Why is the SAT I Writing section not considered?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1

<p>I know that MIT does not consider it in admissions, and other colleges don't as well. I just would like to know why? It used to just be another SAT II that most colleges required, but now it is part of the regular SAT. I see nothing wrong with the multiple choice section at least; it is a test of grammar. I can see why the actual essay portion might be discarded, but why the whole section in general?</p>

2

<p>my guess is because it’s new and too early to tell what the an SAT Writing score indicates. that would have made a lot more sense a few years ago - I wouldn’t be surprised if they started considering it in the next few years. other thoughts?</p>

3

<p>The Writing section does not really test one’s skill in writing, in the way we are asked usually to write. You are given a topic and then you must write within a very short time frame, without notes, references, or time to edit and polish. </p>

<p>Furthermore, a study was done (I think at MIT) after the first year the section was added to the SAT; it showed a direct correlation between the length of the essay and the score!</p>

4

<p>To neuron39:
That’s right,
<a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/04/education/04education.html[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/04/education/04education.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

5

<p>^Wow, that’s terrible.</p>

6

<p>Interesting… I heard people filled up the 2 pages (like 400ish words) and still got 9/12 or 10/12</p>

<p>Essay counts for 25% of the final WR score? I always thought it was 33%</p>

7

<p>Because all it tests are the essay and English grammar.</p>

8

<p>It’s useless. I bomb at writing. The teacher recommended me to change my entire World Lit essay, and my TOK essay was a bit lacking. My result on the SAT I writing? 800. Definitely doesn’t test writing capabilities. It tests your ability to pick out grammar mistakes.</p>

9

<p>

This. They’ve been gathering information on the scores for the past few years, and if they see that the scores correlate well with some factor they care about, they’ll consider them.</p>

10

<p>Hopefully, MIT (and other colleges) will just stop considering the entire SAT in the future. That’d be a huge step for college admissions.</p>

11

<p>So, Writing doesn’t count? : o</p>

12

<p>I’m not complaining. That’s a BS test. I always get 5 MC questions wrong and a 11 or 12 on the essay. And the result is always the same. 690. -____-</p>

13

<p>The test seems to test more grammar-related things than actual writing skills, in any case. I usually get 0-1 MC wrong, but anywhere from a 8 to 11 on the essay, and I’ve gotten between 730 to 800.</p>

14

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<p>To offer the reverse of this, I have a paper being published in the flagship journal of my field, and scored more than 150 pts lower on my writing than any other SAT individual exam :stuck_out_tongue: (including getting a TWO on the actual essay.)</p>

15

<p>Well, the writing test (minus essay) was an SAT II that was required by most colleges anyway. They could still look at the MC subscore. Also, the argument of it not testing anything could be applied to the other two sections as well. Math basically tests a few concepts, like writing, and then after that tests if you can catch what the question is actually asking you (ie, the math section tests you ability to read questions correctly). The critical reading section does not necessarily determine if you are a better reader or not either. I think writing would actually be pretty important just because of the grammar-testing part of it.</p>