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our world fails at life
Oct. 28th, 2007 08:58 amthe SAT... tests your ability to take the SAT.
the SAT essay... tests your ability to write something that, at first glance, looks like a good essay.
rubric
the depressing truth
wtf is this?
two quotes from the same article--
quoth: The team uses a technique known as "holistic scoring," a euphemism for reading an essay very quickly (a minute or so per paper) and making a snap judgment. This is not like grading a school essay, in which points may be deducted for uncapitalized letters or an insufficient number of paragraphs. The scoring technique puts a premium on a student's ability to develop a logical chain of reasoning over the mechanics of writing.
quoth2: The essay is virtually illegible -- no marks are deducted for bad handwriting -- but it is two pages long and is sprinkled with academic-sounding words such as "commodity" and "value." Ed Hardin, an expert with the College Board, makes a stab at reading the essay out loud. He had awarded it a 5 on the basis of his first impression and the sophisticated vocabulary but changes his mind as he tries to make sense of the stilted prose.
... ...
yeah, because first impressions totally put a premium on ability to develop a logical chain of reasoning. obviously. and when you actually read it and realize the essay makes no sense... well, that's all right, the first impression was good!
BS it and hope you aren't one of the ones they bother to read aloud.
oh, oh, and this
quoth: One essay struck me with its well-wrought line: "It may be the case, then, that secrecy has its own time and place in our vast world." I was dazzled by the calm maturity of that sentence — until I realized it could well have been composed in advance.
what the hell is wrong with our world. First, get dazzled over a sentence that doesn't quite make sense (it sounds good, but think about what it's actually saying) just because it has the word "vast" in it. No, try me. Take it out. It doesn't sound half as "sophisticated." Then, to doubt whether someone could have come up with that on the spot? No, it must have been composed in advance!
so that kid, who could very well have just randomly thought of that (what does that sentence really say? srsly. not much. if he's trying to say that secrecy depends on situation, say so. if he's trying to pull an Ecclesiastes, it's not very clear. the whole thing is vague.), got credit because the reader believes he couldn't have come up with it on the spot and must have planned it in advance and, and, hear this, gave him a higher score for "preparation."
omgwtf. *shot*
also, Andy, you know your utter lack of facts? Well, graders are apparently encouraged to ignore incorrect factual info and grade as if it were fact, because students under pressure get facts mixed up easily or something. So BS as much statistics as you want, people! They have to take it as fact.
so. lame.
the SAT essay... tests your ability to write something that, at first glance, looks like a good essay.
rubric
the depressing truth
wtf is this?
two quotes from the same article--
quoth: The team uses a technique known as "holistic scoring," a euphemism for reading an essay very quickly (a minute or so per paper) and making a snap judgment. This is not like grading a school essay, in which points may be deducted for uncapitalized letters or an insufficient number of paragraphs. The scoring technique puts a premium on a student's ability to develop a logical chain of reasoning over the mechanics of writing.
quoth2: The essay is virtually illegible -- no marks are deducted for bad handwriting -- but it is two pages long and is sprinkled with academic-sounding words such as "commodity" and "value." Ed Hardin, an expert with the College Board, makes a stab at reading the essay out loud. He had awarded it a 5 on the basis of his first impression and the sophisticated vocabulary but changes his mind as he tries to make sense of the stilted prose.
... ...
yeah, because first impressions totally put a premium on ability to develop a logical chain of reasoning. obviously. and when you actually read it and realize the essay makes no sense... well, that's all right, the first impression was good!
BS it and hope you aren't one of the ones they bother to read aloud.
oh, oh, and this
quoth: One essay struck me with its well-wrought line: "It may be the case, then, that secrecy has its own time and place in our vast world." I was dazzled by the calm maturity of that sentence — until I realized it could well have been composed in advance.
what the hell is wrong with our world. First, get dazzled over a sentence that doesn't quite make sense (it sounds good, but think about what it's actually saying) just because it has the word "vast" in it. No, try me. Take it out. It doesn't sound half as "sophisticated." Then, to doubt whether someone could have come up with that on the spot? No, it must have been composed in advance!
so that kid, who could very well have just randomly thought of that (what does that sentence really say? srsly. not much. if he's trying to say that secrecy depends on situation, say so. if he's trying to pull an Ecclesiastes, it's not very clear. the whole thing is vague.), got credit because the reader believes he couldn't have come up with it on the spot and must have planned it in advance and, and, hear this, gave him a higher score for "preparation."
omgwtf. *shot*
also, Andy, you know your utter lack of facts? Well, graders are apparently encouraged to ignore incorrect factual info and grade as if it were fact, because students under pressure get facts mixed up easily or something. So BS as much statistics as you want, people! They have to take it as fact.
so. lame.
