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They should have an entrance exam written by the college professors, and at college level."</p>
<p>Nothing prevents any elite school from creating such an exam, requiring applicants to take it, and selecting the class based only on the scores. So far, no elite college has wanted to do that. There’s your answer.</p>
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<p>Did I ask a question?</p>
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<p>Then why have the SAT at all?</p>
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<p>If the students were to take any AP exams, they’d aced them except for the unimportant portions, I guess.</p>
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<p>Do those who get 5s on AP exams look bad? </p>
<p>Again, I think a test with an unreachable ceiling to anyone would be a better test.</p>
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<p>Only 1/4 scored below 700 in any section on the SAT for Yale students (I checked today on CB).</p>
<p>hmm… not a whole helluva lot of commentary about the book referenced in #118, huh? surprise, surprise LOL</p>
<p>*Yes, you did ask a question, IP. You asked why the elite universities even considered the scores if they were so useless. I attempted to answer your question. It’s better than nothing, and if they were dissatisfied with the results, they’d use a different approach.</p>
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<p>You give us 24 minutes to buy the kindle version ($16), read it, formulate an opinion, write it up and post it?</p>
<p>lake42ks – The school I was talking about is very successful in college admissions because its students are extremely well-prepared for college. emeraldkity had it right – many of the AP tests, especially the history ones, value broad, superficial fact knowledge. That isn’t what a college class is like at all, and doing well at it doesn’t mean much about one’s college preparation except for the ability to work hard and memorize things. </p>
<p>No college I know gives credit for AP history or literature classes, except for some that will allow it as an elective credit that essentially amounts to a price discount. The lab science tests seem to be somewhat better. Good colleges take people who took AP Calculus and teach them calculus over again.</p>
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<p>[factoidal tidbit] This is how it was done more than a century ago. Generally each college had its own test written by professors with particular inclinations, resulting in a panoply of exams. The College “Boards” were an attempt to make these exams more uniform. [/factoidal tidbit].</p>
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You must have been looking at a very, very small window of very, very highly ranked schools then. The only colleges I know of now giving credit for those would be Yale, Harvard, etc. I’d recommend you type in “AP credit policy <school name=”“>” for some places and see that for yourself. As bad as these tests are, when you get past the ivy-league schools, they are overwhelmingly accepted.</school></p>
<p>The problem isn’t with schools or the education system or AP classes or anything like that. WE JUST NEED GOOD TEACHERS! An AP class is so much more then “just test prep” with a great teacher. Instead of fuming about the education system fume about poor teachers and help highly qualified ones.</p>
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<p>That’s why I wonder if kids in public schools don’t get a good enough education, even though they ace every test (SAT/ACT/AP) without spending much or any extra time out of school studying for them. I wish I had experience with both private and public school systems.</p>
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<p>They diluted it heavily in addition to making it uniform, it seems.</p>
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<p>That’s circular logic. The colleges must not be dissatisfied with the results because they keep using the test, and therefore the colleges must be using the test because they are not dissatisfied with the results. Using a similar argument one would conclude that people who do not leave their abusive spouses must love them.</p>
<p>The better than nothing argument I get, but the alternative doesn’t have to be nothing. It can be a better exam. And, before you go for your kneejerk reaction, I am not saying that the colleges admit students solely based on a better exam. They can keep the existing process, but substitute the SAT for a better exam, if in fact the SAT is a not a very good exam.</p>
<p>I think colleges are afraid to go for an exam that really tests for knowledge and depth in a particular subject, as kids would fail that en masse and admissions would drop. Hence all the low bars. And frankly, if kids are already not doing so well in the SATs without extensive prep, I shudder to think what they would do if the math section for the SATs, for example, was substituted with the AMC12 exam, and a similar exam (not sure what) were to substitute the Verbal parts.</p>
<p>It’s kind of funny though that after all the badmouthing of Asian kids who apparently memorize word lists from age 12, so many here have come out in favor of prepping for the SATs. And I thought that SATs mean nothing, which is why Asian kids getting 2400 are nothing as well.</p>
<p>Incidentally I do believe that SAT is an exam with such a low bar that high SAT scores absolutely mean nothing.</p>
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<p>How can you have an opinion about something you know absolutely nothing about?</p>
<p>You sound upset.</p>
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<p>Are you describing the AP curriculum or liberal arts education?</p>
<p>“Ap curriculum is a mile wide & inch deep.”
“Are you describing the AP curriculum or liberal arts education?”</p>
<p>having a hard time understanding the word “opposite” are we?
maybe some is spending a bit too much time online…
we CC old timers know how addictive CC can be, lol!</p>
<p>"I think colleges are afraid to go for an exam that really tests for knowledge and depth in a particular subject, as kids would fail that en masse and admissions would drop. Hence all the low bars. "</p>
<p>Why, is there some shortage of smart kids in the US? What, elites couldnt fill their beds anymore? Ridiculous.</p>
<p>You keep willfully misunderstanding what American colleges value. They dont value how much you’ve learned in subject X to date. They value potential for the future. I know this is in contrast to the Asian fill-them-up-and-cram-it-in approach, look at me and my high scores approach. They reflect fundamentally different values. </p>
<p>I also think you are exaggerating the amount of prep towards the SAT. The average student in the US doesn’t prepare for the SAT, beyond looking at the registration booklet, sharpening some pencils and eating a good breakfast. cC is not a microcosm of the US.</p>