<p>I am constantly amazed that internationals posting here in broken English report SAT CR scores way higher than the US average. Huh?</p>
<p>Its because the pool of international applicants taking the SAT is far more elite than the pool of American students taking the test. Any American high school student who is even considering college needs to take the SAT. Only the highly motivated international students who want to pursue education in the US are represented on CC.</p>
<p>A lot of reasons come to mind. Posters on CC, for one thing, aren't typical students, whether they're internationals or Americans. </p>
<p>For another, there's a big difference in the challenge level of expressing yourself in a language that's not your first, versus comprehending written passages and answering questions about them (and identifying correct answers from multiple choice options). No doubt you've experienced this in whatever second or third languages you learned in h.s. and/or college - comprehension is always ahead of expression. </p>
<p>For a third thing, they're still h.s. kids, and they're going to make typos, careless word choices, etc., and post in incomplete sentences, so they may come off sounding less competent in English than they are.
Just like many of the adults who post on CC. . . .</p>
<p>The knowledge of more than one language definitely helps :)
International kids applying to schools here know English, their native language and frequently one more...</p>
<p>It's a self-selecting pool. The Calif State University system requires the SAT, for example, but the scores mean little except at one or two campuses -- ya' just gotta show up and take the test. In contrast, internationals seeking to go overseas and earn merit money/finaid, are a small group, relatively speaking.</p>
<p>Because they study 24/7 and memorize tests.</p>
<p>What do internationals report about their writing section scores?</p>
<p>OK don't know about the SAT, but a Harvey Mudd physics graduate I know actually gave me a briefing on how in the subject GRE for physics or something, foreigners just KILL the curve. Why? Because the culture in a lot of foreign lands is to devote undue amounts of time to just prepping for exams. Example -- the IIT JEE. People don't just study the subjects for the IIT JEE - they spend their lives prepping using sample exam type problems. I think that while the question here is a little different, i.e. given you'd expect foreigners to be less proficient at the English stuff, the elite group [as someone said] who does take it both likely knows English better than most takers here, plus likely is a testing machine.</p>
<p>Because the internationals posting here are probably at the top 2% in overall intelligence (since most internationals probably don't apply to any college at all, certainly not to a U.S. college), are unusually gifted in languages, and many also have been taking English since elementary school. The kind of coursework, critical thinking and writing that's required outside of the U.S. for college-bound students is what in the U.S. only students in elite boarding and public schools are expected to do.</p>
<p>In addition, most internationals get major tutoring so as to do well on the tests required for admission here.</p>
<p>I visited a friend who was teaching college English as a Fulbright Fellow in Benin, in francophone West Africa. When she should me her students exam papers, my jaw dropped at the sophisticated language and thinking that they were writing in English, which for many was their third or fourth language.</p>
<p>She reminded me that in that country, only the very brightest students are able to go to high school and college, and essay exams are what determines who gets those privileges.</p>
<p>hockeymomofthree, I find your comment incredibly offensive and unnecessary. I scored well on the CR with a month or so of preparation. I don't know why. I like English and I'm a fast reader. Don't insult the international students' intelligence by claiming they just memorize the tests.</p>