SAT

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New SAT Ditches 'Obscure' Words

College Board releases sample questions, more info

(Newser) - The new SAT , coming in 2016, will be more geared toward real-world applications—which means, among other things, that it's bidding adieu to "obscure" vocabulary words. Taking their place: "high-utility" words. The College Board today released 211 pages of info designed to give students "everything [they...

SAT Is Like an IQ Test &mdash;and It Works
SAT Is Like an IQ Test
—and It Works
OPINION
Apr 15, 2014 1:25 PM CDT

SAT Is Like an IQ Test —and It Works

Slate essayists say it can and should play a valuable role for colleges

(Newser) - The SAT is a favorite punching bag these days, with critics saying it should be eliminated from the college-application process. But in an essay at Slate , David Hambrick and Christopher Chabris come to the test's defense on several fronts. Those who say the SAT is a lousy predictor of...

Don&#39;t Revise the SAT, Just Kill It
Don't Revise the SAT,
Just Kill It
OPINION
Mar 6, 2014 12:18 PM CST

Don't Revise the SAT, Just Kill It

It's time to do away with with a one-test-fits-all approach, say critics

(Newser) - The College Board is winning plenty of praise for its upcoming changes to the SAT , with the editors at Bloomberg , for example, happy that the reforms might put a dent in the test-prep industry. When well-to-do parents shell out for that extra help, it "warps educational priorities and helps...

No Mandatory Essay: SAT Overhauling Test

Top score returns to 1,600 in 2 years

(Newser) - Big changes are coming for the SAT in two years, reports the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal . Some of the major ones announced by the College Board:
  • Essay optional: The mandatory essay introduced in 2005 will be eliminated. Among other things, critics say students couldn't knock out anything
...

SAT Scores: Not So Hot at Predicting College Success
SAT Scores: Not So Hot at Predicting College Success
STUDY SAYS
Feb 18, 2014 12:48 PM CST

SAT Scores: Not So Hot at Predicting College Success

High school grades a much better indicator of likely college success: study

(Newser) - The SATs were created to offer a way to help less-privileged students show their skills—but these days, the stressful tests "serve more to truncate access than to open it," says William Hiss, a former dean at Bates College. He and his team have conducted what could be...

Only 3 Camden Teens Got 'College Ready' SAT Scores

New superintendent gives sobering assessment of listening tour

(Newser) - Just how bad are things in Camden's schools? So bad that only three students there managed a "college ready" SAT score in 2013, new superintendent Paymon Rouhanifard revealed yesterday. He called the number a "kick-in-the-stomach moment." It was one of a number of sobering assessments Rouhanifard...

5 Celebrity SAT Scores
 5 Celebrity SAT Scores 
Oct 20, 2013 7:58 AM CDT

5 Celebrity SAT Scores

Did you score higher than Scarlett Johansson?

(Newser) - Want to feel bad about yourself? Consider this: If Ke$ha is to be believed, she scored 1500 out of 1600 on the SATs. That's probably better than you got, right? But all is not lost: You may have scored above some of the others on this list rounded up...

SAT Tightens Security Against Cheaters

Students will have to send in photos in advance

(Newser) - The millions of students who take the SAT or ACT each year will have to submit photos of themselves when they sign up for the college entrance exams, under a host of new security measures announced today in the aftermath of a major cheating scandal on Long Island. The two...

Prestigious College Faked SAT Scores to Boost Rank

Claremont McKenna College administrator inflated scores

(Newser) - Claremont McKenna College is currently ranked by US News and World Report as the nation's ninth-best liberal arts college—but, the college admitted yesterday, that ranking is based on falsified SAT scores. The small California school says that since 2005, "a senior administrator" who has since resigned submitted...

20 Students Nabbed in NY SAT Scam
20 Students Nabbed
in NY SAT Scam
Nov 23, 2011 1:02 AM CST

20 Students Nabbed in NY SAT Scam

They were paid to take tests for others: Investigators

(Newser) - Twenty students linked to five Long Island high schools have been charged with being part of an SAT test-taking scam. They were accused of accepting payments to take the SAT and ACT college entrance exams posing as other students over the last three years. A principal at one of the...

7 Busted for SAT Scam
 7 Busted for SAT Scam  
Sep 28, 2011 4:20 AM CDT

7 Busted for SAT Scam

High school students paid up to $2.5k for graduate to sit exam

(Newser) - Seven teens have been arrested in an SAT-cheating ring at a prestigious Long Island high school. Sam Eshaghoff, 19, took the exam for at least six other students, charging up to $2,500 for each one, prosecutors told the Los Angeles Times . The six Great Neck North students have been...

SAT Reading Scores Hit Lowest Ever

One reason: more students taking the test

(Newser) - One of the three Rs just found a new basement: SAT reading scores fell three points to reach their lowest level on record, the AP reports. The decline took the scores to 497 out of 800, and it was just the second time in the past 20 years that reading...

Chinese Students Go Extreme for College Entry Test

Kids and parents stop at nothing to ensure passing score

(Newser) - Suddenly, the SATs seem like a leisurely way to spend a Saturday. Chinese students and their families have turned preparation for the country's college entrance exam into a national obsession. Some students study hooked up to oxygen tanks in an effort to improve concentration, girls take birth control to...

SAT Chief: Reality TV Question Is Legit

Don't confuse the topic with the task of writing

(Newser) - SAT chief Laurence Bunin says students should have been able to answer a controversial essay question on reality TV even if they'd never heard of Snooki or Randy Jackson. And that's the point critics are missing, he argues in the Daily Beast . They "confuse the literal topic with the...

Students Blast 'Unfair' SAT Reality Show Question

'I guess the kids who watch crap TV did well'

(Newser) - High school students who studied instead of watching Jersey Shore say they've been left at a disadvantage by a question on the SAT college entrance exam. The students complain that the essay question, which deals with the nature of reality shows, assumes that all students have a television and watch...

Record 40% of SAT Takers Now Minorities

(Newser) - Minority participation in the SAT is up to 40% in 2009, the highest level ever, the Washington Post reports. That's up 2 points since last year and a whopping 10 points since 1999. “More than ever, the SAT reflects the diversity of students in our nation's classrooms," says...

Test-Prep Giant Stanley Kaplan Dead at 90

Founder of test-prep firm challenged thinking about SAT

(Newser) - Stanley Kaplan, founder of the test-prep behemoth that bears his name, died this weekend of heart failure at age 90, the Washington Post reports. Kaplan’s company not only helped millions of students level the playing field in what he described as a “poor man’s private school” but...

Another Memphis Player Accused of SAT Cheating

Dozier's initial results were invalidated

(Newser) - Another former University of Memphis player has a dodgy-looking SAT score in his past, ESPN reports. Robert Dozier was originally set to go to Georgia, until the school noticed that he’d scored a 1260 on his SAT, a score drastically better than his practice exams. The NCAA Initial-Eligibility Clearinghouse...

SAT Prep Classes Exaggerate Improvement, Study Finds

Use of own diagnostic tests clouds real results

(Newser) - Many test-prep companies make impressive-sounding guarantees about students’ SAT performance, but an independent study finds that the courses offer little real improvement. Part of the problem may be tutors’ use of too-hard mock tests to judge students’ baseline performance, producing a false inflation that’s used to justify thousands of...

Students Can Hide Low Scores With New SAT Policy

(Newser) - “What did you get on your SATs?” is now a multiple-choice question. A policy enacted last month allows students who take the test several times to pick which score they send to colleges, the Washington Post reports. But many schools aren’t thrilled with the change, and a quarter...

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