Test Prep in the News: September 2016

We are committed to providing you with the most up-to-date resources and announcements from the college admissions testing landscape. Here are some of the top headlines from this past month:

ACT Scraps Essay Rescore Service

Summary: Back in February, we reported on the ACT’s failed attempt to grade its Writing Test (i.e. essay) on a 1–36 scale. Writing Test scores were coming out alarmingly low and/or vastly different from students’ multiple choice scores. There were many reasons for this, several of which you can find on our blog. In order to address this issue, the ACT was allowing students who doubted the validity of their scores to pay $50 for an Essay Rescore. Under this Rescore Service, the ACT would completely reread and regrade the student’s essay. If the ACT regraded the essay higher, the student would be refunded the $50 and keep the new score. If the ACT graded the essay the same or lower, the ACT would keep the $50 and the student’s score would remain the same. As you can imagine, a lot of essays were graded higher and the ACT was out a lot of time and man power. Now that they’ve sheepishly returned to the tried-and-true 2–12 scale, the ACT has withdrawn its $50 Rescore Service. Instead, students can pay $40 for a Writing Test Score Verification Service. Through this service, the ACT will simply check to make sure that the correct procedures were used to score the essay in the first place (i.e. the essay was scanned properly, the correct number of graders scored the essay, etc.) but will not automatically reread the essay. If the correct procedures were used, no rescore will take place and the ACT will keep the $40. If incorrect procedures are discovered, the ACT will rescore the essay and return the student’s Score Verification fee.

What this means: The new Writing Test Score Verification Service is now in effect and applies to all ACT exams September 2016 or later. For any ACT Writing Tests taken before September 2016 within the last 12 months, the old Essay Rescore Service would still apply. So if your student took the ACT with Writing in June or earlier and was not happy with her score out of 36, she could still pay $50 for a complete rescoring.

Score Verification Service (ACT)

Alfaro Not Backing Down

Summary: After the FBI raided former College Board Exec Manuel Alfaro’s home due to an alleged connection with leaked SAT questions, a more than a little irked Alfaro lashed out at David Coleman with an Open Letter threatening to expose the College Board for foul play. But the fun doesn’t stop there. Alfaro has since published several more blog posts to his Shining a Spotlight LinkedIn blog series. In these posts, he asserts that the College Board has no basis for its Analysis in Science subscore because the exam does not have a separate Science section. He also suggests that the College Board was aware of issues related to timing but failed to correct them before building the redesigned SAT form. Finally, he urges supporters to donate money to a Go Fund Me Account to help replace some of the items the FBI confiscated from his home. So far, he’s raised $125 out of a $15,000 goal. How much is an Apple charger again?

What this means: Whether you agree with Mr. Alfaro or you think he sounds a little unhinged, he does make a few good points:

• First, the SAT is not a science test. Any attempt to label specific questions that center on scientific topics (such as a Math question that references the radius of planetary orbit or a Reading passage that explores the discovery of the atom) as science questions would be misleading. A few have come forward to suggest that strong science students should take the ACT Science Test, not the SAT. But even that test centers primarily on a student’s ability to read and interpret data and passages, not succeed in an actual science course. The moral here is probably less that a cross-sectional admissions test should more effectively assess a student’s science skills and more that these skills should be tested via specific subject tests (such as the SAT Subject Test Biology, Chemistry, etc.)
• Second, SAT timing did get really tough. You’ve noticed it. Your students have noticed it. And we’ve definitely noticed it enough to build several timing strategies into our curriculum. Regardless of whether the SAT intended to present students with such consistently content-heavy, time-consuming questions, the reality is that students need to be prepared for this challenge.

FBI Raids Former SAT Exec Manuel Alfaro’s Home (Huffington Post)
Shining a Spotlight on the Dark Corners of the College Board: SAT Has a Critical Technical Flaw (LinkedIn)
Response to Statements the College Board Has Made about Me (LinkedIn)
Manuel Alfaro 1 of 2 (LinkedIn)

Wordy Word Problems

Summary: Just when you thought Reuters was through pummeling the SAT, they came back for another round. On Wednesday, September 21, Reuters released a scathing critique of the SAT Math sections. They claimed that redesigned SAT Math contains way too many long word problems and that this high word count places students who struggle with the verbal components of the test (think English Language Learners and low scorers) at a disadvantage. What’s worse, the College Board allegedly knew about this problem well in advance, but failed to correct it. The obvious solution would be to cut some of the fat and boil questions down to just the math. But some educators are wondering if it’s even possible to shorten the Math questions substantially without (A) steering away from the real world math favored on the new SAT and (B) creating a scoring discrepancy between old and new scores.

What this means: It’s no secret that many of the new SAT Math word problems are a beast to read. These questions are toughest on kids who tend to “tune out” halfway through a reading passage or who genuinely struggle with everyday words. We strongly recommend that these students prep a solid approach to word problems well in advance. At ArborBridge, we teach core Best Practices that students can consistently use to tackle all tough Math word problems on test day.

The revisions to the SAT have really changed the landscape of the SAT/ACT. Whereas before, strong readers sometimes gravitated toward the ACT to take advantage of the long, critical-reading based Reading and Science tests, now the SAT Reading section is even meatier and the Math sections feature word problem after word problem. In addition, strong Math students who once saw the SAT’s “tricky” (but short) Math sections as opportunities to differentiate themselves may now favor the ACT’s less-weighted but more succinct and straightforward Math questions. Now more than ever, we recommend that students talk with their counselors and really consider all options before selecting a prep plan.

Despite Warning, College Board Redesigned SAT in Way That May Hurt Neediest Students (Reuters)
New SAT Design Disadvantages Low Scoring Students (Education Week)
The Destructive Capacity of David Coleman (Truth in American Education)

Coleman Promises Fewer Words and More Unique Questions

Summary: One day after the above Reuters’ article was published, David Coleman of the College Board ate a big piece of humble pie and admitted that some of the words on the SAT Math section are, indeed, “superfluous” and need to be removed. While Reuters is no doubt snickering, many test prep professionals are celebrating with considerable hope that these revisions will make SAT Math more manageable for students. Coleman also rocked our worlds when he acknowledged point blank that the College Board plans to cut back on recycled exams in order to stop cheating on the SAT. Now everyone’s asking…is he for real? Or are these just sweet, sweet words?

What this means: It might not be time for celebration just yet. Coleman specifically said they’d eliminate “superfluous” words, not big words, complex concepts, or long passages. It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out in the long run. On the one hand, any attempt to shorten those word problems can only serve to help students who struggle with Reading. On the other hand, the College Board can’t stray too far from the existing test structure or the concordance between scores from different exams could get skewed. To play it safe, we’re not taking any chances. We plan to fully prep our students for word problem-heavy SAT Math questions.

College Board Chief Promises Changes to SAT Amid Controversies (Reuters)