NY Times article: SAT Changes Policy, Opening Rift With Colleges
“In some respect,” Mr. Fitzsimmons said, “Score Choice will help defuse some of the pressure and give students a sense that not everything is riding on the tests, which really is the case.”
While I see this as a sly business tactic, allowing students to choose which scores to send will probably reduce stress all around, especially since the SATs are now a what… 4-5 hour long test with a 15 minute snack break? However, perhaps, more inequality and inefficiency?
Having only one more set of Standardized Testing to go through and repressing my memories of the SAT, I would deem my reaction as slightly positive, but mostly neutral.
Overall: Upgrade! Colleges supposedly consider just the top scores anyway.
Your thoughts? Yay? Nay?
Dammit! Where was this policy when I was applying? >.<
Hehe. I predict that the admissions committee will be inundated with applicants with perfect scores next year.
My issue with Score Choice is that it won’t actually reduce stress “all around” — it will reduce stress for the students who can afford to pay for round after round of SATs. While some schools don’t care how many times you take it, others do, and rightfully so; if you have to take the test 5 or 6 times and your score improves noticeably, it’s probably because you’ve caught on and figured out how to game the test at that point. No one gets 400 points smarter in a couple of months.
The students who can’t afford SAT prep courses, who can’t afford to take the actual test as if it were a practice test — they’re the ones who suffer from this decision. Think of a midterm and how pissed you’d be if you found out that you only got one shot at taking it, but a friend had taken it 3 or 4 times, and she only had to show the professor one score. You’d be pissed, no?
Adam Goodman wrote a great Daily Pennsylvanian column on the topic this summer. Check it out.
If the purpose of the test is to determine a person’s “true skill” there are two effects: (1) students are under less pressure making their performance more accurate and (2) students can take the test as many times as they want and then just report the highest score.
Because their is random error in the test, taking the test multiple times allows students report scores above their “true skill,” lessening the accuracy of the test. Additionally, this new scoring system introduces bias favoring those willing and able to take the test more often.