This article starts out talking about a student in 1946 who is preparing for the famous SAT. The writer is helping the student prepare. In 1946, not many people had heard about the SAT. It was mainly used as an entrance exam for highly selective schools. This is the first time that the author has heard about this "SAT", but when he saw the sample questions and read the description of the test, he knew he would be a great tutor for this test. This was the start of the Kaplan Test Preparation Company.
Some of the important points that the writer makes throughout this article are the equality of the SAT, the nature of the test, and how students prepare for the SAT. The SAT puts every student on a level playing field with college admissions. In the article, Kaplan says that because many schools had very different curricula, the SAT measures each student's ability to do well in college regardless of the high school that they attended. Kaplan also says that students usually do about as well in college as the SAT results say they will, which I disagree with. In this article, Kaplan describes the nature of the SAT test. He talks about the format of the SAT, the questions on the test, how the test is administered and the strategies many students use to take the test. He talks about how the test has changed over the years. He says that in the beginning the test was a simple series of multiple choice questions with no essay portion. Kaplan talks about how he prepares students for the SAT and also how students do their own preparation for the test. He talks about how in 1946, there were no SAT prep books and the only preparation that students did were with the booklet that the College Entrance Examination Board put out. The booklet warned against cramming and last minute reviewing. Kaplan also talks about how some students struggle more with the SAT then others. He says that some students review the material on the SAT while others have to learn the material for the first time.
This article was very enlightening about how the SAT has evolved and how it was developed. While reading this article, I learned a lot of the reasons that I did not do as well on the test as I had hoped. It was probably because I had to learn a lot of the material for the SAT for the first time. I struggled with the SAT even though I had a pretty good GPA in high school.
Rachel, I am glad that this article was enlightening and that you took something from it. I see that you were able to connect with Kaplan's belief that either you learned the material for the first time or you were reviewing the material. In fact, I can relate to your statement of having a good GPA in high school but struggling with the SAT, but my question to you is, now that you have read this article how would you approach the SAT if you were to take it again?
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