Tests are the foundation of an effective educational system
2012-02-17 20:29:30.016844+01 by Dan Lyke 0 comments
New York Times > Education > On Education: SAT Essay Test Rewards Length and Ignores Errors. Dr. Les Perelman, one of the directors of undergraduate writing at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, looked at the available scored SAT essay tests:
... "I have never found a quantifiable predictor in 25 years of grading that was anywhere near as strong as this one," he said. "If you just graded them based on length without ever reading them, you'd be right over 90 percent of the time." The shortest essays, typically 100 words, got the lowest grade of one. The longest, about 400 words, got the top grade of six. In between, there was virtually a direct match between length and grade.
And factual errors aren't scored. So, kids: If you're taking the SAT, on the writing section go long, and make a whole lot of shit up.