UB officials have still yet to use the new SAT in their admissions process, despite all the national commotion about the addition of a writing section to arguably the most important standardized text in the country.
Jennifer Hess, associate director of the office of admissions, said the new writing section would eventually be incorporated in the admissions process, but not yet. Right now, UB is in the same boat as many other schools, as data from the new SAT is only being collected for research purposes.
The SAT, which originally stood for "Scholastic Aptitude Test," has been under fire the past few years. Complaints of gender and race bias are longstanding, but many institutions also argue that there are too many ways to "beat the test," including private test preparation courses and books with theories and strategies on how to do well.
Many believe the new writing section will help curb the bias often associated with the SAT, allowing test-takers to be judged based on a writing piece rather than just the multiple-choice questions that have become a standard.
"I think it's a good idea," said Steven Liss, freshman business administration major. "Although I think it may be unbalanced, because (colleges) only see one sample of your writing, I think it's a lot better than just a bunch of multiple-guess questions."
Other freshmen, who less than a year ago were filling out their SAT scores on college applications, said they feel that the new writing section is just too little, too late.
"I really don't think it's enough. It's statistically proven that the (SAT) is unfair to girls and that it's racist," said Frank Silla, freshman management major. "Instead of just over-inflating what already exists, (schools) should just try to use different methods for admissions."
There is a long history of debate surrounding racism, the SAT, and The College Board, a non-profit membership association that is in charge of giving the exam.
"Different racial groups do differently on the exam," said Darren Ko, owner of Infiniva Test Prep. "But I think that they (the College Board) do their very best to remove the bias."
"If you looked at the correlation between the SATs and GPA, you'd see that the (racial) gaps would make more sense. The only big gap that may not be fully explained is females," Ko said. "Girls generally don't do as well as guys."
He said the score gap in gender could be attributed to the fact that the test is timed, and females generally don't do as well under that kind of pressure. He said he also found that females aren't as good guessers as males.
These findings don't jive with some of the females at UB.
"I did a lot better than my guy friends in high school, grade-wise," said Christine Peck, freshman business administration major. "I did better than most of them on the SATs too, though."
Those involved with test-preparation, such as Ko, have also been put under the spotlight recently. Many school officials and scrutinizers of the SAT say that a student's scores are too directly related to their family's income, and that test prep services such as Infiniva are a part of the reason.
"They do get more help, that's one factor," Ko said.
He also said that higher income families might live in a better school district, with more opportunities for preparation.
"Preparation alleviates their anxieties and fears about that section," Ko said. "It's very coachable. When we teach them a few grammar rules, their scores tend to increase a lot."
"We usually spend twenty to thirty hours with most students," Ko added.
It's really no surprise, Ko said, that it will take a while for the new SAT section to be used by colleges for admissions purposes.
"It will take a couple years to analyze the data first," Ko said. "With the old tests, there was a large correlation between the scores and college GPA. I believe the new section will have (a) correlation as well."
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
