Changes Ahead For The SAT

Per NPR: As the SAT loses influence among colleges, the testing service is thinking about going back to the old test only, pencil in circles, and drop the essay part of the test. Like the change?
Personally I think it is a great idea. If the same person was grading all the essays, it would be more palatable, but having different people grading essays sounds unfair to me.

And with the essay going away, I wonder if the SAT prep companies might lose a lot of business.

Bad idea - they're making the SAT easier ---- and frankly - the problem is that Colleges are enrolling too many people.

A 2-year trade degree is plenty valuable in the work place, and ought to be the preferred route for a big proportion of those attending 4-year institutions.

Easy test scores are no way to be rid of the entitlement mentality.

bailey bud wrote: Bad idea - they're making the SAT easier ---- and frankly - the problem is that Colleges are enrolling too many people.

A 2-year trade degree is plenty valuable in the work place, and ought to be the preferred route for a big proportion of those attending 4-year institutions.

Easy test scores are no way to be rid of the entitlement mentality.

Seems to me that my SAT in ~1970 had no essay component.

BB I disagree with you. I believe a symptom of the problem is that colleges are enrolling to many people.

The problem is that the liberal intelligentsia complex has convinced parents that the road to success for there child with a HSD in hand, illiterate or not , is college. That no price is too high and that debt is irrelevant.

the college board is run by colleges -
naturally, colleges are pressuring the Board to make enrolling easier - by making scores higher.

This will pump more students into college - which in my opinion - is a crappy idea.

A BA/BS graduate makes an average of $40,000 ---- which is plenty to handle a loan of about $20,000.

That's a reasonable cost/benefit situation.

The main reason debt becomes a problem is that colleges enroll students that are poorly prepared ---- who do not graduate. Poor preparation + college dropout + $5,000 in loans = problems.
(loan burden is only $80/mo --- but that's too much for someone flipping burgers)

How much longer will it be before some enterprising person starts an online only college at such a low cost that a brick and mortar college can no longer compete? We've seen the phenomena in other markets, so why has it failed to make a significant entrance into this one?

Khan academy has taken a shot at it --- not really intentionally ---- but it's been really effective.

In higher education there's a lot of talk about Massively Open Online Courses (MOOC) --- even to the point where marginal institutions consider them existential threats. (I have more hope for the institutions that recognize the threat than the institutions that go on oblivious to it).

I would think an online course that just deals with the subject matter and not the professor's biased interpretation would be a more effective way of learning. The problem is in keeping the student focused and away from the XBOX , girlfriend/boyfriend, and couch.

BB interesting theory about making the essay voluntary. I figured the company did it to cut costs. Hand grading essays has to be more expensive than running forms through a scanner.

Dump the SAT. It is worthless in determining who will succeed in college.

And for those of you who would like to see how you would do now, try this one. Got 10 out of 10.

Has it been a while since you took the SAT? Try this interactive quiz to see how you'd do now. http://ch7ne.ws/NKQjUt
MOBILE USERS: http://media.scrippsnationalnews.com/ht ... z/sat.html

Can't put my finger on it right now but there are colleges (Edison College??) that accept a lot of CLEP tests and gain credits w/o having to pay lots of tuition. http://clep.collegeboard.org/

ACT is a much better measurement of qualification for college. The reason that the SAT was touted so much in the past couple of decades was because the test would allow more kids to qualify for entrance.