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But you know what, it really doesn’t matter how much prep someone has or how much help their parents give them in getting into the right schools etc. Everyone has a natural level where they will end up. All this stuff that happens in the middle – high school, college, grad school – doesn’t change someone’s natural level at all. Maybe it changes which avenue they will take to get to that level (someone with zero schooling will just get there through business, for example), but you’re pretty much going to end up where you end up based on your natural abilities.
All of the test prep, donations to schools, $$ spent on private school tuition, pulling favors with some connection who is on the board of trustees where your unexceptional little kid got wait listed… doesn’t change their natural level. That’s where they’re going to end up and there isn’t a damn thing you can do about it.
As it happens there is a pretty strong correlation between going to good schools and having a high natural level, but don’t confuse correlation with causation.
Lechacal, that would be great! Learning how to take a test via prep courses, etc. is not an indicator that one has any real life skills or true intelligence. And yes, many parents would lose their ever-lovin’ minds.
I think it would be completely awesome if everyone walked into the SAT and the format was just completely different. Nothing they had ever seen before. And…. start your exams! Then you would see who is really smart and who isn’t.
Of course the douchebag helicopter parents would bitch and moan about how unfair it is (to their kids who were unfairly prepped).
At my stage of the game, I think it’s fine to ask me what school I went to, question my former employers, even ask me for a writing sample. But to go as far back as an SAT score is nothing short of insanity IMO. Grades and SAT scores are measuring points for those with no work history or real life experience. At my level, it’s insulting.
…..although I did do the BarBri test prep for the bar exam. But that’s different because it’s just a pass / fail test, score is totally irrelevant as long as you pass, and it will never be used as a means of selecting the best and the brightest for anything. But all of the other test prep just grosses me out. Especially when it costs tons of $$ and it’s the kids whose parents can afford it who get it.
There is a pretty strong correlation between standardized test scores and a lot of the skills that are useful at hedge funds and the like.
I did very well on the SATs but didn’t knock them out of the ballpark. Then again I hadn’t gone to high school and didn’t have any test prep so I’ll give myself a pass.
I consider pretty much all test prep a form of fraud. I didn’t do any LSAT test prep either (other than a couple of practice tests that I did by myself). What really makes me want to barf are these people who send their pre-schoolers to test prep classes for the NYC G&T tests.
“you can get a high score on verbal and not know what half the words mean”
I play Scrabble with words I don’t know the meaning of…drives BH crazy!
By denton on May 3, 2010 5:40 PM
Don’t beat me up, I didn’t give the interview. I suppose tho GPA is equally useless?
Aww, Denton. I am not beating you up. I just don’t like using those standardized test measures. Especially in the case of Snappy, who is an experienced professional. I would imagine that the GPA would give you some sense of a person’s real world achievement when they are just starting out.
High scores on standardized test show you’re able to play by the rules — this is predictive of performance in a lot of areas.