The new SAT includes an Essay Question?

[Sandpiper]

I've never been really crazy about the SAT in the first place.

But this latest change really has me scratching my head.

The new SAT is now worth 2400 total points, and contains an Essay Section.


I thought the whole point of the SAT was that it was an objective, standardized test.


How does one objectively grade an Essay? Are not Essay's subjective by nature?


http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/11411486.htm

[elehhhhna]

1. Universities allegedly complained that students had poor

writing skills--a valid argument, considering some grads I've hired.

The subjectivity and qualifications of the folks grading these essays is what concerns me. When Kelly Temp Services (or other contractor) gets paid to grade them ,it'll be one hell of a mess.

[crispini]

3. Ah ha! Coincidentally, I actually know one of the graders.

She's a professional who (thanks, Shrub) is now working three PT jobs, all without health insurance, to make ends meet. She tells me that the standards are laid out for them and that there is an elaborate review and checking process. Each essay is graded by at least two people and if they don't agree then additional people are brought in to review it as well. Sounded like they had set up a pretty good system IMO....

[Sandpiper]

4. Seems like it would create problems

For your math question, there is but one correct answer.


For your essay question, well, how right or wrong you are is often in the eyes of the grader.

[tishaLA]

13. Graders are not looking for "correct" or "incorrect" answers

They are looking for structure, grammar, syntax, logical development of the argument, etc. For example, the grader expects the essay to have a thesis statement and for paragraphs to have topic sentences. If they don't, they deduct points. They also look for complexity of sentences, for organization, for correct use of punctuation, etc. They don't look for ideology; besides, most students write terribly bland essays because they think verbal wonder bread is something to be admired.

[thecrow]

24. What about spelling?

We used to have spelling tests in school.
From what I've seen lately,American spelling is apalling. Are they not teaching it anymore.

[LostinVA]

15. An essay written correctly IS like a mathematical equation

There's actually a rather strict framework/formula for a proper essay, although writers can be extremely creative within this framework. Any student who's literate can get an average score on the essay section. I welcome this, because I think it'll help put the focus back on proper composition and spelling. Yay!

[FormerDittoHead]

2. Mercury "News"

To the reporters at the Mercury News: How was the isolation tank?

LAST MONTH'S NEWS. The tests were given and scored.

WHO could have GUESSED that there would be some CONTROVERSY over grading an ESSAY question?

News media right on top of things as usual!

[solinvictus]

5. Grammar, syntax, and structure..

I'd imagine that's what the graders would look for, but as it was said before, put a bunch of temps as graders and see what you get.

[WilliamPitt]

6. I thought they did this a few years ago

Frankly, I approve. As a former English teacher, it always amazed me how poor the average student's writing abilities are. Even the smartest kids couldn't cobble together several coherent thoughts without enormous effort, revisions and smashing things. This needs to change.

I'm not sure how they grade an essay in a standardized test, but I know they have a way, because the LSAT has had an essay section for years.

[LostinVA]

16. The GRE has on now, too; why not in 1987?!

This English/History major had THREE Math sections on her GRE. THREE!!!! And it was scary stuff I'd never seen before.... equations with NO NUMBERS!!! *sob*

[FreedomAngel82]

23. I don't mind really

I always enjoyed them. My problem was making them too long. :eyes: That was something I always was good at in school so I took some pride in my essays. I loved when teachers bragged on me (which wasn't very much on other things).

[2_stolen_elections]

27. They did.

This has been around for a while.

I also think it's a good idea. While math problems are only right or wrong, essays tend to demonstrate thought process.

[seabeyond]

7. i will take essay over multiple, true or false any day

i dont do well on those two types of testing. i can see a wrong int he way the question os asked or the answer produced, adn having the toughest of times answering true and false. give me an essay and i fly

so i might suggest that seeing how we all test differently why would they exclude those that do well in essay form and poorly other testing means.

[whistle]

8. With essay questions you can really nail the bad spellers and....

...poor grammar students in a very objective way.

As for the content of the answers, well I know that depending on the nature of the questions and the written responses, graders can single out conformists from the original and creative writers. What was the original SAT score base, 1,800 I thought?

So there has been 600 points awarded for a section that can only be partially scored objectively. That adds a third more weight to how people think and how they express themselves. It does look like the test is moving in the direction of "desirable" and "undesirable" respondents.

(Note: Without spell-check at the end, I would have had at least one undetected spelling error for certain and one that was debateable due to hyphen use option vs compound word use in this very brief reply.)

[tishaLA]

11. 1600 had been a "perfect" SAT score

The SAT change is due in no small part to the UC system deemphasizing it as part of admissions. Admissions officers from the UC have been openly critical of the way the SAT tests students, particularly because California has the most diverse (and largest) student body of any university system. Administrators thought--correctly, I believe--that the test skewed toward bourgeois white students and undermined ethnic students and those from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

The written section provides another avenue of evaluation that might be helpful to students who have been marginalized by the test. The SAT isn't set up to reward students who are nonconformists or conformists, but it can be helpful to those students who have not been exposed to much of the material that helps vocabulary skills (like HS Latin, for example) or whose schools may not have offered some of the advanced mathematics courses the SAT tests.

[whistle]

18. Oh, it was 1,600, I stand corrected so, that is an 800 point....

...increase with how much weight to each section I wonder. I'm all for better anf fairer testing among potential students to advance their opportunities, but the elementary and high school educational communities better address these skill requirements well before this society begins its process of weeding and blocking individuals from advancing to their potential educational levels in life.

(Note: Without spell-checker, this post would have had one error.)

[alcibiades_mystery]

21. I very much doubt that these will be graded for spelling

That would be ridiculous and counterproductive given the time-factor and the purpose of the exercise, from a composition pedagogy perspective. I'd be shocked to find that as a criterion.

[TheFarseer]

9. watch as star athletes

suddenly are able to achieve qualifying SAT scores.

[LostinVA]

17. I think it'll be the opposite, frankly

No disrespect to the athletes on the board, but I made a decent amount of money in college tutoring "star athletes." Most of them couldn't write a coherent sentence, let alone a paragraph, let alone an essay. Having to actually WRITE is a bit harder than filling in dots on a matrix... you at least have a shot there.

[Lisa0825]

10. I once filled a job order for essay test graders...

I don't recall which exam it was for, but it was a national exam. Anyway, what they did was randomly assign 3 copies of the essays to the various graders. Each graded them based on very specific criteria, and without sharing opinions with each other. Then, a fourth grader looked at the scores, and if they were all within a close range, then the average was taken. If there was more than a determined amount of variability between the scores, then the essay was given to another set of graders to review.

I think it can be a pretty good way to grade someone on writing skills objectively if the right methods are used.

[LostinVA]

12. I think this is terrific

There's no enough emphasis in schools regarding composition any more, if my college students are any example. Anyone who is literate can be taught to write an average essay. ANYONE. I've done it, even ESL kids and those with learning disabilities. Also, students with weaker math abilities will be able to have a score that better reflects on their abilities.

I wish they did this when I took the SAT!

[theboss]

14. My mom grades these kinds of essays.

You can be trained to grade essays in a standardized way. All you look at is structure, spelling, etc. It's not about whether the essay is interesting or persuasive so much as it is to see that the writer knows how to write.

[Shakespeare]

19. GOOD. Having taught remedial freshman comp, I say it's long overdue.

That any college should even have to offer a remedial comp class is just disgraceful--if this helps identify students who need help with the writing skills BEFORE they get to college, then that's a good thing.

[alcibiades_mystery]

20. Let me tell you a story about how "subjective" essay grading is

In the university department where I used to work, we had an annual essay contest for high school students. We'd come up with a question, then distribute it to participating high schools, and the high school teachers would send in the students' submissions, which usually numbered around 600. The submissions were widdled down to 30 by a trained writing instructor, then those thirty were rated by 5 trained writing instructors in administration; I was in this group.

Invariably, all five, independently, would pick out the same five or six essays. Almost invariably, the rating of 1-5 would be the SAME for all of the writing instructors: the same essay received a 3 rating from all five judges. Or, there would be slight disputes between 2 and 3 for some essays, but very slight. If this were merely a subjective process, could such consistent results be produced. I hardly think so.

We were all looking for strength of argument, including structure, evidence, form of arguments marshalled (analogical, comparative, inductive, deductive, etc.), creativity in arrangement and presentation, etc. We were all looking for grammatical and rhetorical structure. We were all looking for cohesive and coherent paragraphs, interesting introductions, and strong conclusions. We were all looking for appropriate variety in sentence structure, for concision and elegance, and we all knew how to find these, technically speaking. That is to say, we had a set of objective criteria, and we were trained to determine whether any particular essay met these criteria, and to what extent it excelled given the criteria. One can tell very easily whether a paragraph is coherent, whether it deploys complex sentence structures where appropriate, whether it produces evidence to support a claim. I could show you how to this in about an hour.

Grading writing may be a bit subjective at the very thin margin of gray areas, in other words, but by and large it is an open and transparent operation, with objective criteria, and objective data to support conclusions. This may be difficult to believe for those people who look through writing for meaning rather than at writing for its qualities, but there it is.

[FreedomAngel82]

22. I don't know

But I took the ACT and I think it had an essay question. I can't remember cause I took it back in 2000 or 2001. I've always been good at essays personally so they never minded me.

[Bridget Burke]

25. No, "Essay's" (sic) are not subjective by nature.

Other posters have been quite clear in pointing out how they can be graded.

[seaglass]

26. MCAS in MA have required essays starting in elementary

school. Because the testing has been around for so long the components of writing are ingrained across the curriculum.

Imagine my surprise when my daughter's 9th grade Final in Gym was an essay.

She just took the first part of her 10th grade MCAS and had to write an essay. Passing 10th grade MCAS is a requirement for graduation.

I read my son's essays all the time and it is very easy to tell when it's a POS, he knows it to.

p.s. this is one of the reasons I'm FOR school testing