ACT more popular in 2012 than SAT

[LoremIpsum]

Something I see on a daily basis when the cashier has to look at the register to give me my 38 cents of change on the purchase of my favorite beverage!

I'm always amused when I hand the cashier a twenty and a one for a $10.75 purchase and have him or her hand me back the one in confusion because the twenty is enough -- then proceed to call for more singles because he or she doesn't have enough left in the tray.

[emberjed]

>Out of 1.5 million test-takers, around 800 get a 2380 or better; about 580 get a 36 ACT, which includes all 35.5 averages and above; about 300 get a 2400; and probably less than 150 get a 36.0. But out of 1.5 million tests, that's really splitting hairs.

From what I've gathered, any score of 34+ on the ACT or 2250+ on the SAT is pretty much interchangeable. I only wish it was the same with grades...

[Niceboat]

I can actually notice this change. Lots of peopel in my school are taking the ACT. We're even having a SAT and ACT dual pratice test session.

[MiamiDAP]

Many do better on ACT. ACT gives a chance to slower readers with the very high comprehension to improve a total score by adding high score in science section. Science section has little to do with science. It is more Reading at the slower pace. SAT does not have section like this.

[fignewton]

The article seems to imply that the ACT has finally surpassed the SAT in test takers, but this actually happened for the first time in 2010. (By the way, the numbers that the article is comparing are the senior class test takers who took the SAT or ACT at least once, not the total number of students taking each test.)

The ACT has also changed significantly in the last few decades, though perhaps less often than the SAT. Most of the changes occurred in 1989; the four sections of the modern ACT are not the same as they were in the 70s.

The use of the calculator on both tests came about in large part from the influence of the NCTM in the early 90s. The same influence led to much greater use (IMO, overuse) of the calculator in K-12 and de-emphasis of multiplication tables and the standard algorithms for multiplication and division in the 90s and 00s.

A common justification for such use of the calculator is that it allows weaker students to progress further in math than otherwise. Perhaps, especially if tests allow calculators, but IMO we have let these students down because we haven't taught them how to think.

BTW, even the GRE has started to allow use of a basic calculator as of last year.

[bluebayou]

It is more Reading at the slower pace.

Obviously, you've never taken the ACT.

The science section is anything but reading at a slower pace. It is the most time-sensitive of all the ACT sections, and speed-reading is a must.

[ucbalumnus]

Originally Posted by xiggi

For instance, let's look at a QC question that appears on the GRE (no longer on the SAT)

Col A 100,210 x 90,021
Col B 100,021 x 90,210

Is A < B, or A > B, or A = B, or is it undefined?

With a calculator, this is a trivial and silly question.
Without a calculator, this is hard to solve in 60 seconds or less.

Why is this hard? Took only a few seconds to figure out that A < B, without using a calculator, nor trying to multiply out any numbers by hand.

[Lakemom]

LoremIpsum, you have also hit on one of my pet peeves the "lost art of counting back change". I ran a register at the age of 12 in my parent's store and we had to count back the money we gave to the customer as change.

Now the register does the calculation and the cashier hands you back a wad of bills and plunks down the change in your cupped hand in one swoop.

[bovertine]

Why is this hard? Took only a few seconds to figure out that A < B, without using a calculator, nor trying to multiply out any numbers by hand.

We get it. It's not hard for you. Congratulations. We've already had the discussion on a couple methods to evaluate it.

In the context of the entire post, Xiggi's implication was that if you couldn't see the logical estimation techniques it would be more time consuming to multiply out than to use a calculator. But he goes on to post that with logical evaluation the problem is actually trivial and more quickly solved by mere observation (the way you solved it I assume).

My point was that there are obviously some students who will not see the estimation techniques right away and would solve the problem more quickly with a calculator.. I guarantee that.

[bovertine]

^^^
Ah, I think maybe a portion of my last post was a little snarky. Soirry.

My whole point (on this entire thread) is that I do not believe there is a one-size-fits all approach to this, except in that practice with actual exam questions (or as close as you can get) should help everyone. You can't always use the same approach for a STEM graduate of Berkeley and some kid trying to get over 400 on Math to meet some threshold.

An example that comes to mind which has nothing to do with the calculator is the SAT "probability" question. Some students just see the answer, some students can set up the "M things taken n at a time" for every problem, some students have other original ways of working these problems. For some students, depending on the sample set, the most effective way is to merely "write out" all the combinations and count. And for some, especially when the problem is closer to the end of the test, the best method is merely to skip the problem entriely, especially if they have a history of answering such problems incorrectly.

[emberjed]

>The use of the calculator on both tests came about in large part from the influence of the NCTM in the early 90s. The same influence led to much greater use (IMO, overuse) of the calculator in K-12 and de-emphasis of multiplication tables and the standard algorithms for multiplication and division in the 90s and 00s.

I wouldn't go that far. I went from my last year of preschool to my first year of high school in the 2000s. Until 6th or 7th grade when we were doing early algebra/late pre-algebra, we were never allowed to use calculators. It wasn't until high school that they were a must, and even now we can get a lot done without them; they just help us with what graphs should look like and with multi-digit calculations.

That said, I think there's something to be said for doing the work yourself without any machine aids. As it happens, I did slightly better on a practice math SAT with no calculator and no scratch paper (all in the head) than on my actual one (720 vs. 710). Maybe it was the overconfidence that brought me down, but I like to think it was the over-complication of using the calculator where I didn't really need to.

[LoremIpsum]

My whole point (on this entire thread) is that I do not believe there is a one-size-fits all approach to this.

From an individual standpoint, having a calculator available would almost always be a benefit if a calculator is allowed, in the same way as having your textbook present at an open-book final would be advantageous. But in both cases -- randomly flipping through your textbook looking for answers or grabbing your calculator without having given the process some thought -- the time wasted on the hail-mary-pass might have been better spent on completing and checking the answers on all the other problems.

At its core, both these situations are really time-management optimization issues. I would suggest that it makes more sense to skip problems with no obvious and immediate path to a solution and to only return to them if time permits. Sometimes one can eyeball a problem down to two possible answers and it becomes more efficient to make an educated guess at 3 or 4 such problems than to solve one of them for sure. At other times, it makes sense to attempt to simplify a problem before pulling out the calculator.

One doesn't have to be a genius to realize that the SAT and ACT are more of a game than an IQ test and the goal of the test designers is to waste as much time as possible in a majority of the test takers to get a nice bell-shaped distribution of scores. So when a problem far from the end of the test looks hard, the first impulse should be to stop and ask, "What am I missing?" rather than to attempt to solve the problem with brute force.

[Brian1]

I didn't study for them back in the day and got roughly the same score, 35 and 1530 (or 2330 including writing). I think they're equivalent exams.

[bovertine]

At its core, both these situations are really time-management optimization issues. I would suggest that it makes more sense to skip problems with no obvious and immediate path to a solution and to only return to them if time permits.

Once again, although I pretty much agree with your post, I'm curious as to what experience you have with students scoring below average on the exam. Because IME for some of these students, the best path to the answer for them and for certain types of questions involves using their calculator. Almost right off the bat. In fact

checking the answers on all the other problems.

can involve significant use of the calculator for these students.

Sometimes one can eyeball a problem down to two possible answers and it becomes more efficient to make an educated guess at 3 or 4 such problems than to solve one of them for sure.

This of course is a common strategy on many multiple choice exams. Presuming you are certain you have eliminated the incorrect answers, because I believe on the SAT they subtract 1/4 point for an incorrect answer (at least they used to).

IMO, most kids scoring above maybe 650 on the math exam probably don't need to have any tutoring, or have any of these obvious suggestions pointed out to them. They really just need practice with the exams. And kids scoring above 750 (maybe even lower) probably just need a little luck to get a perfect score or improve their score. I'm talking about strategies to get a few more points for kids scoring below 500.

[fignewton]

Originally Posted by emberjed

I went from my last year of preschool to my first year of high school in the 2000s. Until 6th or 7th grade when we were doing early algebra/late pre-algebra, we were never allowed to use calculators.

That kind of restriction is not typical (IMO I don't think calculators should be used in K-8 math at all.) Here in NJ calculators are used starting in second grade. The fourth grade state math exam required calculators until two years ago, when it started including a non-calculator section.