« "Beyond the Scream" Panel | Main | Super Mega Quad Unicorn Chaser Attack!!!! »

October 4, 2006

The Blogger SAT Challenge -- The Results!!!

A little while ago I mentioned "The Blogger SAT Challenge" -- a not-so-scientific experiment in comparing the writing of bloggers with the writing of high school students on their SATs.

First, the good news. My entry scored thusly (out of 6):

And for all of you wondering what the super-secret topic was, here it is:

The essay gives you an opportunity to show how effectively you can develop and express ideas. You should, therefore, take care to develop your point of view, present your ideas logically and clearly, and use language precisely.

Important Reminders:

• Since this is an online version of the test, you will get 20 minutes instead of the usual 25
• An off-topic essay will receive a score of zero.

Directions: Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.

"I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed." -- Booker T. Washington

Assignment: What is your opinion on the idea that struggle is a more important measure of success than accomplishment? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.

If you'd like to read the entries, click here.

Second, the even better news. My entry was scored by the "expert grader" thusly (also out of 6):

The first score is from other bloggers. The second is by one (I'm guessing each grader only read one entry, but it may have been two) of the following: David Bruggeman, Suzi, Elisa Davis, Natalie Hudson, Battlepanda and Lisa. I don't know any of these people, but I agree with the score.

I'm a horrible (now) high-school writer. When I was a student in high school, I was a whiz at the Linda Richmond-esque mode of extemporaneous "The Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, Roman, nor an empire; discuss" mode of motiveless oration. And it does have its uses. For one thing, it really does demand a close attention to structure and organization.

On the other hand, it's also deadly dull.

And, possibly worst of all, it reinforces dichotomous thinking. Writing prompts of the type included on the SAT and in the Blogger Challenge almost always present two options and ask the writer to make a persuasive case for one of them. In the real world, we know that "You are either with us or against us" is a logical fallacy. Demanding that developing writers conform to this sort of on-off cognitive world-view is demeaning to them and a waste of a grader's time.

Chad Orzell -- a physicist, and one of the architects of the Blogger Challenge -- reflects:

I think these results do support my original point, way back when this whole thing started: it's a lot harder to write a good short essay on demand than you might think when you have the chance to look at the question at leisure. Even bloggers, who spend a lot of time writing short essays of their own free will, don't do all that well with a set topic and a tight time limit.

Orzell's right: writing good, short essays is hard. But I wouldn't call what the SAT calls for "a good essay."

I was especially intrigued by the comments by the "expert graders":

I was struck by the number of writers who felt that musing about some aspect of the question, or one of the words in it, or one of the stories it reminded them of, was a reasonable way to respond to the directions.

Goodness! How... willful of them.

Often writers tried to be clever with roundabout ways of coming at the question, but it only made my job as a grader more difficult, and grumpy graders don't give fives and sixes.

If anything, the bloggers were *worse* than high school students in getting to the point and staying on topic. They also tended to equivocate more, to argue the merits of both sides, which, though it might mark you as a reasonable person in normal discussion (in real or online life), actually hurts your SAT score.

Heaven forfend that "expert graders" should be forced to contend with complex approaches to the topic at hand! Don't they know that issuing anything other than a "Sir, yes sir!" or a "Sir, no sir!" over and over again (the New York Times article that started the Challenge informs us that "longer essays were more likely to get a high score than shorter ones") dishonors the spirit of open inquiry and skillful expression that these writing exercises enshrine?

But my favorite has to be this gem:

I was struck by the number of people who wrote essays without apparently thinking the directions applied to them. They made assumptions about the assignment, or decided that they were better judges of what the assignment should be, and then wrote what they wanted to write rather than produced what they were asked to write.

I smiled, but I wondered why do they think a scorer (and after all, pleasing the scorer is what matters much more than self-respect when taking a test) cares about their opinions?

"[W]hy do they think a scorer ... cares about their opinions" indeed? After all, the prompt only asks "What is your opinion on the idea that struggle is a more important measure of success than accomplishment?"

I'm giving the scorers grief, but it's not their fault that they're being forced to behave this way. It's the nature of the beast.

The New York Times article gives a brief list of tips for writing a high-scoring SAT essay. Here are a few more that, mysteriously enough, didn't make the final edition:

• Reduce your complex set of ideas, opinions, and experiences into easy-to-spew talking points. Talking points are the new essays.
• Begin your writing with a clear statement of your position. That way, the grader (or anyone else) won't be burdened with having to read any more of your essay.
• Repeat, repeat, repeat! Your grader/reader may forget what your position is if you don't restate it in each paragraph.
• Never, ever question the false dichotomy presented to you as the wisdom of the ages! Resist the infernal urge to comment on its hackneyed topic! And foreswear the temptation to question the question being put to you! Like the Pope, We are infallible. And we are not amused by your so-called "free thinking."
• Regardless of what you write (you are in control of your writing, aren't you?), or what you realize while you're writing (this isn't the time for thinking, it's a timed writing exercise!), or the weight of the evidence on the other side (you did pick the more obviously correct position, didn't you?), don't ever change your mind as you write. And for goodness sake don't ever concede that the other side might have some virtue. That's a quick trip to a low score!

Orzel concludes that bloggers are "dumber than high-school kids." I disagree. We're just not as obedient when it comes to reductive, intellectually demeaning busy-work.

And thank the gods for that!

Posted by reparent at October 4, 2006 2:45 PM