PSAT results came out
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Anonymous
It tests if you know basic Math and English to do well in college. Your test taking ability won't help if you don't know or understand this level of Math or English. Yes, some familiarity with the test certainly helps in not making careless mistakes or time management, but, the most important thing is that with PSAT and Khan Academy, you can pinpoint where you have a knowledge gap and then you can learn the Math and English that you did not learn in lower grades. Scores improves only when you fill in the content gap first. This same content gap is also playing a part in achievement gap in education. As for your comment about inequality. Nothing can make up for checked out parenting or bad parenting. The school sends you information and you all are supposed to read it. I read and figure out things because I feel responsible as a parent. I don't wait to get my info from DCUM. I basically read the email that the school sends and click on the links and read it. It is not rocket science, unless you have a knowledge gap. Removing the SAT is a good experiment during the pandemic because colleges needed to address many uncertainties and unusual circumstances. Currently, colleges are evaluating student by their GPA and rigor of curriculum first. If the expectation is that STEM students will be proficient in Calculus in HS, I am sure colleges think that SAT level Algebra won't be an issue for the students. |
Anonymous
I'm one of the PPs from above. My kid actually didn't get an email. I only heard that scores were available from DCUM and my son heard from his friends. Is there something in the email that you need to use to access the scores? |
Anonymous
Its English that the students should be able to tackle by 10th or 11th grade. After all, it is a Scholastic Aptitude Test to check if you have the aptitude to do well in college. The students will be reading college level texts in college and expected to keep up. As an immigrant whose English is not that good, and we speak another language at home, my kid found SAT English easy and that was primarily because my kid has been reading for pleasure since he was in 4th grade. Additionally, his 9th grade English teacher made them all read Strunk and White's "The Elements of Style" because she did not want to suffer through their poorly written and grammatically incorrect written assignments. I think that made a huge difference in his English scores. If you don't have this kind of education through your schooling, are you not better served knowing where you are lacking and try and remedy that not only for SAT but for college and beyond? Everything the SAT measures, your kids are supposed to have learned from K onwards. They may not have learned it because of poor schooling, indifferent teachers or their own carelessness. Still, if you want your kids to do well in college, most academic weaknesses should be addressed before they get there. Regardless of if the college says "Test Optional" or not. |
Anonymous
-1 |
Anonymous
| The word “Aptitude” was dropped from the SAT name in 1993 to reflect that it is not an aptitude test. |
Anonymous
Tried it and didn’t work. |
Anonymous
| My kid has accommodations and said no one from the accommodations room at their school has scores. |
Anonymous
Uff...so true. "...What Does “SAT” Stand For? Today, “SAT” has no meaning as an acronym. The SAT acronym originally stood for “Scholastic Aptitude Test” but as the test evolved the acronym’s meaning was dropped. In 1997, the main test became known as the “SAT I: Reasoning Test” while the individual subject exams, known as “Achievement Tests”, became the “SAT II: Subject Tests.” The numbers were later eliminated, and the tests became known as the “SAT Reasoning Test” and “SAT Subject Tests”. The name simplified even further to just “SAT” when it was redesigned as an achievement test in 2016, though students will often still encounter all the different name variations...." I guess people can pick whatever suits them . It can be a test of Aptitude, Reasoning or Achievement. I think "Reasoning" is a bit funny, because you cannot reason out the Algebra that you have not learned. |
Anonymous
I wonder if that’s it. My kid, whose scores are not available, has accommodations too. I hope they are not lost. |
Anonymous
My kid has no accommodations and still doesn’t have a score either. |
Anonymous
Mine has accommodations and got his score- I share only to provide some reassurance. |
Anonymous
| No accommodations and no score here. |
Anonymous
DP. The point is that the test isn't measuring anything terribly useful at this point. It's just measuring how well a kid prepares for that particular test -- which is not really the same thing as how well a student will learn advanced course material and be able to apply that knowledge in a work setting or as a means of improving his or her life or in the course of being a citizen who contributes to his or her community or whatever it is that we're looking to screen for. |
Anonymous
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I have an 11th grader and 9th grader.
My 11th grader had never taken the psat due to covid (and it wasn't offered at his pubic HS in grade 9). Other than announcing the test date, the school didn't send home any prep materials or suggest prepping at all, he didn't give it any thought. So he took it "cold." My 9th grader took it this year at her private school. On a day before the test, the English teachers spent a little time going over the format of the test and some general test tips. I have to speculate that my 9th grader will do better on the psat in grade 11, when it counts for National Merit, than the 11th grader just did (and I would think that many 11th graders were in the same boat of never having been exposed to the test before, which probably means raw scores on the whole were lower in grade 11 this year). And I am comparing a high performing public HS with a private, there would obviously be lots of other disparities between other high schools. |
Anonymous
I feel the "aptitude" label was just fine the way it was. There are different types of aptitude, and there certainly is scholastic aptitude, of which basic language and math skills are fundamental regardless of which area of study a student intends to focus on. A person may not excel at scholastic aptitude but may have other aptitude types that make them successful in life. What colleges/universities are concerned with is the scholastic aptitude of the applicants. Some are also concerned with athletic aptitude, as another example. Refusing to call the "SAT" "scholastic aptitude test" is like refusing to call a tape measure a tape measure because it can't be used to measure temperature. |