1. Demonstrate Evidence of Close Reading s1

Directions: 1. Demonstrate evidence of close reading. 2. Highlight or circle the support provided and label its type (LADS SHARE) 3. On a separate sheet of paper, summarize the argument of each piece.

Why Does the SAT Endure? Twenty students in New York have been accused of cheating on the SAT. Meanwhile, courses, books and tutoring to help students improve their scores on college-entrance exams are more popular than ever. If, as critics claim, the test can be gamed, why are the scores still so meaningful to college admissions officials, and does the SAT put students who can’t afford to take prep classes at a disadvantage?

A Good Intelligence Test David Z. Hambrick is an associate professor of psychology at Michigan State University. His research concerns individual differences in cognitive abilities and complex skills.

The SAT works for its intended purpose — predicting success in college. This isn’t to say that the SAT is perfect. You can probably think of someone who did poorly on the SAT and yet graduated summa cum laude from college. You can probably also think of someone who did spectacularly well on the SAT but who flunked out of college after a semester. Many factors not captured by the SAT — like personality, motivation and discipline — contribute to success in college. But, relatively speaking, the SAT works well.

The SAT captures more than a narrow range of skills, important only in the first year or two of college. Large-scale meta-analyses by researchers at the University of Minnesota have found that SAT performance is as good of a predictor of overall college grade point average as it is of freshman grade point average, and Vanderbilt researchers David Lubinski and Camilla Benbow have documented that the SAT predicts life outcomes well beyond the college years, including income and occupational achievements.

Furthermore, the SAT is largely a measure of general intelligence. Scores on the SAT correlate very highly with scores on standardized tests of intelligence, and like IQ scores, are stable across time and not easily increased through training, coaching or practice. SAT preparation courses appear to work, but the gains are small — on average, no more than about 20 points per section.

This debate is ultimately about intelligence and its modifiability — and the question of whether it is fair to use people’s scores on what is essentially an intelligence test to make decisions that profoundly affect their lives. If that makes us all uncomfortable, that’s just too bad.

One Piece in the Process Alan T. Paynter is an assistant director of admissions and the coordinator of multicultural recruitment for Dickinson College in Carlisle, Penn., which makes test score submissions optional.

Test scores are merely one piece of a student’s record that college admissions officers consider when reviewing applications. For some students, the focus and pressure placed on them to perform well on the test is so great that they miss out on highlighting the other areas we consider -- the things that help build our campus communities and not just our profile.

Students should not have to feel at a disadvantage because they cannot afford test prep services and therefore drive themselves crazy trying to figure out how they will ace this test that appears to be holding their dreams hostage. Or worse, these students choose to not apply to the colleges at the top of their list because of test scores alone. I’ve even seen some students not apply to colleges at all, which is truly heartbreaking. I would much rather see students highlight those aspects of their record in which they are not at a disadvantage, like their extracurricular activities and performances in class. They also should focus on protecting their grade point average. In as much as students try to impress a college or university, they also want to distinguish themselves in the pool of applicants.

Twenty years ago, it was rare to find a low-income student or a student of color with an 1100+ SAT score (out of 1600). Today, it’s common to find sharp students from those same backgrounds with middle 1200's and higher. This process is about highlighting your strengths and finding your right fit. So what else are you bringing to the table? Or as a colleague of mine always says, “show us the person you are, and will be, not just the test taker you were, and don’t need to be.”

Not an I.Q. Test Paul Siemens is the director of Advantage Testing of Los Angeles. He has tutored hundreds of students in New York City and Los Angeles in many academic subjects and standardized tests.

Thoughtfully constructed tests represent powerful opportunities for learning. Any test, by definition, asks students to demonstrate what they know. College entrance examinations are no different. By asking applicants to take these tests, colleges and universities encourage prospective students to prepare themselves more fully for the college experience.

Both the SAT and ACT assess knowledge of vocabulary, grammar and math, while exercising a student’s reading and problem-solving abilities. Such skills are not merely helpful in high school academics but critical for success in college and in life. There are no "tricks" or "shortcuts" a tutor can impart that will circumvent the difficulty of the questions. The only way to prepare successfully for these tests is to apply the hard work that is at root in any successful academic endeavor.

In the case of college entrance exams, such long-term rigorous preparation includes expanding vocabulary; understanding sentence structure; mastering fundamental arithmetic, geometric and algebraic concepts and definitions; and becoming a more critical reader and a more creative problem-solver. A student who fully engages in this process will undoubtedly improve her test scores and gain invaluable, practical knowledge that will make her a better college student.

University-level entrance exams are not intended as intelligence tests, and for good reason: to the extent it can be measured, intelligence is a limited predictor of academic success at that level. Colleges aren’t simply looking to enroll the smartest students; rather they are seeking mature, talented, well-rounded, motivated, service-oriented and accomplished students of every background. Standardized tests provide a reasonably reliable barometer of the extent to which a student has been able to master the general high school curriculum in a way that will prepare her well for college.

It is true that students of means continue to have greater access to educational resources and opportunities. That is a societal issue. In response, college admissions departments have always sought to evaluate a student’s credentials and achievements against that student's perceived opportunities. They maintain rigorous expectations of a student who has grown up with many privileges, and reasonably modified expectations of students who have overcome perceived disadvantages. At Advantage Testing, we are committed to providing financial aid and pro-bono tutoring to economically disadvantaged students and those who have historically been underrepresented in fields of higher learning.

Who Benefits Most Jane S. Shaw is president of the John W. Pope Center for Higher Education Policy, a nonprofit institute in Raleigh, N.C.

Test-preparation companies can raise students’ SAT scores by improving their test-taking skills and filling in some educational gaps. But students can accomplish the same thing using aids available from the College Board and others at little or no cost — taking practice tests, building vocabulary and reviewing basic algebra and geometry. Mostly, test-prep companies provide the discipline to help students do what they could do on their own.

So, if such preparation can increase scores, are SAT's valid? In a utopian, cosmic sense, perhaps not, but let’s be realistic.

Only two groups benefit much from raising their scores. One is the group aiming at the most selective colleges; near-perfect scores can make the difference between acceptance and rejection. To be in the running for these schools, however, students have spent the past decade developing academic skills; test preparation gives a relatively small boost.

At the other end of the scale are students who may not have a lot of aptitude in the first place and who weren’t paying attention during most of middle and high school. Without help, their scores will be terrible. Formal preparation could enable these students to gain college acceptance. But many of these students should not attend college at all.

For the vast majority of high school students, the improvement provided by test preparation companies is unlikely to be worth what it costs. If you have the score that the College Board considers “college-ready” (1550 out of 2400), many good schools are open to you.

If, however, you need outside support to get near 1550, meaningful academic work could be a hard slog. Perhaps you should give yourself a year of work experience or build up your skills by attending a community college.

Save Your Money Fred Oswald is an associate professor of psychology at Rice University. Nathan Kuncel, an associate professor of industrial-organizational psychology at the University of Minnesota, contributed to this comment.

Most colleges rely on the SAT as one tool to help make fair admissions decisions. Decades of research findings on more than a million students indicate that the SAT can identify promising and well prepared high school students. Admissions tests predict college and university grades as well as many other academic and professional outcomes. They also help address the reality that not all high school grades are created equal. Standardized test scores provide a common yardstick that improves admissions decisions when they supplement other useful applicant information.

Understandably, college applicants (and their parents) care less about the validity of the SAT and more about getting into college. Test preparation companies promote SAT coaching as a way to get applicants over the admissions hurdle (if not to leap over it). If what companies advertise is true, then low-scoring students who cannot afford such coaching are left behind.

Fortunately, the best available research evidence indicates that the average increase on SAT math and verbal scores is very small (less than 20 points per section). Anecdotal or uncontrolled studies are often used to claim big score gains, but this evidence is fatally flawed. For example, people with low SAT scores will show higher ones when they retake the test purely by chance (just like a better day will inevitably follow the worst day of your life).

The reality is that test-takers can practice on their own to become familiar with the test format and review basic concepts. Familiarity increases testing time, reduces stress and has been shown to improve scores. The College Board provides free SAT preparation materials for this purpose.

SAT coaching does not provide a uniform benefit in terms of significant score increases or positive college admissions decisions. Instead of using test prep companies, students should work hard in high school, become very familiar with the test -- and save their money.