posted
Hey! A while ago I posted my lamentation about getting a 1260 on my SAT. Not a bad score, but 10 points off of getting a full scholarship to a state school. I was quite dissapointed and disheartened. Well, my parents had me take it again in April and ....
Well, not much point in a build-up since I said it in the thread title, but I got a 1310! Again, not some amazing score, but it is sufficient . Makes me happy. I am satisfied.
Anyhoo, just wanted to share that. Posts: 2827 | Registered: Jul 2005
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I remember struggling over my math SAT, trying to raise it a measly 40 points-- it was HARD, and I ended up *lowering* it by 40 points. Glad it worked out or you! Yay for not paying for college.
Posts: 484 | Registered: Feb 2006
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NJ made that rule in 1997, a year after I started at Rutgers. So, while I was a sophomore paying near full price, freshman with a lower SAT score than me were going for practically nothing.
And they wouldn't make it retroactive. Grr.
Posts: 3960 | Registered: Jul 2001
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quote:Originally posted by Kristen: That's awesome!
I remember struggling over my math SAT, trying to raise it a measly 40 points-- it was HARD, and I ended up *lowering* it by 40 points. Glad it worked out or you! Yay for not paying for college.
I took them twice, a year apart, and didn't study (or even think much about them) either time. I got 100 points higher the second time. And when I took the PSATs before the SATs, my score fell almost midway between my two SAT scores (divided by 10, of course). That kind of deviation speaks volumes about the validity of these kind of tests.
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
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Yeah, the tests are junk. As are most standardized tests, really. Sure glad public school funding is based so heavily on them! Posts: 3960 | Registered: Jul 2001
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I remember taking the math test and there was a question which called for the midpoint on a graph. I did not learn this in geometry, but I had heard that there is a Midpoint Theorem.
All I would have had to go is remember that one fact of information and I might have gotten a higher score.
A test like that does NOT measure ability. That really only measures how well-prepared you are to take the SATs. Regardless of how smart you are, if you did not ever encounter the Midpoint Theorem or specific kinds of questions on the math, you won't be able to excel. So, it depends on the high school you went or the kind of $$$ prep course you took.
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Congratulations! I took the SAT twice and only raised my score by 10 points. To raise it by 50? That's great. Posts: 866 | Registered: Aug 2005
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I actually took it three times. I didn't even know I could do that, but nothing stopped me from registering again, so I'm assuming it's alright. The first time I got a ... 1130 I think. From the first one to this last one I raised my Math 100 points and my English 80.
The funny thing is, my first choice for college is out of state (UVA), which negates the Bright Futures Scholarship I just earned. Funny how those things work out. Though I probably won't be accepted to UVA anyways, so I'll probably end up at a state school in Florida. We'll see. I'm just happy to have met my goal of 1300.
Oh, and another ironic thing: From the second test to this one I raised my math a grand total of 20 points, and in that time I aced both College Algebra and Statistics and became a math tutor at a college! And I still only raised it 20 points. Harrumph.
Posts: 2827 | Registered: Jul 2005
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A college friend of mine proved to me how full of it standardized tests are. He absolutely murders them; he placed into 400 level Japanese and was just lost. He had to talk the department into letting him take an easier class. And it's not that he's not a smart guy, he is. He just does far better than he has a right to. We were talking about it once, and he said something along the lines of, "Yeah, it's like all the wrong answers have a faint glow around them."
Basically, standardized tests measure how good you are at taking standardized tests.
Congrats all the same, Dr. Strangelove. It's still an admirable accomplishment.
Posts: 2907 | Registered: Nov 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Juxtapose: A college friend of mine proved to me how full of it standardized tests are. He absolutely murders them; he placed into 400 level Japanese and was just lost. He had to talk the department into letting him take an easier class. And it's not that he's not a smart guy, he is. He just does far better than he has a right to. We were talking about it once, and he said something along the lines of, "Yeah, it's like all the wrong answers have a faint glow around them."
I don't see a glow, but I do generally have a feel for multiple guess tests. I used to think of it as "using the Force". <grin> I know, such a geek. But if I couldn't figure it out consciously, I figured it couldn't hurt (and almost always helps) to let my smarter sister (that'd be my subconscious) have whack at it. I probably could have aced the SATs if I hadn't been trying as hard as I was.
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
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I once took a standardized test (not the SAT it was a state test) and answered the longest answer on all of them, I passed.
Posts: 5362 | Registered: Apr 2004
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I think I took the SAT about 6 or 7 times in high school. A bunch of my friends and I decided that it was the best way to get into a good college. We took the darn test about every 6 months.
I think my score went up a couple hundred points between the first and last time I took it. I still don't think it made a lick of difference in my college education.
Getting high scores on AP tests, that's actually extremely useful. Being able to start college with half a dozen classes out of the way makes everything much smoother.
Posts: 3950 | Registered: Mar 2006
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quote:Originally posted by starLisa: I took them twice, a year apart, and didn't study (or even think much about them) either time. I got 100 points higher the second time. And when I took the PSATs before the SATs, my score fell almost midway between my two SAT scores (divided by 10, of course). That kind of deviation speaks volumes about the validity of these kind of tests.
Wisconsin has one of those state-wide GT programs wherein kids can take the SATs as early as seventh grade... so I took it once a year up until my junior year. Truthfully, I don't remember what I got. Maybe something in the 1300s. I do know that in seventh grade I got a 990.
I took the PSATs twice (I think). You could take the test as a sophomore but not be considered for National Merit, which was a "junior" thing. That score was over 200, but not "Merit-y" enough.
I also took the SAT IIs, when I thought I'd be going to college somewhere where they were required. I took Math and two others, which may or may not have been History and English Writing. I honestly don't remember. I do remember getting a very high Math score (I think it was a 790) and being in the 90th percentile. Grr.
And then when it came time to apply for grad school, I took the GREs. The math here was really really easy; the English, not so much.
[/off-topic rambling]
Anywho, congrats, Strangelove, and enjoy your score while you remember it Posts: 3932 | Registered: Sep 1999
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My father told me if I got a 1550 (used to be out of 1600), he'd give me a car. I got a 1340. So I tried again. Got a 1440 (740 math). I figured that if I tried again, I'd still be 10 points short, so I gave up. I wonder if I'd have done better or worse had I studied. Worse, probably.
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
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Yeah, I didn't include the writing score. I got a 620 on the writing. I got a 690 last time. Oh well. Anyways, suppose I might as well mention I got a 540 in Math, 770 in Critical Reading.
Posts: 2827 | Registered: Jul 2005
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I was a LOUSY math student in high school. But I did great on the math part of the SATs. Most of the test material was on such basic stuff that it didn't matter that I'd hardly learned anything in high school.
I learned from the SATs that there's not much correlation between good test scores and intelligence. (OK, except for folks scoring higher than me, since I know there was more complex math stuff on there that was over my head...)
Posts: 2911 | Registered: Aug 2001
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I took the ACT, but I was in seventh grade at the time. I think I got a 26, but I don't remember.
I got an 800 on the writing SAT II, and a 790 or something on whatever other one I took. Then I got bored and stopped taking them because I was only taking them to get into Boston University's UNI program, an they told me not to even bother with the rest of them because they were accepting me and giving me a scholarship.
I HAVE to take the GMAT soon (I'm working every day April 27-May 6, though). I'm freaking out about it even though it's pretty much the SAT but more boring.
Because it's computer adaptive. If I get things right, it's just going to make the questions harder.
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I took the ACT because I was applying for a Midwest school. I think I got a 32? I honestly don't remember.
I thought the ACT seemed a lot more fair than the SAT: it is divided into different subjects and requires a lot less background knowledge and a lot more instincts to do well.
Posts: 484 | Registered: Feb 2006
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Didn't the ACT have a science section, or something? I don't remember...they didn't recommend or offer the ACT at my high school. I took it for TIP because they told us that if you took the SAT more than 3 times, all of your scores were averaged together.
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I took the ACT. I don't remember the score. But it converted, more or less, to the same as my SAT scores. In that range, anyway. I live in Chicago, and my father insisted that I apply to his alma mater (UoI), so I had to take them.
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
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Congrats, Dr. Strangelove! So glad you did well!
I took the ACT and got a 31 overall. Highest in my school district that year but the year before a couple of people made 36 which was the highest possible, so I didn't think it was all that great.
Posts: 6246 | Registered: Aug 2004
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I think my ACT score was 27. I didn't study because I had a rather cavalier attitude about my future in high school. At the time good scores in english and science offset my lackluster mathematics skills.
Posts: 686 | Registered: Sep 2001
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I don't see a glow, but I do generally have a feel for multiple guess tests. I used to think of it as "using the Force".
You are righter than you might think. When I was 10 years old, I was an experimental subject for a graduate student at the University in Greely CO. I was given training in taking multiple choice tests. After the training, I was given 100 level tests from many diciplines throughout the University. I was able to pass with a B or better (80%) on all of the tests. As long as the tests were 4 question multiple choice, I was set. I still do fine on any multiple choice exam, 50 years later.
Posts: 1167 | Registered: Oct 2005
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I've always considered myself exceptional at taking multiple choice tests. For instance, once when a friend of mine was over studying for some nursing certification test he kept telling me was extremely hard, I started in and got three out of the first four right just by using logic and my ability to answer multiple choice questions. (He got mad and took the book away before I could go any further).
There are ways to do standardized tests which boggle even those like us.
For instance, take the Sun Certified Java Programmer test. Most of the questions are of this format:
Choose all that apply:
A: Statement A B: Statement B C: Statement C D: Statement D E: Statement E (and often) F: Statement F (and even) G: Statement G
You have to choose select or not select each option correctly in order to get any credit for the question. So instead of 4 or 5 possible answers, there's either 32, 64, or 128 possible answers to each question.
On the questions that aren't phrased like this, there is always two "none of the above" answers, "Does not compile" and "Throws an Exception at Runtime".
Makes it so you really have to know your stuff. Most multiple choice tests would recieve a 20% or 25% correct if taken by a random number generator. On this test, picking randomly will probably only get you a 1% or so I would estimate.
A passing score is 59%, and the vast majority of takers fail the test, even those who have been programming in Java for years.
Posts: 5656 | Registered: Oct 1999
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I took ACT and SAT and PSAT so I could compete with my siblings. In the end, only the PSAT figured into my college application situation. I think. I could be wrong about that. Hell, I don't even remember my LSAT score that I took in 1996. I took a multiple choice connected with a federal employment opportunity. It was kind of fun. But no scores. Just the satisfaction of leaving the room 2nd.
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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The SAT prep books on Amazon or at your local bookstore aren't that expensive. I never went through a "paid" program, but always bought the book that had the most practice tests and worked my way through most of them, to familiarize myself with the questions.
I didn't do it with the SAT IIs though, and it probably would have helped my english/writing score, cause I hate writing stupid essays and I should have polished up on it a bit. My score was dismal, on two of the three tests I took, although I did get the Chemistry SATII perfect.
But I didn't care at the time to study anyway. The thing was, for the UC admissions, I had to take them, but they didn't matter cause I already had the community college credit saying that taking the classes was unecessary.
quote:Hey! A while ago I posted my lamentation about getting a 1260 on my SAT. Not a bad score, but 10 points off of getting a full scholarship to a state school.
Wait - there are state schools that will give you full scholarships based on SAT SCORES?
...what state, and what school? That could be worth moving for.
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Florida. State schools would mean schools such as Florida State University (FSU), University of Florida (UF), etc. I'm looking at Florida State, because I like the area and I know people at the school. The scholarship is known at Bright Futures ... 1270 gets you a full ride, 970 gives you 75%. Nice little system Posts: 2827 | Registered: Jul 2005
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Thanks. Good, because I can't write cursive anymore. At least, not so that anyone else can read it.
Posts: 1215 | Registered: Apr 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Dr Strangelove: Florida. State schools would mean schools such as Florida State University (FSU), University of Florida (UF), etc. I'm looking at Florida State, because I like the area and I know people at the school. The scholarship is known at Bright Futures ... 1270 gets you a full ride, 970 gives you 75%. Nice little system
They also take your grades into account. Like you have to have a 3.5 for the full ride or something. Or something about science. I don't remember.
quote:Florida. State schools would mean schools such as Florida State University (FSU), University of Florida (UF), etc. I'm looking at Florida State, because I like the area and I know people at the school. The scholarship is known at Bright Futures ... 1270 gets you a full ride, 970 gives you 75%. Nice little system [Smile]
Holy Shlamoly, Batman! Is this a widespread program? Does anyone know of any other states with a similar program? I know HI, WA and NY don't.
Posts: 4313 | Registered: Sep 2004
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quote:But it keeps a lot of college-bound Floridian kids within the state, which is kind of the point.
I'm assuming you need to be a resident of said state in order to get the tuition break. Do you also have to have attended high school there? Is there a specific time frame you have to qualify after graduating? Do GED students qualify? Isn't potato salad disgusting? Does anyone have a link so I can stop asking these questions?
Posts: 4313 | Registered: Sep 2004
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