What does the A stand for in SAT?
A) Aptitude
B) Assessment
C) Achievement
D) Annoying
E) None of the above
The correct answer is E. The acronym for the dreaded college-entrance exam was once short for Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), but it doesn’t measure aptitude. So College Board tried out “assessment” before finally letting the acronym stand for nothing at all.
The change makes sense. When I took training to teach the SAT, the instructor asked, “What does the SAT measure?” His answer: A student’s ability to do well on the SAT. Critics say the test doesn’t measure a student’s ability to succeed at university any better than high school grades and courses.
And so the College Board has turned to the drawing board yet again, announcing a revision to the much-maligned exam, eliminating words as esoteric as “recondite” and making an expanded and revised essay optional.
College Board purports the revisions will improve the test. But the organization has never been forthright. So we shouldn’t believe the board in its latest attempt at self-preservation, as it seeks to retake the lead in college-preparation examinations, a position it lost to the ACT in 2012.
Let’s look at the veracity of College Board’s statements. On the back cover of its Official SAT Study Guide, College Board claims the SAT covers the same subjects taught in high school.
No matter how importunately College Board promotes these falsehoods, anyone knows that students don’t learn the word “importunate” in high school, even though College Board included the word on a 2013 exam—120 years after its most recent appearance in a New York Times headline. The organization deserves kudos for plans to revise the test to include words used in high school. But the revision reveals the long-standing lie. Confessions are admirable, though less so when they’re forced, and they always erode trust.
The book also says the test isn’t designed to trick students. “Myth: Tips and shortcuts can help you ace the SAT,” the book claims. Anyone smart enough to graduate high school isn’t dumb enough to buy that bunk. Tricks are not only important but essential to achieving a top score on the SAT (see a few tips below). Tricks will continue to work on the revised exam, as the multiple-choice format is inherently vulnerable to strategies.
As the revised test will maintain a multiple-choice format for most questions, College Board cannot outwit the test-preparation industry. One vulnerable area could be the revision touted by College Board President David Coleman: evidence-based reading. Question 9, for example, might ask about the author’s attitude toward recycling, and question 10 might ask what quote from the passage provides the best evidence of that attitude. I would advise students to go through the quotes listed in question 10 to see which one best shows the author’s attitude toward recycling, a technique that should help the student answer both questions at once.
The bottom line: The new SAT – and the ACT – require students to understand the curricular material. But due to the time constraints and complexity of the standardized test, students will not excel without strategies and tips that outsmart the multiple-choice format of the exam.
Sample Math Trick
Math – The Pick Your Numbers Trick
You’re at the test and you’re tired after completing a few hours of work. You look at this and think, “I could do this in school, but I’m not sure how to do it now.” No problem. Pick real numbers for x and y, say 2 and 3. Use those numbers to enter this equation into a calculator: 2(-3/2). Match that result to the results from answer choices, also using 2 and 3 for x and y. Eliminate answers that differ from the original result. Try various numbers for x and y until four choices are eliminated.
Richard Dalton, is founder of Your Score Booster, which offers SAT & ACT classes and tutoring worldwide via web conferencing. Richard created the PointsBooster™ Method, a series of tips, tricks and strategies demonstrated to boost scores.
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