<p>I've heard varying things about the SAT writing section. Some people say it's becoming as valid as any other section of the SAT, whereas others contend that it is essentially ignored. </p>
<p>After reading this article, however: Many</a> colleges ignore SAT writing test, frustrating high school students. - The Boston Globe , is it possible that colleges will only look at one particular subsection of the SAT writing section? It appears as if many top colleges view the SAT essay as detrimental to a student's ability to write a well thought-out essay, but the article only briefly bothers to mention the grammar section of the SAT. </p>
<p>Does this imply that schools still are interested in the grammar aspect of the exam? I ask this because I am pretty good with the grammar questions in the section (generally 0-1 wrong out of 49), but I am sometimes unsure about how to go about the essay if the prompt is rather obscure. While it's something I'm sure I can learn pretty quickly, it seems moot if a school only cares about the grammar subsection, or if a school throws out the writing section altogether. In fact, is it even a possibility that schools will actually be so specific as to look into one's score in a subsection?</p>
<p>I’m guessing it’s different for every school, but I think at a glance a 2300 looks better than a 2100 even if the 2300 is only 1400/1600 (CR+M) and the 2100 is 1600/1600 (CR+M)</p>
<p>Search function. Some schools disregard it. Some consider it, but give it lower weight than is given to the other two sections. Some weigh all three sections equally.</p>
<p>^I know that some schools weigh the section as a whole at varying levels, but do they ever weigh one subsection more than another? The article I linked to seems to pan the SAT essay quite a bit yet it doesn’t attack the grammar subsection; perhaps the grammar subsection is worth more than the essay subsection for some universities?</p>
<p>Schools don’t have enough data yet. They really don’t care about national statistics or whether other colleges find the writing scores helpful. They want data of their own about the students they admit. For a small school it can take quite a while to collect enough data to make sound correlations. For instance, the high school class of '06 was the first to submit SAT writing scores. 4-year graduation rates for this cohort are not known because 4 years haven’t elapsed since their matriculation.</p>
<p>What I would like to know is whether top-tier colleges regularly use the essay on the SAT/ACT to check validity of application essays. Because, especially for me, timed writing under pressure differs entirely from a month-long writing process.</p>
<p>My cynical response would be that colleges will start taking the SAT Writing seriously when US News starts using the middle 50% (CR + M + W) as the basis for comparing student body strengths, instead of (CR + M) as they do now. That’s how powerful the US News ranking has become, and in my view this is a serious problem because it handcuffs individual schools and seriously distorts the admissions process. In the meantime, as long as US News rankings are influenced by middle 50% (CR + M) scores, an applicant with a higher (CR + M) but lower (CR + M + W) [due to a lower W] is likely to be favored over the applicant with a lower (CR + M) but higher (CR + W + M) [due to a higher W]. As between applicants with similar (CR + M) scores, however, the one with the stronger W may be favored.</p>
<p>Also, the writing section is relatively new. It was only introduced four years ago, and a lot of schools are concerned that the exam doesn’t predict the strength of a student like the CR and M sections do for them. I worked with the admissions office at my alma mater, and that was what they told us – they don’t consider the writing section yet because it’s too new and it hasn’t been validated yet.</p>
<p>Collegeisgood, since each Ivy League university is different the value of the W section will be different for each one. At the four schools you asked about, the W score interquartile range represents scores in the very high 600s and the 700s, so I would assume that you would need a score of that nature to be competitive.</p>
<p>Username, first of all, it isn’t possible to score a 2300 if your combined math and critical reading scores is a 1400. You’d have to score 900 points on the writing section, which is impossible.</p>
<p>Secondly, at virtually all colleges you are asked to report your SAT scores separately, not add them together. The College Board score report also reports the scores that way. People add them together to more quickly represent their scores when talking about them, and the schools may add them together subsequently, but there wouldn’t be any “first glance” of a 2100 vs. a 2300 to look at.</p>
<p>If a school doesn’t weight the writing section, an 800CR/800M/500W is going to look better than a 700M/700CR/800W (which is a 2200).</p>
<p>I tend to agree with bclintock’s “cynical” response, however, if one believed that the SATs in general were intended to be used as an indicator of future academic performance, then once a school became familiar with the SAT Wr usefulness in predicting that performance, one would expect that school to adopt its use. I’d expect that each school would want to study its own student body, so the relationship between SAT Wr & academic performance will take years to establish (as standrews mentioned above). I’d expect more and more schools to start seriously considering the SAT Wr in the next few years, albeit there will be no rush here unless the rankings start using these numbers as well.</p>
<p>The writing section requirement is extremely irrating, especially that in addition to the 3 part SAT, there are SAT II requirements. And heck, maybe you should take the ACTS (w/writing section of course).</p>
<p>As you approach the end of junior year & you give up 3-4 Saturday mornings for these tests (May & Jun SATs, 1- SAT IIs & the ACT) at a cost of avg $45 + the Sending test score fee (Avg-$30?) and the test practice books , maybe you took a course , you are spending a minium of $200 to over $1,000. Ugh!</p>
<p>These could be at the direct expense of student working a part time job, volunteering, music, sports, etc.</p>
<p>The writing section increased the expense and time of the test (you have to pay your monitors more) & schools aren’t even using it. 4 hour exam, give me a break. It is a racket!</p>
<p>BTW CollegeBoard’s website is awful & they do not always respond to emailed questions.</p>
<p>Bringing back this old thread to add to the same topic:</p>
<p>Suppose a school does not consider the Writing section as part of the SAT reasoning test. Fair enough, but would that school consider the Writing score as a subject test score or would it simply not consider the score at all? I found out that Reed has a policy of considering the Writing score as a subject test score, just as it was a few years ago. And yet it appears that Collegeboard’s introduction of the Writing section into the SAT reasoning has ironically, in some cases, devalued the Writing score. Do more schools follow a similar policy to Reed’s? Do other schools explicitly state that they share this particular policy?</p>