Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m genuinely curious why the same kind of uproar toward the sat isn’t directed toward the LSAT, Mcat, gmat, gre, praxis, actuary exams, etc. Because all of those have the same correlation to wealth as the sat/act. I’m guessing it’s because people are adults when they take those and therefore considered to be in control of their circumstances. Heck, same with the wisc, Iowa tests, and parcc.

They also have a correlation to... genetics. Smart kids do well... dumb kids, even if they went to great schools, still post mediocre scores.

Maybe for the LSAT, since it’s more reasoning based. You can’t fake your way through the mcat.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m genuinely curious why the same kind of uproar toward the sat isn’t directed toward the LSAT, Mcat, gmat, gre, praxis, actuary exams, etc. Because all of those have the same correlation to wealth as the sat/act. I’m guessing it’s because people are adults when they take those and therefore considered to be in control of their circumstances. Heck, same with the wisc, Iowa tests, and parcc.

They also have a correlation to... genetics. Smart kids do well... dumb kids, even if they went to great schools, still post mediocre scores.

So does the sat/act. So why the anger at the sat/act and not all these other exams?

Smart kids do not always do well. There are reasons why they don’t do well. But don’t make blanket statements.

Anonymous wrote:I’m genuinely curious why the same kind of uproar toward the sat isn’t directed toward the LSAT, Mcat, gmat, gre, praxis, actuary exams, etc. Because all of those have the same correlation to wealth as the sat/act. I’m guessing it’s because people are adults when they take those and therefore considered to be in control of their circumstances. Heck, same with the wisc, Iowa tests, and parcc.

They also have a correlation to... genetics. Smart kids do well... dumb kids, even if they went to great schools, still post mediocre scores.

I’m genuinely curious why the same kind of uproar toward the sat isn’t directed toward the LSAT, Mcat, gmat, gre, praxis, actuary exams, etc. Because all of those have the same correlation to wealth as the sat/act. I’m guessing it’s because people are adults when they take those and therefore considered to be in control of their circumstances. Heck, same with the wisc, Iowa tests, and parcc.

When you hear admissions officers at highly selective colleges speak about their cohort they ALWAYS remind us that they could choose a complete second class whose performance would be indistinguishable from the first and then a third indistinguishable from either... they will have no problem building a successful class without the test scores.

No problem.

Anonymous wrote:Perhaps they will look at how the students spent their extra time during the shutdown. Do they have absolutely nothing to show for themselves? Or did they work to support frontline workers, participate in the BLM movement, start virtual tutoring underserved youth.

If I were writing an essay question, this is exactly what I would want to know. It defines who a person is.

The only reason most kids do that stuff is for college admissions. It saddens me that adults expect every moment of a kids adolescent years to “have something to show for.” And that some adults think only the 1% of the colleges in this country are good enough for their snowflake.

Initiative will distinguish the good from the great student, as it has for a long time.

Schools are getting better and better at detecting parent driven initiative so when they see real student initiative, they admit.

Perhaps they will look at how the students spent their extra time during the shutdown. Do they have absolutely nothing to show for themselves? Or did they work to support frontline workers, participate in the BLM movement, start virtual tutoring underserved youth.

If I were writing an essay question, this is exactly what I would want to know. It defines who a person is.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rigor of coursework.

Getting A’s in the hardest classes versus the fluff

There are still too many kids with As in the most rigorous classes.

Not at our public non-magnet HS. Four years of success in rigorous classes is easily the best indicator of future academic success.

Define "too many" and how you know.

There are 30,000+ high schools in this country. And at least a couple kids are taking the most rigorous and getting As at each one.

Anonymous wrote:Teacher recs will become more important. Parents can’t control these and since they are confidential teachers can evaluate the student honestly.

I think this will be a good method. Although a lot of teacher’s my kid’s school let the kids have a copy, even if the kid doesn’t ask.

Teacher recs will become more important. Parents can’t control these and since they are confidential teachers can evaluate the student honestly.

I hope they do have tests in the fall as my kid has been studying and getting in the high 1400s on practice tests. But if the rest of the 2020 SAT/ACTs are cancelled, I assume all schools will go test optional. Since he'll have no scores, he will just have to cast a wider net. It's not great but he'll get in somewhere.

Holistic review.

citation: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/07/17/easy-a-nearly-half-hs-seniors-graduate-average/485787001/

A's are on the rise in report cards, but SAT scores struggle

More high school teachers are handing out A's. But the bad news is that students aren't necessarily learning more.

Recent findings show that the proportion of high school seniors graduating with an A average — that includes an A-minus or A-plus — has grown sharply over the past generation, even as average SAT scores have fallen.

In 1998, it was 38.9%. By last year, it had grown to 47%.

That’s right: Nearly half of America’s Class of 2016 are A students. Meanwhile, their average SAT score fell from 1,026 to 1,002 on a 1,600-point scale — suggesting that those A's on report cards might be fool's gold.