Hacker News Reader

Comment by golergka | Hacker News Reader

Is this for real?

It was my understanding that in US people take SAT after finishing high school and use these scores to enter universities. But this quiz looks like it's intended for 10 year olds.

Do I misunderstand something here?

Edit: here's my own frame of reference for a math level of a 16-17 year old just out of school. Problems are definetly harder than average, but nothing out of scope of state-approved math curriculum:

http://new.math.msu.su/admission/exams-write.html

(Russian, but understanding the language is not necessary for half of the problems). Of course, I expect a general exam to be easier, but not so drastically.

View on HN

US students typically take the SAT a year or two before finishing high school. However, they often start preparing for the SAT years before that.

But how the hell is this supposed to test a high school math level?

These are just simple linear equation systems; where are the roots, the powers, the trigonometry, the logarithms, the limits, the integrals?

"High school math level" may mean something different to you than it does to US students. Also, since the students taking the test haven't actually completed high school, the test won't cover material from the last few years of US high school math (which typically includes most, if not all, of the items you list). The test is not intended to be a comprehensive high school math test.

But why does it exist then, if it doesn't cover the high school curriculum? These are honest questions; I'm just completely buffled by the level of these tasks. They seem more like an entrance exam into a middle school than something you take when you're about to finish high school

The US education system isn't as good as Russia's(source: http://thelearningcurve.pearson.com/index/index-ranking) and its only going to get worse with the lowering of standards due to "common core"; just take a look at some actual questions on a common core test http://www.nationalreview.com/article/373840/ten-dumbest-com....

There is multiple articles from various view points on the fact that education in the US is declining.

"American students are continuously proving to know less in subjects like history." "A 2010 study by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) showed the U.S. history testing scores are "stagnant," with only 9 percent of fourth graders correctly identifying a photograph of Abraham Lincoln and stating two reasons for his importance."(Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/11/public-education-10...)

"The United States invests more in K-12 public education than many other developed countries, yet U.S. students remain poorly prepared to compete with global peers."(Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesmarshallcrotty/2012/03/26/7...)

"There’s a delightful and true saying, often attributed to Joseph Sobran, that in a hundred years, we’ve gone from teaching Latin and Greek in high school to teaching remedial English in college." (Source: http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/education-2/middle-school...)

Remember that the U.S. now sends 60% of its high school graduates to some form of college. This test now serves a double purpose:

1. Trying to identify the very best high school students across a wide range of schools who deserve a shot at an elite university with an international reputation. (Lots of flaws here)

2. Providing some insight about which students at an average high school are 2nd quartile, 3rd quartile, etc. If they're all going to college so that they can learn to be police officers, nurses, desk clerks, etc. (odd social choice), then testing people on rudimentary math makes sense.

If you'd like to be even more disappointed, take a look at the GRE Math section.

> But how the hell is this supposed to test a high school math level?

Its not. Its supposed to be a lower-level test of math ability. High-school level mathematics is tested in the Level 1 and Level 2 Mathematics SAT Subject Tests, not the Mathematics portion of the core SAT.

(Integrals are calculus, which, while often taught in high-school, is considered college-level math, which is why it is an AP subject.)

Thanks, now I see the reason for my misunderstanding.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com