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February 24, 2004From a Yahoo! News article
From a Yahoo! News article about the essay portion of the SATs to be unveiled next year:
The SAT essay…will be scored on a scale of 1 to 6. Those receiving a perfect score, according to the College Board, will demonstrate "outstanding critical thinking, using clearly appropriate examples, reasons, and other evidence to support" the student's argument.
In an article in the March edition of the Atlantic Monthly, the SAT's scoring system was applied to the work of Shakespeare, Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein and Theodore Kaczynski, the "Unabomber" who published an essay that led to his arrest in 1995.
Based on the writing, the magazine determined only Kaczynski would be admitted to an Ivy League school. Kaczysnski, serving a federal life term for using letter bombs to kill three and injure 23 over a 17-year period, is — in fact — a Harvard graduate.
Personally, I can’t wait for the essay portion of the SAT test to come into effect. It will only underscore what I’ve known ever since grading my first batch of high school essays—and what any teacher would gladly tell the world, if only it would listen: most folks can’t write for beans, and teenagers are by no means exempt.
Posted by patrick at February 24, 2004 05:48 AM
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