2016 SAT Change

782 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The effect of the SAT on students

How wonderful is it that since 1926 (Balf), one of the sole components of what will define a scholar, including his intelligence and creativity, and singlehandedly determine his fate for the rest of his life in this 21st century… happens to be a multiple choice test covering only mathematic and literary skills? Not to mention, the “Scholastic Aptitude Test” barely measures “IQ” or skill, but how much one studies and prepares beforehand! Also, at least for a few, it can boil down only to a simple measure of stamina and focus. From experience, I recall that its ten scrambled sections became disorientating and exhausting after four hours and afterwards, I had drained and almost incapable of making it through the rest of the day. Now, what happens when this irrelevant test changes once more as it did in 2006 (Donnelly), and once more for the worse? In 2016, the SAT will undergo changes to become a 1600 point (versus a previous 2400 point)(Kaplan), overly specific, and, much to my dissatisfaction, a Common Core aligned test. Unfortunately, those still are not the worst alterations. The 2016 SAT change is rendering the College Board’s standardized test further irrelevant and even hurtful to students majorly due to its loss of verbose and “archaic” English vocabulary, optional essay, and fewer math topics.
First of all, one of the largest mistakes the new SAT harbors is how it will drop “decrepit” words. No longer will students need to study; only a small inkling of understanding through context will be necessary. Now, one reason this change should not be put in action is because of how it will alter how students study. As College Board states itself, “No longer will students use flashcards to memorize obscure words…” How does this adva...

... middle of paper ...

...blog/sat-changes-bad-news-common-core>.
"Redesigned SAT." - College Board. College Board, n.d. Web. 10 May 2014. .
Smarick, Andy. "The Invaluableness of 'obscure' Words and the SAT." The Invaluableness of 'obscure' Words and the SAT. Thomas B. Fordham Institute, 6 Mar. 2014. Web. 11 May 2014. .
"The College Board Shares More Details about the 2016 SAT." Kaplan Test Prep. Kaplan, n.d. Web. 11 May 2014. .
Welsh, Teresa. "Does the College Board Need to Overhaul the SAT?" US News. U.S.News & World Report, 6 Mar. 2014. Web. 11 May 2014. .

Show More
Related

  • Testing is Overrated

    999 Words  | 2 Pages

    Students dread the time of the year when they stop with their course material and begin to prepare for test. Everyone is in agreement that some type of revolution is needed when it comes to education; eliminating standardized test will aid the reform. The need for standardized testing has proven to be ineffective and outdated; some leading educationalist also believe this because the tests do not measure a student’s true potential. This will save money, stop labeling, and alleviate stress in students and teachers.

    Read More

  • Advantages of Career Cruising Website

    668 Words  | 2 Pages

    The online study guides for the ACT/ SAT’s are exceptional because it allows the student with appropriate feedback as well as, how to achieve higher scores, statistics and performance of other high school students across North America who have already taken these tests. Team members and professionals have developed constructed lessons in the study guide so the student can achieve the maximu...

    Read More

  • Annotated Bibliography On Standardized Testing

    1210 Words  | 3 Pages

    A scholarly journal written by an anonymous author sheds light on the importance of standardized testing by showing its efficiency in higher level education. This article provides a solid counterargument for the use of standardized tests which is standardized tests being a good source of predicting grades throughout college as well as whether students will stay long enough to graduate. It is also able to establish that the SAT is effective in forecasting a grade-point average through the fourth year as well as predicting students study habits. The

    Read More

  • Why America's Educational System is Failing

    1116 Words  | 3 Pages

    Even with material being taught incessantly, standardized tests can not accurately measure a student’s ability. The tests are “single-target—meaning that every student, no matter what level of achievement or ability, course selection, or cu...

    Read More

  • Education

    1243 Words  | 3 Pages

    Goldstein, Andrew and Ann Blackman. “No SAT Scores Required (Education).” Time 11 Sep. 2000: 52-53.

    Read More

  • What Are The Pros And Cons Of Standardized Testing

    1772 Words  | 4 Pages

    Although there have been legitimate arguments supporting the benefits of standardized testing, such as their ability to successfully measure students’ proficiency, in recent years there have been concerns and disadvantages regarding how their misuse poses a serious threat to the American education system. Despite the belief that standardized tests should be used to measure students’ proficiency, there are more reasons outweighing this statement regarding why they shouldn’t be used for this purpose. Not only is this a particular issue with standardized testing, but the tests are becoming more high stakes and are being used unfairly to determine things such as graduation, or placement in a school, resulting in a significant amount of stress and anxiety in students. Testing corporations are also profiting from the design of these standardized tests, while standardized testing is also forcing teachers to all teach the same thing, leading to a lack of creativity in the students. Aside from these arguments, standardized tests have been found to be becoming flawed and have poor design.

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of The SAT

    1046 Words  | 3 Pages

    Standardized tests have been around for many years. During the 1920’s the SAT was known as the Scholastic Aptitude Test (Syverson 56). According to Steven Syverson, in 1993 the test was renamed as Scholastic Assessment Tests in an effort to reflect the changing nature of the test (56). Jonathan Epstein notes that by 1994, the acronym was removed completely, keeping only the initials SAT (9). The United States Department of Education reports that the Scholastic Assessment Test [known as SAT] measures your ability rather than knowledge and is composed of three sections: writing, critical reading, and math (3). “The American College Testing Program [known as ACT] measures how you think and what you’ve learned in school, it consist of four multiple-choice

    Read More

  • SAT Testing Persuasive Essay

    655 Words  | 2 Pages

    Thousands of students around the country and around the world will be preparing for the SAT and ACT tests while trying to maintain a high GPA. These tests will potentially have a significant impact on students' lives. Some will be taking these tests for the second or even third time to get that 1500 out of 1600 or that 33 out of 36, that they long desire. These flawed tests are not truly able to measure how well students will perform in college as they are supposedly used to predict. A single test that students have to wake up for at six, seven in the morning on a Saturday and travel to some random location to take a difficult test should not impact the student's chance of getting into college, let alone predict how well they will do in college.

    Read More

  • Standardized Tests: Do They Really Work for Raising the Rank of the US in World Education?

    1813 Words  | 4 Pages

    Medina, Jennifer. "New Standards Mean More F's In State Testing." The New York Times. The New York Times, 28 July 2010. Web. 19 Apr. 2014

    Read More

  • What is the Purpose of College?

    1352 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...ch AMATYC Algebra Curriculum Reform.” 24 Jan. 2010 < http://www.amatc.org/ publications/Electronic-proceedings/LongBeach22/Steinfort.pdf> Rimer, Sara. “First Woman Takes Reins at Harvard.” The New York Times. 13 Oct. 2007. 23 Jan. 2010 “Secretary of Education Richard Riley addresses Mathematicians.” American Mathematical Society. 8 Jan. 1998. 24 Jan. 2010 Williams, Mara Rose. “What’s A Degree Really Worth?” NorthJersery.com. 24 Jan. 2010. 24 Jan. 2010 Zernike, Kate. “Making College ‘Relevant’.” The New York Times. 29 Dec. 2009. 24 Jan. 2010 < http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/03/education/edlife/03careerism-t.html>

    Read More

  • The Sol's Pros And Cons Of Standardized Testing In Schools

    1900 Words  | 4 Pages

    Standardized tests, such as the SAT and the SOL, have been implemented for many years now for individuals in grade school to take. The SOL’s, or Standards of Learning tests, are Virginia’s version of standardized tests that students are required to take in order to pass a class, evaluating their knowledge on a specific subject. SOL’s are mandatory for students to take as soon as they reach third grade. Additionally, the SAT is a test taken in the final years of high school that colleges look at when comparing students for post-secondary school. People concerned with student’s education can come to the common consensus that education is important and there should be some way to compare a student’s achievements to one another. However, the process

    Read More

  • Analysis Of How Grading Reform Changed Our School

    1014 Words  | 3 Pages

    As a conclusion, the grading reform had changed the school for the better. With the average ACT scores, number of students participating in the AP programs and advanced placements exams, as well as comprehensive reading exams passing rate rising, there was a remarkable increase in students’ academic achievements. The school’s focus on making a grading reform had resulted in a culture of learning at all

    Read More

  • Traditional Grading System

    1795 Words  | 4 Pages

    Clifford H. Edwards; Laurie Edwards, “Let’s end the grading game”, The Clearing House, May-June 1999, v72, i5, p260(4)

    Read More

  • standardized tests harmful or helpful?

    840 Words  | 2 Pages

    --"Dead Standardized Scores Society." UWIRE Text 12 Feb. 2013: 1. Infotrac Newsstand. Web. 26 Mar. 2014.

    Read More

  • The Element By Sir Ken Robinson: Chapter Analysis

    485 Words  | 1 Pages

    Instead, it is stifling the individual talents and abilities of too many students and killing their motivation to learn” (16). Growing up, I have always enjoyed learning. In my sophomore year of high school, many subjects have weakened my motivation to learn. For example, AP World History was great until the exam came into place. It was enjoyable learning about history all over the world, but then we had to spend many weeks preparing for the standardized test. It was terrible because we were cramming everything we learned to perform well on the test and to pass the requirement for AP credit. It was a mess because we had to rush through all of the multiple choice questions. Overall, I do not like what standardized testing has done to the education

    Read More

More about 2016 SAT Change

Open Document