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*