College freshmen write so well...

[kallend 2,067]

That the SAT is dropping the essay requirement.

www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/sat-to-drop-essay-requirement-and-return-to-top-score-of-1600-in-redesign-of-admission-test/2014/03/05/2aa9eee4-a46a-11e3-8466-d34c451760b9_story.html

Sure

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[Croc 0]

Back when I took the SAT you had to make your own pencil.

"Here's a good specimen of my own wisdom. Something is so, except when it isn't so."

Charles Fort, commenting on the many contradictions of astronomy

[kallend 2,067]

Croc

Back when I took the SAT you had to make your own pencil.

Pencil? We had to scratch on a piece of slate.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[ryoder 1,590]

kallend

***Back when I took the SAT you had to make your own pencil.

Pencil? We had to scratch on a piece of slate.

Slate! You were lucky to have a slate! We used a stick to scratch our essay in the dirt!

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[kallend 2,067]

ryoder

******Back when I took the SAT you had to make your own pencil.

Pencil? We had to scratch on a piece of slate.

Slate! You were lucky to have a slate! We used a stick to scratch our essay in the dirt!

We couldn't use dirt for writing; it was all we had to eat.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[Andy9o8 2]

kallend

*********Back when I took the SAT you had to make your own pencil.

Pencil? We had to scratch on a piece of slate.

Slate! You were lucky to have a slate! We used a stick to scratch our essay in the dirt!

We couldn't use dirt for writing; it was all we had to eat.

Eat??

[wmw999 2,485]

According to a friend of mine who does college counseling for kids (i.e. helps kids whose parents have money get into the college of their choice), most colleges don't pay much attention to the writing part anyway. Partly because it's very subjectively graded, and more game-able than the rest (the more big linking words you use, the better your score, no matter how good the essay actually is.

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[Andy9o8 2]

You broke the chain.

[wmw999 2,485]

We didn't have chains; we had to make our own rope out of fiber.

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[shropshire 0]

and you tell the kids today.........

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[sfzombie13 324]

fiber? you were lucky to have fiber! we had to weave cat hair!

_________________________________________
Si hoc legere scis nimium eruditionis habes

[Southern_Man 0]

wmw999

We didn't have chains; we had to make our own rope out of fiber.

Wendy P.

We had to chew bark to make our own fiber

"What if there were no hypothetical questions?"

[kelpdiver 2]

kallend

That the SAT is dropping the essay requirement.

www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/sat-to-drop-essay-requirement-and-return-to-top-score-of-1600-in-redesign-of-admission-test/2014/03/05/2aa9eee4-a46a-11e3-8466-d34c451760b9_story.html

Sure

I wondered how large a factor penmanship played in the scoring of those essays. It certainly wasn't a strong suit for me then, and after a few decades of keyboard jockeying, I couldn't possibly do well with it. (Or has it gone electronic anyway, providing with with a computer?

The article notes that it correlated to income, but its correlation to IQ was much higher.

[champu 1]

Southern_Man

***We didn't have chains; we had to make our own rope out of fiber.

Wendy P.

We had to chew bark to make our own fiber

Luxury.

We used to show up for the test and wait in line all day for the privledge. They'd shout questions at us and we had to write out the answers, in triplicate, using our own blood on the backs of our hands.

[quade 4]

John, what I find fascinating are the people who have seen the story and have poo-pooed the concept of having it as a requirement because, "I never took it and I turned out just fine!"

It's a bit like the people who are proud of being bad at math.

Frustrating to watch the dumbing down of society.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[champu 1]

Not having taken a particular standardized test : being proud of being bad at math ::

A) there's a joke here but I'm too tired today...

[jpjc2000 0]

The joy of being surrounded by intelligent self important derelicts, a problem since forever

[NewGuy2005 53]

sfzombie13

fiber? you were lucky to have fiber! we had to weave cat hair!

Cats?? You were doing well for yourself. All we had were mice, and they were anemic mice at that!!

[SkyDekker 1,465]

kelpdiver

***That the SAT is dropping the essay requirement.

www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/sat-to-drop-essay-requirement-and-return-to-top-score-of-1600-in-redesign-of-admission-test/2014/03/05/2aa9eee4-a46a-11e3-8466-d34c451760b9_story.html

Sure

I wondered how large a factor penmanship played in the scoring of those essays. It certainly wasn't a strong suit for me then, and after a few decades of keyboard jockeying, I couldn't possibly do well with it. (Or has it gone electronic anyway, providing with with a computer?

The article notes that it correlated to income, but its correlation to IQ was much higher.

I'll bet you could put a simple cover letter and resume together though.

I am amazed at the lack of ability to do a simple thing like that, in proper English, by those who have graduated high school.

[Andy9o8 2]

Quote

those who done have graduated high school.

fixie.

[kallend 2,067]

champu

******We didn't have chains; we had to make our own rope out of fiber.

Wendy P.

We had to chew bark to make our own fiber

Luxury.

We used to show up for the test and wait in line all day for the privledge. They'd shout questions at us and we had to write out the answers, in triplicate, using our own blood on the backs of our hands.

You still had blood to use?

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[kallend 2,067]

SkyDekker

******That the SAT is dropping the essay requirement.

www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/sat-to-drop-essay-requirement-and-return-to-top-score-of-1600-in-redesign-of-admission-test/2014/03/05/2aa9eee4-a46a-11e3-8466-d34c451760b9_story.html

Sure

I wondered how large a factor penmanship played in the scoring of those essays. It certainly wasn't a strong suit for me then, and after a few decades of keyboard jockeying, I couldn't possibly do well with it. (Or has it gone electronic anyway, providing with with a computer?

The article notes that it correlated to income, but its correlation to IQ was much higher.

I'll bet you could put a simple cover letter and resume together though.

I am amazed at the lack of ability to do a simple thing like that, in proper English, by those who have graduated high school.

Given the tendency to teach to the test, I foresee a reduction in the amount of writing that will be required in the schools (and already there isn't enough) and further degradation of writing skills.

Some years ago I had an engineering freshman complain bitterly about being required to take English 101. His reason was that he didn't write well so taking the course would affect his GPA.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[NWFlyer 2]

But why do they need to know how to write anymore? Isn't that what spell check is for?

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[shropshire 0]

NWFlyer

But why do they need to know how to write anymore? Isn't that what spell check is for?

unfortunately most spell checkers default to colonial spelling - which is a right royal pain in the arse.

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[JerryBaumchen 1,387]

Hi Kris,

Quote

Isn't that what spell check is for?

I tried using the Spell Check feature on this site a few times. Every time it locked my computer up.

Never again.

JerryBaumchen
Best boy speller in the 5th grade.