College Board offers summer SAT only for elite prep class kids

[Rob1995]

This really is just a drop in the bucket in the already massive list of advantages that the wealthy enjoy when it comes to college admissions. But of course, no one can really stand up to College Board because ... well, it's College Board, and their products are near-indispensable in the admissions process. It's awfully depressing.

[amazon]

This is just mind-boggling corruption. There are kids in New Jersey who go to SAT school for 40 hours a week for 7 weeks or so in the summer. This is worse.

[ttparent]

A lot worse. You pay me a lot of money to help you improve your score and then I turn around and give you a special test that I mysteriously mark as a usual test that seem to have been taken when most people did. If it is on the up and up, why hiding it and make it seems like a June test. And what happen if the kids took June tests? There would be 2 SAT scores in June. Are they going to let them do scorechoice across 2 different testing sessions such that the composite scores can seem to be from one sitting?

[momsquad]

The trend in admissions seems to be away from sat scores, most notably at the U California where the subject tests are largely optional. Perhaps CB sees their future in the profitable test prep business, where they can prey on the insecurities and fat wallets of the wealthy.

[dodgersmom]

The only solution would be for colleges to disallow ANY June 2012 test results . . . which would be horribly unfair for those kids who actually take the test tomorrow, but would teach the College Board a much-needed lesson.

Or the colleges could stop accepting SAT scores altogether . . . .

Uh oh, sorry, slipped into fantasy land there for a moment.

[DrGoogle]

I kind of agree with jvtDad. Some of the kids I know didn't even prep and scored very high(almost perfect).

[dodgersmom]

Just to clarify, for those who just joined the thread, the issue is not just that these kids get the advantage of a $4,500 prep course, but that they get to take the test during the summer, with no distractions, after having been able to focus solely on test prep for the days and weeks preceding the test.

Even without the prep course, this distraction-free environment is is a huge advantage that is never available for the kids who have to take the test during the school year, when it often coincides with finals, and always coincides with homework and other commitments, both in and out of school. What kid wouldn't benefit from having nothing to do for three weeks other than prepare for the test?

And, since it's a residential program, there are no parents to pressure you, no siblings to bother you . . . sounds like a pretty ideal environment for a would-be test taker!

And don't worry about having to get up early the day of the test to drive across the county or take a subway across town - the test center is right outside your door.

[ucbalumnus]

Originally Posted by dodgersmom

Or the colleges could stop accepting SAT scores altogether . . . .

Uh oh, sorry, slipped into fantasy land there for a moment.

It would be nice if standardized tests were not required, but that would require more consistency in curriculum and grading policies across different high schools, like in Canada. Unfortunately, there is no good solution without that, since standardized tests intended to give a common measure are not always that well designed or implemented (as this news shows), nor free of quirks that can be gamed (by test-specific preparation) but are not of much value in predicting college performance.

[atomom]

I'm not worried. Nothing stopping any motivated kid from getting a few test prep books and studying 40 hours a week for 3 weeks, or 7 weeks or more. Silly to waste $4500 on what could cost you $40. The fact that a few rich kids have this advantage isn't going to hurt my kid a bit.

I think the January test date, after a 2-3 week winter break for most, is a good option.
(First semester ends in Dec. here.)

[dodgersmom]

It would be nice if standardized tests were not required . . .

Well, until then, we have the ACT. If only more people realized the SAT isn't the only game in town.

[GMTplus7]

This issue is a tempest in a teapot

[xiggi]

Among the many threads finding faults with the College Board, this ought be one of the silliest. Compare this "scandal" to the world of organized cheating in Asia, the extra time gamesmanship, the religious exemptions, the crazy recycling in international testing, and ... THIS is a scandal?

And, fwiw, if there is a scandal, it is the lack of availability of a summer test in every school that offers the regular ones. When will we find the courage to MAKE the schools be 12 months a year activity centers and make the service providers earn the term ... Professional! We are no longer an agrarian society that needs summers off.

[LasMa]

The issue, of course, is that the vast majority of testing sites -- local schools -- are closed during the summer.

I have no doubt that CB would just love to offer summer testing -- every month if they could, which would encourage many more test-takers, and multiple repeats. But there are no available facilities for testing that CB could afford.

D took all of her IB tests at a community center, and it would have worked just as well for SATs. I used to be involved in scheduling dance events at both school venues and community centers, and the centers are actually a little cheaper.

[greensam88]

I am really bugged that the College Board would label this as a June test. I have no clue how this will still keep the integrity of the test if College Board decides to make a blatant lie in saying it is a June test and saying it is a valid score. I could understand if perhaps it was graded as a PSAT and finding merit scholars and whatnot, but paying for extra service is just unacceptable.

As a pilot program, the test should be treated as an experimental section. Why give the elite few an extra chance?

In addition, will the test proctors bethesame individuals who taught the course and might let the students cheat?

[LasMa]

Why give the elite few an extra chance?

Because if you don't get extra chances, what's the point of being the elite few?