SAT no longer standardized

[Ramo]

How so? You spent less than .5% of pre-junior high school math learning algebra and geometry?

[Apocalypse]

I ment less than .5% of my time in high school doing things with the intent to prepare for the SAT.

[Ramo]

Why do you say that the school had no intent whatsoever in preparing you for the SAT when they taught you algebra and geometry?

[Apocalypse]

Because they would teach that anyway and they did nothing extra during that time to prepare for the SAT. Not even tests or homework had SAT type questions.

On the other hand, my two AP classes that I've take (English Language and US History) were highly focuses on preparing for the exam last May.

[TCO]

1. It's an aptitude test, not an acheivement test.
2. HS taught Algebra and Geomotry before the SAT was widely used.
3. If the SAT went away, do you think Algebra and Geomtry would vanish? Now really!!??

[Victor Galis]

Whether or not one takes vector calc or linear algebra in high school really is irrelevent to most places

-True, but if one doesn't take Algebra II, one might have some problems. Same way that a 1540 doesn't get you in, but the lack of it might hurt.

It isn't safe in Houston either. That didn't stop me.

-Well, are there winding streets with blind corners and no sidewalks?

If debate was mechanical, then you were doing it all wrong. Though there are set times, debate should be far from mechanical.

-Debate is reading from cards, which is by default mechanical. It depends largely on how fast you can read and what cards you have and how fast you can find them. My intelligence didn't do me much good because I could hardly shuffle through my disorganized papers fast enough, and I certainly didn't enjoy it. Without cards it would be fun, but with... (There's something vaguely disturbing about debating whether expanding NATO to the Baltics would topple Yeltsin or not, and whether or not this was a good thing).

#2 on the math team still seems bad.

-You obviously don't know my school. I could have been #1, if I went to my home school, but being in the magnet program sort of closed that chance down. I would have had to be better than the best in the state to be #1 on our team, and I am lazy enough for that to be impossible. Certainly the move to Georgia led to a stagnation of my math abilities that made that impossible... had I stayed in Massachusetts... oy, how different life would have been.

[Ramo]

Not even tests or homework had SAT type questions.

What do you mean? Multiple choice?

On the other hand, my two AP classes that I've take (English Language and US History) were highly focuses on preparing for the exam last May.

Incidentally, I've never taken a practice AP test in my AP US history class.

1. It's an aptitude test, not an acheivement test.

That doesn't imply that the schools necessarily see it that way...

2. HS taught Algebra and Geomotry before the SAT was widely used.
3. If the SAT went away, do you think Algebra and Geomtry would vanish? Now really!!??

The SAT is a baseline test.

If calculus were in the SAT, do you seriously doubt that school curriculums would change.

[Victor Galis]

1. It's an aptitude test, not an acheivement test.
2. HS taught Algebra and Geomotry before the SAT was widely used.
3. If the SAT went away, do you think Algebra and Geomtry would vanish? Now really!!??

-Yes, but it tends to discourage post-Geometry math learning.

[TCO]

Originally posted by Victor Galis
-Well, are there winding streets with blind corners and no sidewalks?

1. You're whining a bit there, son. Try not to let people see that.

2. I bike from downtown to Decatur frequently (use a light at night and go on College Ave.)

3. I see an aweful lot of MARTA busses roaming around...you might have a walk at one end...but still definitely doable.

[TCO]

Originally posted by Victor Galis


-Yes, but it tends to discourage post-Geometry math learning.

Do IQ tests discourage people from learning facts/methods?

Anyway, who cares. It's a free country.

[Apocalypse]

Originally posted by Victor Galis
-Well, are there winding streets with blind corners and no sidewalks?

That is all you had to deal with? Wow. My walk includes the side of a toll road, a trailer park, and a train depot.

Originally posted by Victor Galis
-Debate is reading from cards, which is by default mechanical. It depends largely on how fast you can read and what cards you have and how fast you can find them. My intelligence didn't do me much good because I could hardly shuffle through my disorganized papers fast enough, and I certainly didn't enjoy it. Without cards it would be fun, but with... (There's something vaguely disturbing about debating whether expanding NATO to the Baltics would topple Yeltsin or not, and whether or not this was a good thing).

If you are reading from cards, you suck. I just used my head and got 3rd in district last year. I would have won if the judges were a little more fair and I had a water bottle.

Originally posted by Victor Galis
-You obviously don't know my school. I could have been #1, if I went to my home school, but being in the magnet program sort of closed that chance down. I would have had to be better than the best in the state to be #1 on our team, and I am lazy enough for that to be impossible. Certainly the move to Georgia led to a stagnation of my math abilities that made that impossible... had I stayed in Massachusetts... oy, how different life would have been.

By bad I mean in terms of usefulness. If you are going to be on a "math team," be the best.

[DaShi]

Cbeast!

[TCO]

Originally posted by Victor Galis


-Yes, but it tends to discourage post-Geometry math learning.

Got some facts to back that up, son? It didn't discourage your or me or Ramo.

Sure it didn't encourage them either. but lack of encourageing is not the same as discouraging. Let people do what they want. Not everybody is a 1540 math geek...

[DaShi]

Missed it.

[Apocalypse]

Originally posted by Ramo
What do you mean? Multiple choice?

Basically. Also, none of the questions were made to be exactly like an SAT question but without multiple choice.

Originally posted by Ramo
Incidentally, I've never taken a practice AP test in my AP US history class.

You should have. I hope your teacher at least told you what the essay would be about beforehand.

[TCO]

The SAT is primarily designed to predict academic success in college. Here are some statistical surveys on the subject:

http://www.collegeboard.com/toc/html...search000.html

The one at the top is pretty decent (although it has a lot of emphasis on B/W differences and sex differences you still get some good info on overall predictive validity.) And it cites the original resarch.

There are also some more reports under the links at the bottom right of the page.

[Victor Galis]

2. I bike from downtown to Decatur frequently (use a light at night and go on College Ave.)

-Briarcliff and Lavista are deathtraps though.

3. I see an aweful lot of MARTA busses roaming around...you might have a walk at one end...but still definitely doable.

-And they come about every half hour, and go nowhere near between my house and Chamblee... they do go from about my house to Avondale station, but when it takes me 2 hours to get home from Tech (half an hour of which is the subway and 1.5 hours which is the 5 minute drive at the end, it makes you wonder).

[Apocalypse]

Originally posted by Victor Galis
-Briarcliff and Lavista are deathtraps though.

Make yourself look intimidating.

Originally posted by Victor Galis
-And they come about every half hour, and go nowhere near between my house and Chamblee... they do go from about my house to Avondale station, but when it takes me 2 hours to get home from Tech (half an hour of which is the subway and 1.5 hours which is the 5 minute drive at the end, it makes you wonder).

Do homework while you wait

[Victor Galis]

That is all you had to deal with? Wow. My walk includes the side of a toll road, a trailer park, and a train depot.

-Which is not as bad as a road where a car comes flying out around a corner at 50mph, and you have no room to be out of the road when it hits you.

If you are reading from cards, you suck. I just used my head and got 3rd in district last year. I would have won if the judges were a little more fair and I had a water bottle.

-You have to read from cards. I would love to just make up my own arguments, but where I come from, if you have no evidence, you get toasted very quickly.

Got some facts to back that up, son. It didn't discourage your or me or Ramo.

-To discourage me, you would have to not offer the class, and not offering advanced math classes goes against everything that Chamblee High school is all about.

[Ramo]

Basically.

Multiple choice is a crap way to learn things. It's only that way to grade the tests more easily.

Also, none of the questions were made to be exactly like an SAT question but without multiple choice.

What do you mean?

You should have. I hope your teacher at least told you what the essay would be about beforehand.

I don't remember anything like that. I'm pretty sure I didn't know the topic beforehand. Of course, it's been a few years since I took the test, so they might've changed things.

[TCO]

Originally posted by Victor Galis


-Briarcliff and Lavista are deathtraps though.



-And they come about every half hour, and go nowhere near between my house and Chamblee... they do go from about my house to Avondale station, but when it takes me 2 hours to get home from Tech (half an hour of which is the subway and 1.5 hours which is the 5 minute drive at the end, it makes you wonder).

Briarcliff is busy, yes. Although I do take it through little five points. Lavista is not that bad. Mostly 2 lane except that one patch. PM me where you live and I could maybe give you some advice. I'm part of the Atlanta Bike Campaign.

Would also toughen up that math geek body...

[Ramo]

Again, if calculus were added to the SAT, do you guys seriously think school curriculums wouldn't change?

[Victor Galis]

Make yourself look intimidating.

-If I could make myself visible, then there would be no problems. Unfortunately, most people can not see through trees.

Do homework while you wait

-That reffers to my trips home from college, which all happen on weekends when I have nothing better to do (i.e. no homework). In any case, throughout highschool I strove and to a great extent succeeded in finishing hw before leaving the building.

You probably knew the time period for the DBQ (1875-1925). I forget what the actual question was.

[Ramo]

And GP, changing the SAT should be done to encourage the school systems, not students, to change their agendas.

[Apocalypse]

Originally posted by Victor Galis
-Which is not as bad as a road where a car comes flying out around a corner at 50mph, and you have no room to be out of the road when it hits you.

I have that too. It is called walking on the grass. Don't be afraid to get your shoes a little dirty.

Originally posted by Victor Galis
-You have to read from cards. I would love to just make up my own arguments, but where I come from, if you have no evidence, you get toasted very quickly.

I need evidence too. I just remember it from my head. If I can't remember some counter evidence from my head, I'll just attack their evidence for being invalid and nullify any need for me to have evidence on whatever subject.

[Apocalypse]

Originally posted by Ramo
What do you mean?

I don't know what you are asking. I'm just saying how the questions on the test are not affected in any way by the SAT.

[Ramo]

What's the difference between an SAT algebra question and a "regular" algebra question?

[Apocalypse]

Originally posted by Victor Galis
-If I could make myself visible, then there would be no problems. Unfortunately, most people can not see through trees.

Walk on the grass. If there is no grass, dirt.

Originally posted by Victor Galis
-That reffers to my trips home from college, which all happen on weekends when I have nothing better to do (i.e. no homework). In any case, throughout highschool I strove and to a great extent succeeded in finishing hw before leaving the building.

You didn't have much homework then. Or you neglected social interaction. It is better in the long run to make friends.

Originally posted by Victor Galis
You probably knew the time period for the DBQ (1875-1925). I forget what the actual question was.

I knew the time period was 1810 to 1860, with a little thought it was obvious it would be about reform movements.

[Apocalypse]

Originally posted by Ramo
What's the difference between an SAT algebra question and a "regular" algebra question?

I don't know. That isn't the point.

[Victor Galis]

If Algebra II were added, curiculums would change slightly, then 10 years later you could add pre-calc... then 10 years later calc, then curiculums would change.

Briarcliff is busy, yes. Although I do take it through little five points.

-I would have to take it for a bit near Briarlake (another fun 1 both ways lane road with hills and turns around which you can not see with no side walk)

Lavista is not that bad. Mostly 2 lane except that one patch. PM me where you live and I could maybe give you some advice. I'm part of the Atlanta Bike Campaign.

-You mean 2 lanes total, or 2 each way?

Would also toughen up that math geek body...

-Two summers ago I used to bike 12 miles each way to Stanford... that did help, but nowadays I'm afraid my bike would just get stolen Plus, I live on campus now, so everything is at most 15 minutes away on foot.