<p>This is one of the best ways to solve the present crisis for depending on SAT Scores only instead of paying to attention to other Science courses. People are scoring so high in SAT with no science background and they are getting into some serious science disciplines which makes me wonder, are they even fit to enter? What I propose is, keep the existing SAT structure the same. Add two more science subject tests to it as a mandatory requirement and offer equal weight for those 2 exams. Now you have a composite score of 2400+1600 = 4000. The science exams could be Biology or Chemistry or Physics. Now, you can screen through the best candidate pool. This system will emphasize on science besides English and Math and make American schools compete in par with other Asian school system. The current system is too focused on language (67%) and math (33%) and no science.</p>
<p>I propose this system for IVY schools and other competitive programs. Currently SAT 2 scores are used as a secondary measures. They should be included as a primary score and the colleges can truly measure a candidate potential based on diverse academics. Mr. Obama should run this by Congress. The president feels the American children are far inferior to Asian counterparts. This is just a beginning and do not shoot me with arrows and bullets. Peace.</p>
<p>it’s a good idea unless you’re not interested in science…plus the ACT covers science briefly (i wouldn’t know since i haven’t taken it) but people should be allowed to choose their SATIIs</p>
<p>Folks, I am doing this dumb SAT exam over and over again. I am missing like 30 questions in total and my scores are not coming out right for some competitive programs. Why they put so much weight on PSAT for scholarship and SAT exam for college admissions? I have scored 780 in Math 2 (SAT2), and 790 in Chemistry (SAT 2), and 770 in Biology. I can not score more than 700 in Critical Reading? So am I inferior? The colleges need to wake up and realize Language and Math is important, but Science is key for America now. We import all Indians and Chinese since they excel in Math and Science. But our system values some dry, boring literature topics and some mundane algebra to determine who gets into MIT or Cal Tech. What a joke? Pepole should go and tour around in India and China to see how top colleges grant admissions. That is what we are importing brain from Asia over the last 30 years or more.</p>
<p>I am making these reccomendations for Engineering and Science Programs. For liberal arts, it does not matter. keep looking at the SAT scores with magnifying lens all day long.</p>
<p>Yeah, I think it would totally make the SAT more valid if it were structured in a way that benefited me. After all, <em>I</em> am the one that matters in this process… right?</p>
<p>Like when the US wanted to improve education in the 19–s, they made propaganda videos showing Soviet students studying chem and Americans playing. US higher education system should not be based on algebra and english! My High school just upped the english requirements for graduation and lowered the science. WTH!!! we are already getting crappy educations anyway, the only hope is to self-study.</p>
<p>… in China, they dont look at EC or any of that crap. Theres a placement test covering everything {all subj.} and you must ace it. They are all about doing well in academics and everyone knows it. In US half the people think applying to over 9000 clubs is more important than involvement in a few clubs. :D</p>
<p>Exactly, noimagnination, and since my sat scores suck, it is clearly a worthless test. Why it is used by the vast majority of colleges is beyond me.</p>
<p>We have a winner. The SAT I is not designed to test your knowledge of algebra. If it was, it would have straightforward algebra questions. It would be labeled as an algebra test. The SAT is here to measure how well you can reason under a time pressure. </p>
<p>The reason Indian/Chinese admission tests are so effective is because they are problems on science subjects that force you to think through problems and solve them instead of simply recalling facts. That being said, I think the US admission system is better than the Asian systems. I don’t remember who, but someone on CC had made a very good post about this. He said that while Asians are faster/sharper on average in regards to problems than Americans, our system retains the creativity. Asian institutes can produce top engineers and doctors, but they don’t have the innovation that American universities produce.</p>
<p>I am little surprised by the posts who are definding SAT Reasoning test measures creativity. WTH? In which way? It looks like USA is heading towards importing another 200,000 people on H1-B to fill the jobs with a B.S. degree. Unbelievable.</p>
<p>Not to mention that you have no proof that requiring 2 science SATIIs would create better scientific minds in America. Who the hell do you think you are, telling other people what their future professions are going to be?</p>
<p>" People are scoring so high in SAT with no science background and they are getting into some serious science disciplines which makes me wonder, are they even fit to enter?" Is that an anecdotal evidence ? Have links, stats, articles? Or is it your personal opinion? If you really delved into the intricacies of SATs, you would find that SAT I and SAT IIs test completely different things and mixing them would be, well, just imagine taking a 6+ hour exam. Still want to implement your change, Mr. Reformer? Ok. I didnt think so either.</p>
<p>P.S. The only thing I would do is to make the curves stricter on Subject SATs. I think the fact that 800 on Physics puts you in top 90% is a little too soft. I would make it top 98-99% and so on with other tests. ;)</p>
<p>The earlier posts about reasoning on SAT vs. rote knowledge on SAT Subjects really hit the nail on the head. Colleges are so much more interested in your ability to problem solve than they are in what you can memorize. Anybody can memorize. Not everyone can think creatively, or even logically.</p>