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A comment on MIT suspending SAT/ACT requirement for next application cycle. Parent comment

Re:MIT suspending SAT/ACT requirement for next application c... by ericd on Tuesday April 06, 2021 @03:05PM (#26715961)
This is an oft-repeated meme, but I don't think it holds much water - the main value of SAT test prep is in taking a few practice tests, which you can do by yourself with a $20 book. You can't buy your way to a 2400, it takes being able to actually solve the problems. Otherwise, you'd see a lot more of them.
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Re:MIT suspending SAT/ACT requirement for next application c... by thaumasiotes on Tuesday April 06, 2021 @03:11PM (#26716061)
> You can't buy your way to a 2400

Well, no, since that would be 150% of the maximum score.

You can buy your way to the maximum score, and people have been doing it, but test prep won't get you there. (As you note, prep is worth nearly nothing in terms of score gains.) You need advance access to the answers, or a substitute to take the test for you, or something along those lines.

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Re:MIT suspending SAT/ACT requirement for next application c... by ericd on Tuesday April 06, 2021 @03:14PM (#26716103)
Ha are they back to 1600? When did they get rid of writing?

Sure, yes, maybe bribery or fraud could get you there. Have there been reported cases?

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Re:MIT suspending SAT/ACT requirement for next application c... by thaumasiotes on Tuesday April 06, 2021 @03:19PM (#26716158)
1600 is the high score again as of 2016.

Yes, there have been various reported cases of fraud on the SAT. The most prominent two that come to mind are the recent college admissions scandal, in which strategies included both (1) having a substitute take the SAT in place of the student and (2) bribing the test proctor, and the year in which every test result from South Korea was canceled due to widespread cheating.

https://world.time.com/2013/05/10/for-the-first-time-sat-tes...

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Re:MIT suspending SAT/ACT requirement for next application c... by ericd on Tuesday April 06, 2021 @03:37PM (#26716411)
Wow, TIL, thanks!
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