i owe my soul to the company store (I mean College Board)
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By Joyce Szuflita
I am so glad the College Board is being forced to reconsider the SAT because they finally have some competition in the college testing market. I resent their monopoly and the fact I have paid hundreds (thousands?) of dollars to them because there was virtually no other game in town. I don't begrudge them my money for a valuable service, but when that service is warped from a helpful assessment to a huge cash cow that is leading the admissions process rather than supporting it, I object.
This is times-two for twins over a 6 year period:
I have paid them for PSATs, multiple SATs, and SAT 2 times several subjects. I am not even going to mention the books for each SAT, SAT 2, and AP class. I have paid them to send all these multiple test results to 10 schools per kid (we were conservative in the number of schools that the kids applied to - many people are now doing many more).
I have paid $86 per AP test for 5 tests times two kids (and to send all of these scores to the 10 schools each kid applied to)- which, because of top scores may have helped a tiny bit in admissions but didn't yield a single credit in their highly selective private colleges which appear never to take AP scores. I pay iDOC every year to record my tax returns to these schools so that I can apply for financial aid. I am not even adding in my time spent on traveling to the myriad of tests, scheduling and working my way through their system, or the hours and days of childhood wasted. What a racket!
Oh yeah, I am grumpy. Particularly since I don't think that these tests reflect student quality. Maybe they reflect the amount of money you spend on prep.
When I was applying to college in the olden days. I needed to take the ACT because I was applying to a school out west. I did okay on the SAT, nothing special. I am an avid reader, enthusiastic writer, top of my HS class and very hard worker. I think that my (much higher) ACT reflected who I really was as a student (full of myself).
My kids took the SAT and did just fine. At the last minute, I convinced them to take the ACT anyway. With a weekend of practice tests and no expensive prep - they aced it. It reflected who they are; hardworking, strong readers and writers at the top of their classes.
Am I a fan of the ACT? You bet! - even just because it isn't the College Board.
