Reply to Value of GPA vs. test scores

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I don’t so much have an axe to grind about standardizing tests per se, but I think both the format and the arms race mentality are problematic. The MCQ format is a terrible way to assess a student pedagogically.  It benefits only the test administrators because it’s fast and cheap to grade.  But it’s susceptible to being gamed out. A student can improve dramatically by getting better at the test taking strategies that aren’t related to understanding the underlying content.

As for the second point, standardized tests are best used as one datapoint to make sure the applicant has the baseline knowledge set and skills.  Not as a competition to get a perfect score.  The average SAT score at Harvard in the early 1990s was UNDER 1400.  Now people on this board scoff at scores like that. Scores are not linear.  In reality there is a minuscule difference between 1400 and a 1600.  There is a bigger difference between 1200 and 1300 than there is between 1300 and 1600.  [/quote]

The SAT is substantially easier and scored more generously now than then. Also Harvard students admitted on the “academic” profile are much stronger students now,  due to overall applicant population growth and expansion to international students and due to the decreasing size of the “academic” portion of the class.[/quote]

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