<p>Haha yeah sat is still rigid but I meant to compare it to school tests.</p>
<p>Well the key to doing well on standardized testing is to have everything required to succeed on the test memorized.</p>
<p>Then you have to be able to ‘train’ yourself to deduce which memories are required in solving the question.</p>
<p>Well, that is what I think. I improved my English ACT from an 18 to a 33.</p>
<p>But… if someone does know the material but still gets questions wrong on the test… that is another problem (simple mistake → not focusing, over looking, assuming).
You just need to be able to understand the problem in a short amount of time in order for memorization to aid you (practice testing).</p>
<p>I have a 3.91 UW GPA, but I’ve tried many times on my ACT and after taking it 4 times I recieved 3 21’s and a 22. Some people just aren’t great at taking standardized tests. I like to take my time of stuff though, so it’s probably just a pacing issue.</p>
<p>It’s hard for people to understand, but there truly are “bad test takers.” I didn’t realize it till later on, but I fall under that category. That’s not to say I believe most people who say they are ‘bad test takers’ but I know that they do exist. When I first took my SAT I had been scoring 2250-2350 consistently for about 8 practice tests. But when I arrived at the testing center, I was really nervous and my adrenaline skyrocketed. Throughout the entire test my mind was pretty unstable and racing, my knee was bouncing up and down, and my fingers were jittery. Consequently, my CR score dropped (Imagine reading after running on a treadmill) and my W + M score dropped (Being really pumped up on adrenaline made me jump around and I missed a lot of level “E” questions that I would have got if I worked more closely and slowly). Anyways, I scored below a 2200 that time and was immensely disappointed. Yeah lol.</p>
<p>And to answer your thing about how ‘bad test takers’ can do well on school tests, it’s simple. School tests are less important than the SAT and you’re not very nervous so you can still do fine.</p>
<p>Just from my experience</p>
<p>^EDIT: I think OP is talking about people who consistently score sub-1500 or even sub-2000, not people who get nervous and crash, using “bad test taking” as an excuse. The difference between 2250 and 2200 is that much, anyway.</p>
<p>The reality is that while the tests are standardized, education is not. </p>
<p>Consider, for example, that if I took a 9-year-old English prodigy in front of the SAT English, one would expect him to do much better than average. But how would he perform on the ACT math if I hadn’t introduced him to any of the concepts…</p>
<p>or, for a more hard-hitting example, if I taught him the concepts but in such a way that he didn’t know to use them on the SAT test.</p>
<p>If I’m used to all of my math problems being worded or set up a certain way because that’s how I was taught them in school, I might find more difficulty answering them when they are introduced even slightly differently. More often than not, this will be used as an excuse I think, but there’s probably still some truth to it.</p>
<p>Sounds like you need to take a sedative before you take the SAT next time.</p>
<p>@pluto</p>
<p>Holy crap dude calm down lol! I was also nervous but this is another level. Remember that you can take as many times as you want and imagine it as a junk test so that it calms you down.</p>
<p>@wiscongene</p>
<p>Thats what I was talking about earlier. My friend didnt know how to apply it to a broad range of problems. He could only solve it using a small set. For example I gave him this actual level 4 sat question</p>
<p>2^2 * 3^5 * 4^3 = 3^x * 2^y</p>
<p>The value of x+y is? </p>
<p>Its just a simple application of exponent rules which he did know. But the way it was presented made him blank out. He started coming up with crazy numbers. Then I went over and started showing the actual way to solve it by breaking down 4^4 to (2^2)^3. Right then and there he let out a big “Ohhhhh!” and immediately began picking it up from there and coming up with the final answer 13. Other kids might still have a blank expression on their face and these are the kids that still dont understand the concepts. The kids who do know the concepts but dont know how to apply score low but have endless potential to score high. The kids who dont know the concepts have almost no chance until they relearn the concepts.</p>
<p>This is how someone can do well on school tests but not standardized tests:</p>
<p>During a school test, you think, “This is no big deal. Even if I mess up on this test, I can still make up for that by acing the next test, doing EC, etc. I can still make an A in the class, so it’s not a huge problem if I mess up on this one test.”</p>
<p>During a standardized test, you think, “OMG MY WHOLE FUTURE IS DEPENDING ON THIS!!!”</p>
<p>Enough said.</p>
<p>It seems like everyone in my school is a “bad test taker.” So many people get straight A’s from just studying a lot, but almost all of those people have SATs between 1700 and 2000. I think that we must just have a lot of grade inflation from tests not making you think and just having you spit back an answer from the notes.</p>
<p>How are the bad test takers due to pacing issues going to do when they get a job and have to meet a deadline. Probably not very well.</p>
<p>There is also a huge difference between being a bad test taker and a bad standardized test taker, I am the latter. I do decent on tests in school (I rarely pull lower then a high B on them) and don’t mind them much, though for me it is very stressful when I know one test is going to have so much impact (especially when it does not always line up very well with what I have learned).</p>
<p>@TomSrOfBoston I LOLED, those two have absolutely no correlation AT ALL.
predicting one’s job performance based on a stupid standardized test ?? Gimme a break. lmao.</p>
<p>I’m actually fine testing at school, but freak out for something like the SAT. Something about it seems like I have one shot to do great or fail. The SAT just seems way more important than one test at school that I can balance out with other tests.</p>
<p>I decided to take the ACT, though, and did way better on that for some reason xD. There were less breaks, so I couldn’t get as nervous waiting to test.</p>
<p>@steelergolf11: That is exactly the situation in my school. I feel like our grade inflation is crazy, because there are plenty of people with 95+ UW averages, but we only had 3 people score above 2200 (or 33+) on the SATs/ACTs. Out of the top 40 in our grade, according to rank, we only had the aforementioned 3 2200+. Out of the top 10, we had 2. Everyone else considers it an accomplishment to get above 2000, and when asked about their scores, they cite the usual “I was sick on that day,” or “The SAT doesn’t prove anything about me” bs. That’s what annoys me more than anything else; the fact that these people refuse to accept someone else’s accomplishment, and just sit around and whine. </p>
<p>And too, these are always the people who rage against testing, and attack the SAT/ACT for “not being predictive of college success.” The fact is, we have to take it, and crying over it won’t change ANYTHING. Just do what you have to do and move on. My favorite saying: “You play the hand you were dealt.” </p>
<p>What I hate most, though, is the people that use the excuse that “I didn’t study,” and then act as if they are “superior” for getting an average score without putting in effort, while refusing to acknowledge someone else doing well. </p>
<p>/end rant.</p>
<p>I’m a smart student… Just the oddball out because I can do everything well except ENGLISH! Bottom 50% for the writing section. Straight B’s in English. (Darn the SAT because throughout college I’m only taking 2 reading/writing courses if APs go well this year; and why test people on grammar rules and give more time)</p>
<p>19 AP classes and much more…</p>
<p>This is an OLD thread, so I am closing it.</p>