Reply to Tests are back, where’s the data?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The SAT is now a 2-hour, very preppable, superscorable test of math through Algebra 2, basic grammar/punctuation, and vocabulary in context. Median scores are declining because kids in the middle and below are learning less in high school. Scores at the top are rising because motivated kids with access to resources can easily master the content or just get lucky after taking it six times. It's a test mildly useful to validate high school grades, especially in math. It has little to do with whether kids can write or read and understand more than a paragraph or two at a time.[/quote]
Caltech:  "Test scores are predictive of success, [b]even into students' sophomore and junior years[/b]"[/quote]

Everyone is misunderstanding me. The SAT is better than nothing. Students without near-perfect math scores are going to struggle at Caltech. But requiring it isn't going to produce radical improvements in student quality, especially in reading and writing skills. We also don't have a lot of data about the digital SAT, which is a significantly different test. The trend toward taking the SAT three times at a minimum and often 5+ times is also, while not completely new, continuing to rise.[/quote]

That's why Caltech looks at individual sections, not the composite.  That's an important point overlooked by many including you.  
They don't let kids with 800 math 730 verbal to be a bucket A kid.  That will be a bucket A + bucket C.

SAT is an aptitude test.  Prepping helps for sure but there is a limit, especially for reaching bucket A.  The majority of kids being prepped and taking the test multiple times still would not reach bucket A in both categories.

You may argue that SAT is not hard enough and you wish it's harder.  That's another topic, and college board has revamped the test multiple times in history so it's not unlikely they will do it again (as seen in August test).

The reality is not that many can achieve double bucket A at present, and it's a holistic review process so score isn't the only thing they look at.  [/quote]
NP. Clarification, the SAT stopped being an aptitude test many years ago. It moved away from aptitude gradually over a number of rewrites. Anything measuring aptitude, like the old analogies section, College Board removed quite some time ago. The test is currently (supposedly) a test of academic skills. While inherent aptitude will impact academic skills, the test is not a direct measure. Every student will have their individual potential high score, based in part on aptitude and in part on how well their academic skills have been developed in school. That said, I do not think the current digital test is a high-quality product. Scoring is too inconsistent; perhaps that's a topic for another thread.[/quote]

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