When would CB stop imposing guessing penalty for SAT?

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
1

<p>It is unfair that ACT test does not impose guessing penalty. Recently CB changed the AP guessing penalty. Is SAT next? How about Subject Tests in SAT? Still guessing penalty imposed?</p>

2

<p>Well, the guessing penalty is there to compensate for the fact that when you blindly guess, you have a certain chance of getting it right. So it’s really there to equalize, so your score reflects what you knew. Eliminating choices makes guessing advantageous once more, but through eliminating choices, you earn that point increase.</p>

3

<p>The SAT and Subject Tests still have a guessing penalty.</p>

<p>I honestly think that CB will soon remove the guessing penalty on both these tests to make them seem more student-friendly. Many of my friends (especially the more mediocre ones) have elected to take the ACT instead of the SAT just because the ACT has no guessing penalty. I suppose it’s more comfortable to take a test where you don’t have to think about, “Should I guess? Oh man, if I guess wrong, I’m losing more points…”</p>

4

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<p>Neither policy is “more fair” than the other.</p>

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<p>I do expect that the SAT and Subject Tests will undergo the same change in the next couple years.</p>

5

<p>I actually get the feeling that CB might not change the SAT and SAT Subject Tests. Are there any CB stats or studies done showing that the guessing penalty is unnecessary?
If ommiting the guessing penalty results in an overall increase in SAT scores, I’m guessing that SAT scores for Ivy League will be very inflated.</p>

6

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<p>I’m sure CB would change the SAT curves to compensate. After all, CB did change (or rather, revise) the AP Exam curves (on released exams) to reflect the removal of the guessing penalty.</p>

7

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<p>Yes, I agree.</p>

8

<p>haha, then the curve for Math should be like 1 wrong for a 750.</p>

9

<p>Man, that would suck if the curves suddenly became a lot harsher. My CR scores are already unsteady as it is. I’d hate to see a 63 raw score = 750 and a 62 = 700…</p>

10

<p>I like the penalty as it makes the test a little more competitive, IMO.</p>

11

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<p>Are you sure that students who score very high on the SAT do indeed rely on guessing? </p>

<p>My theory has always been that the guessing penalties have little to no impact on the very high scorers, but are killing the students who score around the average scores or below.</p>

<p>And, fwiw, the very last thing anyone should wish is for the SAT to become more like the ACT.</p>