Community Conversations
Want to talk about something? Ask about something? Let us know, and we’ll post your comment/question and a reply.
Are Only Long Things Difficult?
We were sent an article that pointed out that the longest Reading passage within the current SAT® “is only 150 words”. This was cited as evidence that the test is “not tough” anymore.
So, only long things are difficult to comprehend?
Reading a sentence about the morphological novelty of echinoderms or a 14-word piece of dialogue from a Shakespeare play cannot pose a challenge?
Hmmm. We’re wondering a bit how much the person who wrote that article really knows about the current exam and what our students are facing. Noticing that a particular question type is shorter feels a bit superficial of an analysis.
We haven’t word-counted things yet, but that 150 number sounds right. When the SAT® officially switched to its current format in March of 2024, one of the more noticeable changes was indeed that the traditional long Reading Comp passages were gone.
Our resident expert(who will be teaching free Zoom sessions this week!) has also trained students on the LSAT, the entrance exam for law schools. Two-thirds of the current format of this exam is tied to blurbs that are the same length as current SAT® Reading blurbs. Does the brevity of these questions also make the LSAT “not tough”?
Applying Test Optional
Colleges know the challenge that the SAT® presents. This is relevant to our conversation here about applying test optional.
We have been asked many times over the years about the validity/viability of applying test optional. Our general answer is pretty simple: it is clearly a legitimate option. A different question to consider is whether applying test optional is the most advantageous path to take. Consider this scenario.
A college is comparing two candidates from two different states. Both applicants have virtually the same G.P.A. They both are active, whether it be with sports, volunteer work, school clubs, etc. But, one of them has an SAT® score of 1200(which puts a student roughly within the 75% percentile nationally, meaning she or he is generally within the top quarter of testers) and the other applicant is applying test optional.
Earning a top quarter score is not something that most of us can do just by strolling in to the exam. Colleges know this.
In short, clearly students applying test optional are admitted to amazing institutions, such as the University of California(U.C.) schools and Wake Forest. What we wonder is how many more applicants are being admitted from the non-test optional pool compared to the test optional pool of applicants.
