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The New SAT
"Because many lower income students do not receive adequate education in grammar, it seems the new test is just as much of a disadvantage to the poor as before."
By Rachel Krantz
This past week, I joined the first group to take the new SATs. My parents had shown me articles hyping up the new, apparently harder test. Editorials in the New York Times applauded that students have to write an essay for the test, arguing that now, finally, the SATs will truly assess intelligence.
My essay question was, “Is creativity important in our world today?” How ironic. But the truth is, the essay benefits people like me, who don’t freak out under the pressure of timed writing. But it’s a joke that pundits think the essay radically changes things. The essay is only one of 10 sections on the test. And while a new “writing” section has also been added, it seemed to me the bulk of those questions asked us to turn ebonics into standard academic speak.
Because many lower income students do not receive adequate education in grammar, it seems the new test is just as much of a disadvantage to the poor as before. Those who do better on the SATs are not smarter people. They are good test takers who often have enough money to buy prep courses. Colleges should stop depending on a standardized test to affirm a student’s good grades as legitimate, and not inflated. Depend instead on the essays, interviews and teacher recommendations.
Many hardworking people will not get into the college of their dreams because of this test, and many slackers will be saved by it. Colleges should be concerned with how you spent your four years in high school, not how you spent 4 hours in a test center.
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