What is the true purpose of the SAT exam?
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.
The math part of the SAT is a joke, it only tests the very basic concepts.
Tagged with: joke • math exam • mathematics • student performance • true purpose
Filed under: sat questions
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I believe that the government just wants us to take exams to see how well we can perform tasks given to us. In other words how well we can be robots and do as we are told. Mostly they are a way of seeing how well you can follow orders.
For the CEO’s of the CollegeBoard, the purpose is to make money. The test prep companies have the same purpose.
For the test takers, the purpose is to get into the college of their choice.
The SAT tests how well you take the SAT, in my opinion.
Pardon my overconfidence-bordering-on-hubris, but I know that I am much better than my score (average of 2100) suggests.
The Reading sections are inane, and the questions about comprehension are highly subjective.
The Writing section is even worse. They grade their essays on a very closed-minded formula, and true writing talent (mastery of prose, engaging style, etc.) are not rewarded.
The Math section is just ridiculous.
I prefer the ACT, because it is much more straightforward.
I guess the purpose of the SAT is to take a multidimensional person, and turn him or her into a number for convenience. It certainly doesn’t test merit, just how good you are at convoluted multiple-choice tests.
Such is today’s educational system.
It doesn’t measure the students ability to work hard but the vast majority of high scorers are intelligent hard working people.
I like that the SAT isn’t straight forward, it makes you think. It’s not a matter of memorizing facts or
All the people who have 800s in reading that I have met, including myself (a good half dozen or so) are life long readers. We didn’t "learn the test", we developed reading comprehension skills slowly throughout our lives. That took a lot of hard work, time and discipline but we were motivated by our love of learning and reading.
All the 800s in math went to people on the math competition teams. I can promise you they never once studied SAT math, they were practicing their problem solving in advanced math classes and competitions that allowed them to get perfect scores.
reading comprehension. problem solving. good grammar and the ability to quickly throw together a coherent essay. none of these things should be hard if you are hard working and intelligent, the SAT format is different from other tests students take but this allows students to show they are flexible and can adapt.
I don’t buy the argument that students are being ‘taught to the test’ and standardized testing is ruining everything. There is a reason schools use these tests, GPA isn’t enough as the standards vary wildly from one school to another. The SAT would have been abandoned long ago if it didn’t consistently point out intelligent, hardworking students. Alone it’s not enough but along with gpa and ECs it helps paint a picture of what type of student a person is and whether or not they belong at certain colleges.
The main function of the SAT is to provide a basis for universities to compare students of different schools. For example, A B student in School X may actually be smarter than an A student in School Y because School X’s curriculum might be much more rigorous than that of School Y. In that case, the B student will probably earn a higher score on the SATs since the test is supposed to measure how much a student knows. Therefore, the SAT provides a fair ground for comparing students of different schools (some schools are just easier than others, so it’s not fair to the B student if his friend has an A in another school even though the B student is smarter and more hard-working).
But don’t worry, I feel your pain. The SATs are so annoying… and I still have to prepare for my SAT Subject Tests. ARGH
The SAT exam is one way of measuring student learning and preparedness for college. A number of colleges and universities no longer require standardized exams because they feel that the student’s grades and activities are a better measure of their ability to be successful in college. They’ve learned that some students test well but are poor students, while others test poorly but work very hard and tend to be more successful than their test scores would indicate.