What is the true purpose of the SAT exam?
November 6th, 2009 | 
Author: 
Hi and welcome to my blog,
I opened this blog to help anyone who is preparing for his SAT.
I remember myself when I started - I was so lost and in such a panic.
Luckily I got this great SAT guide that helped me a lot . So study hard and good luck!
I have an advanced degree in math and have taken the SAT exam. I find that the SAT exam doesn’t measure a student’s ability to work hard. The questions on the SAT math exam sometimes don’t make any sense even for us mathematicians. Are we teaching the kids mathematics or are we really teaching them how to take exams. So, I leave you with a thought, what is the true purpose of the SAT exam and what good does it do ? There needs to be another way to measure student performance and preparation.
Well for one thing, the SAT math tests only the very basic concepts of math.
Posted in sat questions | 
Tags: math exam, math tests, mathematics, student performance, true purpose
Imagine having to go through thousands (10′s of thousands) of applications each year to find the 5% who will get a seat. Wouldn’t it be nice if there were a way to immediately trim that stack down to a manageable number? Hey, how about a test score with a cut-off point?
It’s mainly used by college admissions boards to judge which students get accepted into college and which students receive scholarships. However, the test does tend to level the playing field. Some schools have easier curriculum’s or students take easier classes which results in inflated gpa’s. A standardized exam makes it easier to compare students from many schools across the country. Of course a test is just a test. It can only estimate a student’s true potential. That’s why the same college boards also take into account other qualities such as community and extracurricular involvement as well as an essay to get a more accurate picture of what a student is truly like. However, you have to bear in mind that the SAT, albeit its flaws, is still the best system we have right now in terms of cost structure. Ask yourself which is cheaper: grading millions of essays by hand, or having a computer grade millions of multiple choice questions?
I’m thinking it to find out if the students know the answers to the questions?
good luck
Shouldn’t an exam test’s a student’s understanding of something? There are plenty of cheaper ways to test someone’s "ability to work hard." How does the SAT not test a student’s mastery of the mathematical tools needed to solve problems?
The SAT is administered at the end of high school and before college, so it tests topics that are taught in high school and required for college. What kind of concepts should they test instead of the basic concepts?