Aceing the new SAT: two simple rules

[hoosier]

Not long ago the College Board revamped the SAT, adding an essay section along with the traditional multiple-choice aptitude tests; the essay counts for 25% of the total SAT verbal score. The New York Times reports that Les Perelman, "one of the directors of undergraduate writing at Massachusetts Institute of Technology," analyzed all the graded sample tests the board has made public, and concluded, in the Times' words, that the test "is actually teaching high school students terrible writing habits"--namely, the longer the better:

[Perelman] was stunned by how complete the correlation was between length and score. "I have never found a quantifiable predictor in 25 years of grading that was anywhere near as strong as this one," he said. "If you just graded them based on length without ever reading them, you'd be right over 90 percent of the time." The shortest essays, typically 100 words, got the lowest grade of one. The longest, about 400 words, got the top grade of six. In between, there was virtually a direct match between length and grade.

He was also struck by all the factual errors in even the top essays. An essay on the Civil War, given a perfect six, describes the nation being changed forever by the "firing of two shots at Fort Sumter in late 1862." (Actually, it was in early 1861, and, according to "Battle Cry of Freedom" by James M. McPherson, it was "33 hours of bombardment by 4,000 shot and shells.")

Dr. Perelman contacted the College Board and was surprised to learn that on the new SAT essay, students are not penalized for incorrect facts. The official guide for scorers explains: "Writers may make errors in facts or information that do not affect the quality of their essays. For example, a writer may state 'The American Revolution began in 1842' or '_"Anna Karenina," a play by the French author Joseph Conrad, was a very upbeat literary work.'_" (Actually, that's 1775; a novel by the Russian Leo Tolstoy; and poor Anna hurls herself under a train.) No matter. "You are scoring the writing, and not the correctness of facts."_._._.

SAT graders are told to read an essay just once and spend two to three minutes per essay, and Dr. Perelman is now adept at rapid-fire SAT grading. This reporter held up a sample essay far enough away so it could not be read, and [Perelman] was still able to guess the correct grade by its bulk and shape. "That's a 4," he said. "It looks like a 4."

Perelman's recommendation for students preparing for the SAT: "I would advise writing as long as possible, and include lots of facts, even if they're made up." That's also good advice for those who want to go to work for Dan Rather at CBS's "120 Minutes."

- Opinion Journal

[MSKKG]

Both of my sons are going to be taking the new SAT on Saturday.

[33girl]

Greek Life what what??

[Coramoor]

Are they grading on actual knowledge...or on ability to write?

Many highschooler's have no idea about the actual history of the country b/c their teacher's spread the wrong info. Given that, they can still write well-just their writing will be very infactual.

A lot of stuff learned in HS is completely wrong. I don't know why they continue to teach it....but they do.

[LightBulb]

The American Revolution began in 1842?? If you don't know a year, leave it out! Describe the time period instead!

[epchick]

If a senior in high school can't remember the dates of the American Revolution, that is pretty sad. If you are going to use facts on the SAT you should know the correct dates. WTF? That's crazy, that meant I could have gotten higher than my SAT grade if I was still in High School.

[MSKKG]

My older son (junior) made a 2340 on the SAT--he scored an 800 on both the math and reading sections and a 740 on the writing. He made a 35 on the ACT a couple of months ago--he scored a 36 in the math, reading, and science sections and a 33 on the writing section. My younger son (freshman) made a 1790 on the SAT. Needless to say, I'm a very proud momma!!!

[bekibug]

One key issue to doing well on the SAT, new or old, is spelling.





Like knowing how to spell "acing," as in "Acing the New SAT."

[christiangirl]

Originally posted by MSKKG
My older son (junior) made a 2340 on the SAT--he scored an 800 on both the math and reading sections and a 740 on the writing. He made a 35 on the ACT a couple of months ago--he scored a 36 in the math, reading, and science sections and a 33 on the writing section. My younger son (freshman) made a 1790 on the SAT. Needless to say, I'm a very proud momma!!!

I miss the good old days where it was just out of 1600, these scores are making me feel so inferior...

[CSUSigEp]

Originally posted by christiangirl
I miss the good old days where it was just out of 1600, these scores are making me feel so inferior...

yeah really, what is it out of now? 2400?

[whittleschmeg]

I personally wish there was a writing section when I took my SAT's. I do very poorly on Standarized tests and subsiquently did poorly on the SAT, a 3.8 GPA and a soccer scholorship got me into a good school. After taking the Praxis (standardized test fro teachers), I can understand how writing section helps. Facts are not important on these tests the structure of writing is. Introduction a thesis statement supporting paragraphs and a conclusion. If the SATs board is going to keep the writing portion in the test which I suspect they will they should ask for opinion essays that the student has to support by fact.

The writing section is a good idea because people test in a variety of styles, it will help students who might get boggled and can't think straight reading so many simular questions in a row.

[sugar and spice]

I think that while a writing portion of the SAT could be helpful, the way it is currently implemented clearly is not.

Grading writing sections of standardized tests is a tricky thing, and often penalizes the better writers who have managed to get beyond the 5-paragraph essay format (which is NEVER used anywhere except in high school, by the way). I know that Wisconsin students used to have to take standardized tests periodically (tests that did include writing sections), and the better writers in the class often scored lower than the mediocre writers because everything was graded on a one-size-fits-all standard that was aimed at functional but uninteresting writing.

I think it's good for colleges to have a writing sample that they can verify is written by the student and not overzealous parents, a helpful older sibling, or a private tutor. (Do schools even get the SAT writing samples, or do they just see the scores?) However, if the primary factor that's being graded is length -- and accuracy of facts isn't even brought into the picture, that's something that needs to be addressed.