review, said that the College Board is correct that the writing test is coachable. “The College Board is right — and surprisingly honest for once,” he said. Lutz said that the Princeton Review commissioned a third party study on this that won’t be out until next year, but that all the evidence he is seeing from Princeton Review counselors suggests that the new writing test “may be the most coachable portion of the SAT.”</p>

<p>He echoed the views of many college officials who have decided not to use the writing test in saying that its approach is flawed. “It’s a bad way to measure writing skills — a 25-minute essay on an esoteric subject.”</p>

<p>Many of the SAT essay questions are philosophical in nature — the debut question, for example, was on whether majority rule is always right — and some think that the nature of the prompts contributes to their coachability as students are taught a mix of tactics to formulate good essays.</p>

<p>Ed Colby, a spokesman for the ACT, said that testing service had not conducted research on the coachability of its new writing test. But he said that ACT intentionally picked non-esoteric topics for essays so that student responses would be more natural. Recent topics have included high school dress codes and the best time for the start of a school day.</p>

<p>Robert Schaeffer, public education director of the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, said that it was irresponsible for the College Board to just accept the way its tools give more help to those who are wealthy. “If coaching works, how is the SAT a common yardstick when an admissions office cannot tell whether an applicant’s score reflects intensive coaching or no preparation at all?”</p>

<p>Is Fatigue a Problem?</p>

<p>With the addition of the writing test, the SAT is now 3 hours and 45 minutes — and from the first time it was given last year, students, parents and counselors have been complaining that the test is too long.</p>

<p>When several hundred counselors wrote to complain, College Board officials said that they would study their recommendation that students be allowed to take separate parts of the SAT at separate times. Camara said that the College Board’s research has found that the length of the test does not affect students’ ability to do well. The board compared the rates at which students provide incorrect answers or skip questions — and those rates are constant throughout the test. If fatigue was causing problems, Camara said, the rates wouldn’t have stayed constant.</p>

<p>Previously, College Board officials have said that the organization’s SAT Committee was studying the possibility of letting students take the test in separate sittings. John Barnhill, director of admissions and records at Florida State University and chair of the SAT Committee, said that College Board officials had determined that every student needed to take the test in its entirety at least once.</p>

<p>Barnhill noted that each SAT includes some questions that are being used to plan for future SAT versions and aren’t part of the student’s actual score. If students could take the different parts of the SAT at separate sittings, he said, they might not answer those beta questions and that would hurt the test.</p>

<p>The SAT is considering letting people who take the test multiple times select only one part to take again, he said. For students who take the SAT more than once, many colleges allow students to take the highest score they received on each part of the SAT, so a student may be evaluated on a mathematics score from one day she took the test and the critical reading score from another day.</p>

<p>Currently, such students must retake the entire SAT, although Barnhill said that many such students will focus only on the part for which they are trying to raise a score and will ignore the rest of the test, not worrying about the low score they will get on other sections.</p>

<p>The College Board is studying whether such students might be spared having to go through the entire test a second (or third) time, he said. But logistics may make that difficult as well, he said, since currently students don’t know the order of the test.</p>

<p>FairTest’s Schaeffer said that the College Board’s approach to the issue showed the “fundamentally inconsistent” way it examined policy questions. “Limiting the opportunity for separate sections of the SAT only to those who can take the test multiple times gives an additional leg up to students from upper-income families who can afford to pay the College Board multiple registration fees,” he said.</p>

<p>The question the College Board should ask is whether the scores are equally valid, he said. “If taking sections separately on a re-test does not damage the SAT’s predictive value, why does the same reasoning not apply to a student’s initial administration of the exam?” he asked."</p>

<p><a href="http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2006/11/13/sat%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2006/11/13/sat&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>This is ridiculous. I'm voting for the ACT.</p>

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“Limiting the opportunity for separate sections of the SAT only to those who can take the test multiple times gives an additional leg up to students from upper-income families who can afford to pay the College Board multiple registration fees,” he said.

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<p>This is an important point. And it's not just the registration fees. Some students have to take time off from their Saturday jobs to take the SAT. Those who truly need those jobs have more to lose.</p>

<p>I hadn't fully appreciated how different the ACT and the SAT essays were. I don't think the topics on the ACT would be nearly as paralyzing for my kids as the SAT-type topics. When we've thrown out typical SAT type questions at the dinner table both my kids get this deer in the headlights look to them - but I know they have lots of opinions about school uniforms and school starting times.</p>

<p>Coachable = preparation</p>

<p>Preparation = more $$$ for College Board, Princeton Review, etc</p>

<p>of course they're going to say it's coachable</p>

<p>Why is it necessarily a bad thing that the SAT writing section is "coachable"? One of the aims of the test is to place more emphasis on the development of writing skills for all college-bound high school students rather than just for those aiming at the most elite, selective institutions. That College Board officials finally "admitted that the new writing test — a key part of the new and expanded SAT — is coachable, with significant gains possible for those who would otherwise receive low scores" is a positive step in the right direction for everyone that takes the test and not just for low achievers. Writing, as well as reading skills should be emphasized in high school. After all, the SAT essay is only supposed to demonstrate a student's basic competency and, at the same time, serve as a yardstick to determine if he/she is prepared to face the basic demands of college work. Of course students should be prepared. In this sense, the impact of the new SAT writing section can only be positive - as longer as students relax and realize that they do not have to produce "12" essays in order to do well and be admitted to their "dream school". The SAT is no longer an aptitude test and it has not been one for quite some time - it is a test that measures reasoning ability embedded in basic math and verbal skills - and now those skills include writing quality. </p>

<p>The College Board regularly serves up the prompts given on past test - for free - logically, one hopes, with the expectation that students are going to use them to practice writing a timed essay in preparation for the test. Realistically, the CB ought to take stronger position on this point - The fundamental notion that one standardized test can effectively level the playing field across the board is unrealistic - as unrealistic as it is to expect the college admissions process to be a completely level playing field. SAT scores are only one factor among many used to sort and select prospective applicants.</p>

<p>I think a lot of the topics brought up in this forum are relevant in the ultra-competitive world of college admissions. The SAT, as presented, is a flawed test. Still, what alternative do we have? It seems logical to me that the federal government, which requires the SAT for it's state schools, should create some uniform college entrance exam. The supposedly not-for-profit College Board reaps vast profits from the millions of students forced into taking the test. It's time we move away from the commercialism and coachability of standardized testing in college admissions.</p>

<p>-David Sklenar</p>

<p>(I'm part of a group at Lake Oswego High School in Lake Oswego, Oregon whose goal is to create awareness about the flaws of the emphasis on College Board tests. You can visit our site at <a href="http://web.mac.com/jiri.sklenar/iWeb/AP%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://web.mac.com/jiri.sklenar/iWeb/AP&lt;/a> for more information.)</p>

<p>If they let students take the parts separately it will results in major score inflation.</p>

<p>The Federal Government requires the SAT? For it's [sic] state schools? Other than the military academies (which also accept the ACT), I'm not aware of the Federal government operating institutions of higher education that might require a test like the SAT. College Board and the Educational Testing Service certainly have their problems and critics. But I, for one, would not like to see the Federal Government design and mandate a replacement.</p>

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“Limiting the opportunity for separate sections of the SAT only to those who can take the test multiple times gives an additional leg up to students from upper-income families who can afford to pay the College Board multiple registration fees,” he said.

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<p>I think that access to a graphing calculator to learn how to use it over time, and then access to one for the math test, also gives a leg up to students who can afford to purchase one.</p>

<p>State schools, such as as the University of California school system, require that an applicant submit scores from at least two SAT IIs. Also, the majority of college-bound students take the SAT I, rather than the ACT.</p>

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I think that access to a graphing calculator to learn how to use it over time, and then access to one for the math test, also gives a leg up to students who can afford to purchase one.

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<p>Just like textbooks, some school systems issue calculators to students for the AY.</p>

<p>Graphing calculators are issued in public schools? Really? Wow! I can tell you that this does not occur in our school system. They seem to get stolen often in our school.</p>

<p>northeastmom,
My daughter's public junior high has a graphing calculator for every student in every math class that uses them. They are kept in the classroom, velcroed to the wall. At the beginning of the class, each kid goes and grabs one, and I've never heard of them getting lost or stolen. Every kid learns how to use one prior to taking ACT or SAT. As for having one in your possession on test day, I have wondered about that myself, but I'm fairly certain all students can get one on loan. </p>

<p>I don't mean to downplay the disadvantage to students who cannot afford these pricey things in their own homes.</p>

<p>In our junior high, the kids are not even allowed to use graphing calculators. They are allowed in hs, but nobody formally teaches them how to use them, and they are not provided through the school. They might be, however, stolen at school. I doubt that not every child in our high school has access to one, and I have a feeling that many do not know how to use them. I know that my son was taught how to use it through private instruction outside of school.</p>

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In our junior high, the kids are not even allowed to use graphing calculators. They are allowed in hs, but nobody formally teaches them how to use them, and they are not provided through the school.

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<p>We don't have them in jr. high either, but I'm pretty sure they were required for Math B (NY's sort of equiv. of Alg. 2).</p>

<p>"Junior High" in this town is 8th and 9th grades. ("Middle school" is 6th and 7th.) The algebra I classes use graphing calculators a bit, mostly to get students familiar with them, I think. Algebra II definitely uses them now, and that is why they are needed for SAT and ACT. Schools that are not teaching students how to use them, and well, in Algebra II are doing their students a disservice--at least that is what I understand from my 12th grader, who has taken both ACT and SAT (I and II).</p>

<p>Not a single problem on the SAT requires a calculator, much less a graphing calculator. A student who understands math can achieve a top score without ever touching a calculator. Far better that schools teach students math than how to poke buttons. Furthermore, anyone who can read the manual can figure out how to use a calculator within a few hours.</p>

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Not a single problem on the SAT requires a calculator, much less a graphing calculator. A student who understands math can achieve a top score without ever touching a calculator.

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<p>Correct. </p>

<p>The whole issue of preparation for the SAT I is often spun in a rather odd way, because there are plenty of students for whom "preparation" for the SAT I consists primarily, or even solely, of reading a lot and THINKING about writing and math. That's quite enough to do very well indeed on the SAT I, and for students who have done well once, there is no need to pay a second registration fee.</p>

<p>The calculator does help you go faster though. I know many kids do run out of time. When people ask my how my kid got a perfect score on the CR section I tell them he did nothing except read (and reread!) an average of 100 sci-fi and fantasy books every year.</p>