Paper vs Digital SAT

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Reddit

Yes, it's all over reddit how difficult the second module was. WTF was college board thinking??

[Anonymous]

I don’t have a problem with the second module being very hard but it seems very unfair to not make the level of difficulty similar in the practice tests. Then kids can identify what they don’t know how to do and can also have a realistic sense of their score range. My DC scored over 1500 on the practice with an 800 on the math and thinks they bombed the second math module.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t have a problem with the second module being very hard but it seems very unfair to not make the level of difficulty similar in the practice tests. Then kids can identify what they don’t know how to do and can also have a realistic sense of their score range. My DC scored over 1500 on the practice with an 800 on the math and thinks they bombed the second math module.

Yes I agree. Don't surprise kids with wildly different degrees of difficulty. Give blue book practices that reflect the actual level of difficulty so that kids know where they stand and what they need to work on. The whole point is to help kids learn not to say "aha I got you".

[Anonymous]

It’s bad enough they changed to digital midyear, now the practices don’t reflect the test?!

[Anonymous]

This is good to hear Re the math section being difficult. My DD said she left the last 3 questions blank. She already has a 760 on math (non STEM kid) so wasn’t expecting to get higher on math, but was thinking maybe her previous tests were a fluke because on this test she was “going to probably not get more than 600”.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s bad enough they changed to digital midyear, now the practices don’t reflect the test?!

I think this guy has some good theories on why kids were surprised on Saturday. I definitely didn't know that the test included experimental questions that don't even count. I wonder how many kids know that. I do think he had a point that kids get a false sense of security using hacks b/c they aren't learning how to solve all questions, just specific ones.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emM1Qt1YQzI

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s bad enough they changed to digital midyear, now the practices don’t reflect the test?!

I think this guy has some good theories on why kids were surprised on Saturday. I definitely didn't know that the test included experimental questions that don't even count. I wonder how many kids know that. I do think he had a point that kids get a false sense of security using hacks b/c they aren't learning how to solve all questions, just specific ones.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emM1Qt1YQzI

I feel like practice questions was a thing back in the early 90s when we took it?

Thanks for the video though,it was interesting. Guess we will know more when the kids' scores show up in a couple of weeks.

[Anonymous]

My daughter said there was a math question in section 2 that made zero sense--there was a variable that disappeared for no apparent reason.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s bad enough they changed to digital midyear, now the practices don’t reflect the test?!

I think this guy has some good theories on why kids were surprised on Saturday. I definitely didn't know that the test included experimental questions that don't even count. I wonder how many kids know that. I do think he had a point that kids get a false sense of security using hacks b/c they aren't learning how to solve all questions, just specific ones.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emM1Qt1YQzI

The "experimental" questions is interesting: two questions about that:

1) do the blue book practice tests have fewer total questions? By that, I mean if the actual test has more total questions (including a few questions that don't count) but the total amount of time is the same as the practice tests, the time pressure would feel worse with the actual test....

2) do the experimental questions come at the end? If so, that's a bad way to test them (at least some kids would know this and not bother to answer)...but if if they are sprinkled throughout, it seems unfair because kids waste time on "untested" questions that don't count and may not get to all of the questions that have been validated and that do count.

[Anonymous]

More and more these standardized tests feel like nothing but a money grab and data mining opportunity for testing companies. I don’t like it one bit!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:More and more these standardized tests feel like nothing but a money grab and data mining opportunity for testing companies. I don’t like it one bit!

Then don’t have your kid take them? Most colleges are test optional.

[Anonymous]

If you want merit scholarships, most do that based on test scores.

[Anonymous]

Kids are not guinea pigs. They have feelings and emotions and time management and mental health issues.

[Anonymous]

It is my understanding that the experimental questions are scattered throughout. There is no indication as to which questions are real and which are experimental. If they put them all at the end, kids just wouldn’t do them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is my understanding that the experimental questions are scattered throughout. There is no indication as to which questions are real and which are experimental. If they put them all at the end, kids just wouldn’t do them.

Right- that's my understanding....the problem with this is that these "experimental" questions have actual consequences, in that if they are bad/confusing (which many likely are since they haven't been validated yet), kids waste time on them and might do less well on other questions. They should find other ways to validate those questions.