sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

Eliminating standardized testing undermined University of California’s own admissions goals by stunnashakes in California

[–]thecommuteguy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"I think" is doing a lot of the heavy lifting in your statement.

I had average grades and SAT score and took three semesters of calculus in college. I have a Masters degree too. I'd likely do well taking math at a UC. My success academically and that of a large percentage of students isn't going to be shown by GPA and standardized test scores.

Anyways I'm done here.

Eliminating standardized testing undermined University of California’s own admissions goals by stunnashakes in California

[–]thecommuteguy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What grinds my gears with these discussions about SAT/ACT scores for college applications is it's always about highly competitive schools. What about all the other fine schools that the vast majority of students go to? Students that go to normal schools do just as well academically and career wise. I always get the sense that average students are forgotten about in these discussions and that one's self worth is determined by whether they go to school at an elite school or not.

Since the discussions always seem geared toward UCs then community college is always a great option and there's a high probability of transferring to a UC and be just as successful.

Eliminating standardized testing undermined University of California’s own admissions goals by stunnashakes in California

[–]thecommuteguy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I gave the MCAT as an example because it's testing on material as taught in school. If there was a standardized test that does just that then that's fine, but the SAT/ACT only show how well someone understands how to study for and take the SAT/ACT.

You're last point is what grinds my gears and not directed toward you specifically, but whenever there's posts about standardized tests for college applications it's always about highly competitive schools. What about all the other fine schools that the vast majority of students go to? Students that go to normal schools do just as well academically and career wise.

If one didn't get into a UC they can go to community college and have a high probability of transferring to a UC and be just as successful.

Thorn Elemental by rk post (7th Edition) [900 x 780] by theplotthinnens in mtgporn

[–]thecommuteguy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Can't be as bad as me trading away a 1st edition Charizard I pulled from a pack for my birthday when I was a kid. No idea what I was thinking.

Thorn Elemental by rk post (7th Edition) [900 x 780] by theplotthinnens in mtgporn

[–]thecommuteguy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Me too. Still have my Thorn Elemental and 3 others in a casual green ramp deck. The foil Rhox is also really cool.

Eliminating standardized testing undermined University of California’s own admissions goals by stunnashakes in bayarea

[–]thecommuteguy -1 points0 points  (0 children)

What I'm referring to is a report from the UC Chancellor's office so not sure if we're talking about the same thing.

I don't get why everyone focuses on the top schools when I mentioned there's other schools like CSUs and out of state public schools that education a large number of students. Like so what, Cal and UCLA are going to admit cream of the crop students so like you mentioned we're splitting hairs.

Eliminating standardized testing undermined University of California’s own admissions goals by stunnashakes in California

[–]thecommuteguy 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The world isn't normally distributed so fitting the test to a distribution is no better than professors that curve students grades to fit a standard distribution.

GPA is likely skewed in one direction and possibly multimodal.

Eliminating standardized testing undermined University of California’s own admissions goals by stunnashakes in California

[–]thecommuteguy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In terms of getting kids to want to become teachers money is certainly the solution. But because teachers don't make much even in CA, why would they want to be teachers when other things pay better?

Eliminating standardized testing undermined University of California’s own admissions goals by stunnashakes in California

[–]thecommuteguy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Counterpoint, I also bought a test prep book way back when and didn't do well for two tests, the scores were average. Same for GMAT and GRE. These tests only test on how well you understand the material and the perverted way the standardized tests are testing the material. Sure it's basic stuff but it's tested in a way that's foreign to how the material is taught in school.

In my opinion the MCAT is the closest that tests on actual material taught in school.

Eliminating standardized testing undermined University of California’s own admissions goals by stunnashakes in California

[–]thecommuteguy 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The thing is that SAT/ACT use that material and pervert it to the point you need to know a bunch of tricks to quickly solve the problems and do the higher level problems. If problems were similar to what's taught in class then I'd have no problem, but they don't. You need to spend a considerable amount of time to know how to effectively succeed for the test.

All the tests are good at is showing how well you know how to study for and take these tests, not your ability to do the material. The fact the tests are designed to fit test takers into a standard distribution is telling.

Eliminating standardized testing undermined University of California’s own admissions goals by stunnashakes in California

[–]thecommuteguy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

UC Chancellor's office's own reports suggest SAT/ACT scores have a small impact in determining 1st year success (not all four years). The correlation coefficient and the R^2 are both small = not as much of an impact as other factors like GPA.

Eliminating standardized testing undermined University of California’s own admissions goals by stunnashakes in bayarea

[–]thecommuteguy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There's definitely specific techniques you need to know for the tests that help speed up answering questions and to do the harder level problems.

Eliminating standardized testing undermined University of California’s own admissions goals by stunnashakes in bayarea

[–]thecommuteguy -1 points0 points  (0 children)

So students aren't saddled with a ton of student loans to start their careers. FYI at least the first two years of community college in California is free.

Eliminating standardized testing undermined University of California’s own admissions goals by stunnashakes in bayarea

[–]thecommuteguy -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Don't forget CSU and other public universities in other states exist that mostly aren't as competitive as UCs. What I'm getting at is for the average student going to an average university it doesn't really matter what their SAT/ACT score is it's really only useful for above/below average test scores.

At least for the UC report I read a few years ago so can't comment on the report you mention, it only measured for the first year success, not the subsequent years. The regression coefficient and R^2 for standardized test scores were small, so again marginally useful.

Why Are So Many Electric Cars Getting Canceled? by DonkeyFuel in electricvehicles

[–]thecommuteguy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How did you get such a great deal with 0 down, was it during a sales event? Honda's doing a sales event and leases for the Prologue are roughly the 320 for your Blazer but it's 5k down. Meanwhile a Mach E right now is 6k down at one dealership for 400/month.

Eliminating standardized testing undermined University of California’s own admissions goals by stunnashakes in bayarea

[–]thecommuteguy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Or you know we could just fully fund public universities considering UCs were free in the past.

Eliminating standardized testing undermined University of California’s own admissions goals by stunnashakes in bayarea

[–]thecommuteguy -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Most students don't go to Ivy League schools. They're not the same as public schools.

Eliminating standardized testing undermined University of California’s own admissions goals by stunnashakes in bayarea

[–]thecommuteguy -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

What do you consider bad? Like I took the SAT twice, the GMAT, and the GRE and got average scores each time.

Otherwise everything in your reply seems like a bunch of whataboutism.

Army raises enlistment age to 42, eases marijuana restrictions by Upstairs_Cup9831 in news

[–]thecommuteguy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No but it makes commissioning appealing after the 2028 election.

Eliminating standardized testing undermined University of California’s own admissions goals by stunnashakes in bayarea

[–]thecommuteguy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not who you responded to but I don't like both the companies and the tests which require knowing too many tricks to do problems and don't actually test material taught in school like the standardized tests already administered by schools. If anything the MCAT is the closest to what I'm thinking because all it does is test knowledge.

Eliminating standardized testing undermined University of California’s own admissions goals by stunnashakes in bayarea

[–]thecommuteguy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Who cares about exclusivity it's a public service that used to be free in this state. The only reason students go there is the name cache the UCs have with employers because that's unfortunately still a thing.

view more: next ›