SATs

[anne_d]

Well, we got Emily's SAT scores back yesterday:

Critical Reading 690
Math 700
Writing 690

She got an 08 on the essay.

I read an appalling editorial this weekend, which I did not show to Emily, regarding the grading system for the new SAT essay. It was pretty depressing:

"...the SAT essay has turned out to be a completely artificial exercise that appears to reward students for writing badly.

First, the test encourages wordiness. Longer essays consistently score higher. Shortly after the test was first administered in March, I looked at scored samples that were made public, including the set used to train graders. I discovered that I could guess an essay's prescribed score just by looking at its length — even from across a room. One verbose sample that received a perfect 6 concluded with the ridiculous sentence: "If secrecy were eradicated, many problems, such as internal division, but also possibly hate, might also be eliminated."

Just as disconcerting is the test's disregard for factual accuracy. The official guide for scorers states: "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.' " One of the sample papers scoring a "perfect" 6, for example, described the "firing of two shots at Fort Sumter in late 1862," even though it was in early 1861 and 4,000 shots were fired."

While I'm sure there were some essays that deserved a high score (Julia's Anna's, for one), this is disgusting. I hope they have a better system by the time it's Kitty's turn.

At least now I don't have to worry about Emily and SATs any more.

Comments

[calturner.livejournal.com]

Hi Anne. I have no idea how the scoring system works in the US, so I can't really comment on Emily's scores. The editorial you mention sounds appalling!

At least now the SATs are over, you have one less thing to worry about. I hope all is well with you. *hugs*

[julia-here.livejournal.com]

We've been deconstructing the Essay since the day Anna took the test; it was her impression that there was no way to write an excellent academic essay given the assignments, and she thought then they were probably mostly going for lenght- which is pretty much what the follow-up studies arre emphasizing.

I have a freak talent for taking standardized tests which I have passed on to both kids, and a lot of scepticism as to what they really test, in the long run.

Julia, feeling spectacularly incompetant today, and none of my tests ever indicated my proclivity for failure in real life

[anne_d]

I'm in complete accord with you on the feelings of incompetence today - must be something going around. *Hugs Julia*

On the other hand, you have two very intelligent kids, you're a fine writer of both fiction and non-fiction, and you seem to be doing about sixteen full-time jobs, every day (and you haven't massacred your annoying but lovable SU yet). So, not a failure!

Standardized tests suck, and the worst part is that the teachers are still expected to cram in all the regular assignments, even after losing a week or two to test prep, and another week, minimum, to actual testing. Kitty is getting the full effects of that right now, I suspect.

Anne, two-year community college degree in math (of all things), and it took me ten years just to get that far