SAT - A marathon? (Comment)

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12/16/05 - CNN.com "Facing complaints that the (NEW) SAT has grown too long..."

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Commentary:
"We hope that college counselors will continue to encourage their students to overcome any and all obstacles placed in their path (in high-school and in life) rather than arresting a student's progress in favor of idle deprecation of the selected path."

There were four consequences of this article that truly necessitate our commentary.

The NEW SAT is Long
Yeah this sux, but now we can use this knowledge to our advantage. OK, it appears that many test takers are having problems with the length of the test, so what should we do? Make sure that OUR preparation incorporates the endurance component of the SAT.

Do you know any marathoners who train by running a mile or two? Of course not! One strategy would be to complete at least two full length practice tests prior to taking the SAT. That way we are easing ourselves into the test. If we survived two full length exams, then the real SAT is merely a third one that we can slog through also. Perhaps by completing a couple of full length exams we also realized that there are certain points in the test where we tend to have difficulty concentrating. Fine, now we can stride into the test with the knowledge that we can do well on the SAT, long or short.

The Changes Will Take Time
If you are planning to take the SAT in the near future, forget about these changes because the College Board is notoriously deliberate (read: slow) about enacting an new policies. For those who plan to take the test in 3 to 5 years from now, these changes may affect you, but the horizon is too far off to be of any importance now. So either way, these changes mean little, if anything, in the near future.

More Testing = More $$ for the College Board
The first question asked after reading this article was: "so will these changes be enacted?".

We believe that they will be enacted for the simple reason that a more flexible exam will encourage more repeat registrations and guess where the College Board makes most of their cheddar - on registrations, of course. About 1.5 million students took the SAT. Imagine if only 10% of these students register to retake the exam, multiply that by the test taking fee and you get one massive incentive to push repeat registrations.

We do not mean to cast aspersions on the character of the College Board, but we know that people are motivated by the various incentives available to them (why yes, we did read Freakonomics), and we should not expect the College Board to behave any differently than any other organization.

Counselors or Advocates?
First, what are college counselors doing complaining on behalf of their students? We recognize that students need assistance and guidance, and these needs merit school-based college counselors and other relevant advisors, but are these professionals being responsible when they advocate radical changes in a test that is designed to be taken by all students applying to colleges?

If the length of the test is unfair, then it stands to reason that it is unfair for everyone. This in turn makes it, in a sense, fair for everyone since everyone faces the same unfair exam. Remember, if virtually everyone misses a question on the SAT, the question is effectively dismissed from the exam since the test is basically curved.

Yes, the NEW SAT is difficult and laborious for many reasons, one of which is the marathon length of the exam, but the length is merely one of the challenges presented by the exam and it is a curious factor to focus on indeed. College counselors should encourage students to work hard to hurdle the obstacles presented by the SAT, not set the example that a disagreeable task is best handled by criticism of the task for being disagreeable.

The ability to continue working in the face of likely failure and frustration as well as the capacity to delay gratification are qualities that are in short supply, but should not be so scarce. If a flawed test forces students to continue developing these traits, then we think it might be a good thing.

We hope that college counselors will continue to encourage their students to overcome any and all obstacles placed in their path (in high-school and in life) rather than arresting a student's progress in favor of idle deprecation of the selected path.

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