kitchen table math, the sequel: LexAequitas on SAT Critical Reading

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

LexAequitas on SAT Critical Reading

LexAequitas:
“As an instructor for TPR for several years, I had a breakthrough on the reading passages at one point after I made a realization. I was good at verbal sections before, generally able to complete them in just over 20 minutes with a 750+ score, but after the instructor training I could complete them in 11 minutes with a perfect score.

The SAT is rigorously vetted, and constantly challenged. For every answer, there needs to be a detailed explanation that ETS can just mail off to every student who challenges the question. They come up with these before the test is ever given. This means there *has* to be something that can be pointed to in order to differentiate answers. On difficult questions, it will be minor, even picayune. And I don't mean picayune in the normal sense, I mean picayune in the sense that you'd better start thinking like a 13-year old with Asperger's syndrome. Don't accept generalizations that people use in speech and writing all the time just to make communication more efficient.

It's also worthwhile to note that the SAT does not typically select great literature. The writing is often clumsy and arcane, and this is part of the challenge. I suspect a better exercise if you want casual reading that mimics the SAT is to pick foreign translations.”
This is fantastically helpful.

satreading
And fascinating on many levels....

2 comments:

le radical galoisien said...

yes, the SAT seriously nitpicks. sometimes I think their questions are subjective and quite arguable...for CR anyway.

(math is a different story.)

I think the ACT is a lot better test. Though ACT math is too straightforward.

So a good test would be ACT + SAT math.

SteveH said...

"Don't accept generalizations that people use in speech and writing all the time just to make communication more efficient."

Do you have any examples of this?

I've noticed that my son makes things worse by assuming that questions are more difficult than they are. I tell him to look at the answers and find the one he would least reject.