|
|
|
 |
Archives |
SAT Scores Drop; Girls Best Boys in New Essay SectionHigh school students who took the new version of the SAT this year recorded the sharpest drop in scores in 31 years, according to an Associated Press report last week. The average combined reading and math score fell seven points to 1,021. In addition to a new essay-writing section, the new version of the exam features higher-level math and the elimination of analogies. Speculation exists that the length of the exam - up 45 minutes from the previous year - played a major role in this decline, but the non-profit College Board, which owns and administers the test, maintains that an analysis showed no difference in performance early and late in the exam. "When a new test is introduced, students usually vary their test-taking behavior in a variety of ways and this affects scores," College Board President Gaston Caperton said in a news release. College Board officials also reported that fewer students are taking the exam a second or third time, which typically boosts scores by 30 points. Boys' scores fell eight points from 513 to 505 in critical reading and from 538 to 536 in math. Girls' scores fell from 505 to 502 in reading and from 504 to 502 in math. Girls scored an average of 502 on the new writing section, outscoring boys by 11 points. This marks the first time girls outscored boys on a section of the SAT for the first time since 1971.
Questions, ideas, or in need of more information? Please contact Stacey Pusey at 302-295-8349. |
"Girls
outdo boys in writing on SAT" "SAT
Scores Take Biggest Plunge in 31 Years"
|
|
© 2011 The Association of Educational
Publishers |
||
