[escapeartist]

So i found out today that I got second place in my school district in an art competition. The theme was "I wonder why" and I took this:

I was pretty surprised that the photo made it anywhere since it was a school competition, and i basically bashed the school system. I know its not the greatest photo (i took it on my desk at school) but I was super excited to even get recognized. I have one more Standardized Test commentary series idea, and I'll definetly post it up here when I'm done.

 

[Dirtjumper999]

what school do you go to? I go to butler.

 

[T-Pirate]

I haaaaate those things. Cool shot.

 

[escapeartist]

what school do you go to? I go to butler.

RJ Reynolds in Winston-Salem

I haaaaate those things. Cool shot.

dont get me started, they are the biggest joke ever. I think I've got a really good, even more abrasive idea for a series, but its gonna be a big undertaking so I need to decide what I'm gonna do with it before I take the plunge. I feel like its on of those ideas you wanna save till they really count.

 

[manimal]

#37 is supposed to be "B"

 

[-dustin]

scantrons = multiple choice test = easy.

 

[LordOpie]

scantrons = multiple choice test = easy.

later on, you wind up hating multiple choice... imagine crunching a physics problem, have a small (but correctable) error and choosing the wrong answer when a proofed version could yield most of the points for the problem.

I know, I know, meters, feet, mars, NASA, but still I don't know why I'm posting.

 

[escapeartist]

My problem with standardized testing is that it tests one type of learner/test taker. I (fortunetly) happen to be that type of learner, but other kids (my ADD brother for example) get royaly screwed. In the case of the SAT (the revenue generating test and multi-million dollar industry required for admission to most colleges) the college board pretends to make the test fair by giving kids with learning disibilities extra time, they need to stop pretending you can measure a persons worth with a 5 hour test.

 

[RideND]

My problem with standardized testing is that it tests one type of learner/test taker. I (fortunetly) happen to be that type of learner, but other kids (my ADD brother for example) get royaly screwed. In the case of the SAT (the revenue generating test and multi-million dollar industry required for admission to most colleges) the college board pretends to make the test fair by giving kids with learning disibilities extra time, they need to stop pretending you can measure a persons worth with a 5 hour test.

What do you measure it with then?

 

[-dustin]

later on, you wind up hating multiple choice... imagine crunching a physics problem, have a small (but correctable) error and choosing the wrong answer when a proofed version could yield most of the points for the problem.

I know, I know, meters, feet, mars, NASA, but still I don't know why I'm posting.

oh yeah, they suck for math problems. bye bye partial credit.

 

[escapeartist]

What do you measure it with then?

Their character. I personally (and if you disagree thats totally cool with me) believe that there is no way to judge a person without knowing them. In reality we probably shouldnt judge people at all. Im a person, so are you, what makes me or you worth more? I have no business answering that question, and neither does the college board.

 

[RideND]

Their character. I personally (and if you disagree thats totally cool with me) believe that there is no way to judge a person without knowing them. In reality we probably shouldnt judge people at all. Im a person, so are you, what makes me or you worth more? I have no business answering that question, and neither does the college board.

But how do you judge someone's character. That is subjective. Colleges don't just look at your test scores but it is a big part of it because it tells them how capable you are of learning. They also want people who will be active in the community and other stuff but if you aren't somewhat intelligent they will look like a bad school that can't teach kids.

 

[Mike B.]

Their character. I personally (and if you disagree thats totally cool with me) believe that there is no way to judge a person without knowing them. In reality we probably shouldnt judge people at all. Im a person, so are you, what makes me or you worth more? I have no business answering that question, and neither does the college board.

I don't totally disagree with you but how is a college supposed to 'get to know' more than 30 or 40,000 applicants each year? The standardized test scores are the only way I see of making the first pass selections. If you're below a certain number you don't go on to round two. You can take the tests multiple times and you can find all types of study methods to prep for the tests so if you know you need a certain number, study and test until you get where you need to be.

Congrats on the competition

 

[Rip]

I absolutely bombed my SAT, that was due to me not giving a crap though. Was already accepted and had scholarships by the time I had to take the SAT's, I had something like a 200 out of 1400 which is 14.3 %. The place I went to didn't require an SAT score, required a 6 page essay instead.

 

[-dustin]

RIP, when did you take the SAT? i don't recall it ever being 1400, and i seem to remember that you started with a minimum of 400.

my girlfriend did horrible on the SAT. i mean horrible. almost 200 points worse than i did. now she's pulling a 3.8 in the #1 accounting program in the nation. standardized tests are weak, but it's kind of hard to go with something else.

 

[formermtboarder]

did u take it yet alex?

 

[Rip]

RIP, when did you take the SAT? i don't recall it ever being 1400, and i seem to remember that you started with a minimum of 400.

my girlfriend did horrible on the SAT. i mean horrible. almost 200 points worse than i did. now she's pulling a 3.8 in the #1 accounting program in the nation. standardized tests are weak, but it's kind of hard to go with something else.

Oh wait I'm thinking PSAT's, I never showed up for my SAT session.

 

[manimal]

My problem with standardized testing is that it tests one type of learner/test taker. I (fortunetly) happen to be that type of learner, but other kids (my ADD brother for example) get royaly screwed. In the case of the SAT (the revenue generating test and multi-million dollar industry required for admission to most colleges) the college board pretends to make the test fair by giving kids with learning disibilities extra time, they need to stop pretending you can measure a persons worth with a 5 hour test.

werd. my little brother-in-law is ADHD and will barely graduate because florida has a standardized test that everyone must pass to be eligible for graduation. he passed with the lowest passing grade possible. that kid can't focus on a 3 minute porno, how the heck is he going to make it through a 3 hour test? his grades are decent and he knows the stuff, it just takes him longer to process the info.

 

[escapeartist]

did u take it yet alex?

Yeah, I got an 1890 out of 2400, and an 1260 out of 1600(without the essay).

I agree that it is really hard for colleges to use anything other than standardized testing to evaluate students, but just because its the most convinient, doesnt make it fair.

 

[McGRP01]

I absolutely bombed my SAT, that was due to me not giving a crap though. Was already accepted and had scholarships by the time I had to take the SAT's, I had something like a 200 out of 1400 which is 14.3 %. The place I went to didn't require an SAT score, required a 6 page essay instead.

Same here. I'm a decent writer so writing an essay was a piece of cake compared to taking any standardized test. I got a 790 on my SATs (500 Verbal/290 Math).

Oh, and cool photo!!

 

[Discostu]

later on, you wind up hating multiple choice... imagine crunching a physics problem, have a small (but correctable) error and choosing the wrong answer when a proofed version could yield most of the points for the problem.

Wow you must have read my mind! I got my last physics 2 exam back about an hour ago. They just switched from a normal test to multiple choice with no partial credit. I knew everything on this exam, but I copied the order of the charges wrong from one of the problems and wrote , Q1,Q2,Q3 instead of Q3,Q2,Q1. Because of that I got that part of the problem and all the parts after that wrong. That was 20 points just for copying the problem wrong.

Multiple choice blows when you have long involved calculations and no partial credit. For something like a psychology exam or economics where there are 50 questions and the questions aren't dependent on your answers to previous questions, multiple choice is fine. I think if my thermodynamics or mechanics exams were multiple choice I would have a heart attack.

edit: sorry for the off topic rant, I'm just pissed off right now

 

[T-Pirate]

Yeah, I got an 1890 out of 2400, and an 1260 out of 1600(without the essay).

I agree that it is really hard for colleges to use anything other than standardized testing to evaluate students, but just because its the most convinient, doesnt make it fair.

I'm straight with standardized tests though, multiple choice is easy. 2000 out of 2400 SAT, but my gpa isn't that high, oh well I'm already accepted to college.

 

[PatBranch]

I took the high school exit exam 2 weeks ago. It wasn't that bad. English was easy, but the math part took a lot longer. I think I got a good score/ passed.

 

[GumbaFish]

Well if you aren't good at tests it could be a hard time at college. I have had plenty of classes where your whole grade is pretty much decided by tests. I'm not saying standarized tests are perfect, but I think of how my friends and I did and I think the scores related pretty closely to how smart we were respectively. Unless you are trying to get into a really good school if you have good highschool grades and do a little sub par on the sat you will probably be fine.

 

[Radarr]

Wait until you get to the GREs. They’re even more stupid than the SATs. I scored in the 33rd percentile on the verbal, but the 86th percentile in the analytical writing section. My math scores were in the 78th percentile. It is almost exactly how I did on the SATs.

They simply assume that everyone is an English major, but takes no math or science during college. I'm pretty sure I saw the same math problems on the GREs as I did on the SATs. But the vocabulary used in the verbal section was stupid. I didn't even think that you could combine letters like they did, let alone make analogies for the words they supposedly made.

 

[Transcend]

GREs are insane. Completely ridiculous, a-topical BS. I did great though. J school certainly came in handy, if only for them.

 

[FREERDR4LF]

i took an exam once

 

[blue]

ACTs pwn teh SATs. I got a 29 so horribly horribly hungover.

But yes. Standardized testing sucks.