Hacker News Reader

Comment by ucm_edge | Hacker News Reader

Related, I also have a hunch that the UC system dropping the SAT is going to promote inequality. I don't want to defend standardized tests as flawless, but the SAT has been around forever, you can go to basically any public library and get a prep book, one of the librarians can probably help explain it to you, most teachers are familiar with the strategies to improve score on it, resources exist on the internet, etc. So there exists a multitude of paths toward showing proficiency on it.

Now that we're not doing standardized tests and turning admission into high school transcript plus additional material it's really going to help the kids whose parents can organize and pay for the most extra circulars.

View on HN

>"Related, I also have a hunch that the UC system dropping the SAT is going to promote inequality."

My guess is that it will reduce racial inequality, but increase inequality based on parental income (class). Eliminating SAT scores will result in greater affirmative action, and the richest people of each race will be able to sculpt a compelling resume for their child; there will be no way for those with poorer parents to compete on the holistic measures.

Who is this going to hurt the most?

You guessed it, poor whites and asians. The kids who couldn't afford extra curricular but who did great on the tests. Who is it going to help the most? Children of wealthy East-African and Caribbean immigrants.

This focus on extra-curricular also makes it really easy to sneak-in affirmative action (despite voters repeatedly saying no). Because, let's be honest, you can't objectively compare these things to one another.

> I don't want to defend standardized tests as flawless, but the SAT has been around forever, you can go to basically any public library and get a prep book

That's great unless there are a few other kids in the same area that also need to the book and also think to get it from the library.

Most people have smart phones and getting free resources online are easy enough.

The larger overall point is that acquiring SAT prep resources is easier to do than acquiring resources for volunteering or extra curricular activities. While the former may be difficult in some situations, in those same situations the latter has even greater difficulty.

What about the kids who can afford to pay for top tier college consultants and tutors to maximize their standardized test scores? Doesn’t that also exacerbate inequity?

I am not from the US but I did appear for the SAT. The books are more than enough to get a very good score on the SAT. In my opinion, SAT is not difficult enough for coaching to make a very big difference.

Does it actually work?

These tests are notorious for having all the prep material in a few inexpensive books.

The question is which system exacerbates inequality the least: On the one hand we have a well-known system with objective answers and a widely available study catalog, and on the other hand we have a system that largely involves administrators applying their subjective discretion to which extra-curriculars or essay is "best".

Reply on news.ycombinator.com