2400, hecks. Writing got added.

Draug - only went back cause it was there and free. Not free and not caring. Dudes, I make 100k+ per year, more than double my age (only 47, don't make me 50 yet) so why go? Because the company I worked for hadn't given me a raise in 2 years and did free tuition reimbursement so it was my way of getting more out of "the man" at Cincom. I will probably continue with one class a semester after taking a short break for January and February. That will only cost me about $600 per month and turns two years until I finish into 8 years.

Oh... right, I remember hearing about that. I think maybe we were part of the pilot, where we had to do the writing section but didn't get scores.

31

Draug,

When you started school 3 months ago, you were acting like you were the total shit. You mentioned it more than obi references Shakespeare. If it didn't workout (for whatever reason) that's fine. It doesn't matter. But don't try to play it off like you're just too cool for school and you're better than your professors. You aren't fooling anyone.

I took the old SAT. Using the same chart as THM, my score would be equivalent to a 35.

32, but only took it once in 9th grade. SAT was more fun.

36.

Not saying I'm to cool. I'm saying my free ride went away, so I can't focus like I was. I still plan to get an A, but not as the sacrifice of the holiday season. It was stupid shit assignment for the time of year. My other class, I have a perfect score in and plan to keep it that way. And I plan to do the same for any classes I take in the future. I still want to graduate with an A average, but now that I am ineligible to graduate "with honors" as I am part time starting next semester (or whenever I have the spare cash laying around to return on a part-time basis), I won't be as focused on the perfect score.

But this professor was a knob from India who didn't care about American holidays and yet couldn't even be bothered to get our grades in on time (
more than once the class complained to the dean because the grades were more than a week late), so no, I don't give a shit about this class beyond passing, hopefully still getting an A, and being done for a while.

As for test scores, I think they should be viewed in a sufficient-but-never-necessary kind of way. That is, I think it's very possible that a terribly gifted student could get a poor test score, for any number of reasons; but it's extremely unlikely that an academically clueless person will get a very good test score. In this way, they provide ONE (of several) opportunities for gifted students who, for whatever reason, went to less famous high schools or colleges to place themselves in a higher pack, which is a very useful service. Because let's face it -- somebody top of his class at Stuyvesant is going to be much more trusted than somebody top of his class at Peoria High. But once in awhile, the latter will actually be as good or better, and standardized tests are a crude but sometimes effective way for those people to be detected. So I think in a way it's actually an anti-elitist tool.

Hey, don't be dissing Peoria High. They were IHSA Speech Team Champions in 1978. Go Lions!

lol, sorry THM. Absolutely nothing was meant against PH. I was unaware of its impressive record of dominance in Speech and, like many Americans, just chose it because I like the name and it represesnts Everywhereville, which I hope is still a compliment.

@semck ... I largely agree, but I wouldn't go so far to say that it's anti-elitist. I took it the second time at North Central in Indy. If any of you guys know a thing about North Central, it's hugely divided between both black and white as well as rich and poor. Black and poor, as usual, often go together. That dragged North Central's numbers way down (I read this in the newspaper; not providing numbers because I can't find the article) but when split by both race and income, rich (regardless of race) scored much higher and white scored higher than black. Yes, it's general, but I personally had opportunities to take SAT/ACT prep classes (I didn't because I have a life.. no offense to anyone that did but those were literally 4 hours twice a week, hell no) that cost a lot of money, and I'm sure I could have had a 34-36 range score had I taken them. The poor kid getting a 15 and bragging about it doesn't often have that chance.

@Draug ... you do realize that I get homework over holiday breaks too. I had six essays to write over Thanksgiving break; three for one class and two for another. The fact that your instructor/professor/insert-title-here is from India is not why (s)he gave you material to cover over the holidays, it's because teachers are taught to try to take over their students' lives.

I take the ACT 2x a year, when I teach the ACT review class at the high school where I work. I usually score around a 30.


And I would agree with the prevailing opinion that the actual score means very little, if anything. It is interesting that most of my students would sell their first born child to raise their score.

32 first time. 34 a year later.

29, only took it once.

@Draug

College professors do not give a shit about holidays. I've had final exams the day before Christmas Eve, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. I've had major projects due the Monday after spring break. If you value education you have to be willing to put it ahead of other things.

Academics frequently are criticized for being detached from the real world, stuck in their ivory towers, etc. The real world doesn't respect the "holiday season" either. If you truly want to be competitive, you better be available 24/7/365.25. Lip service as to work/life balance is nice, but if you cannot deliver on Christmas, on vacation, on your kid's birthday, on the day of your father's funeral... someone else can and will.

ABC, Always Be Closing.

Speaking as the spouse of a professor, it's often administration, not the professors, who drive the holiday schedule. My wife wanted to give her students the Wednesday before Thanksgiving off this year, but no, the registrar *requires* that professors hold class *and* give an exam that day.

I never knew a professor to give a shit what the administration thought.

The ones that can get fired surely do.

Maybe. On the other hand, my professors were in Engineering and brought enormous amounts of money into the University, so they may have had more freedom than others.

@Draug,

I ran into a similar situation in college. Somehow I ended up with an 8AM Spanish class four days a week, which was a problem because I worked my way through college with a night job as a security guard, 9pm-5am. As a result, I ended up oversleeping the class pretty frequently. After the third one, the prof took me aside and told me that if I missed another class, she'd have to mark me down a full letter grade.

I thought about it for a minute and asked, "Well, what do I have in the class right now." She said, "Well... you have a 98.6. That's an A+."
"So... if I keep missing one class a week and maintain that average, I'll get a B+?"
"Well, yes, but you should really be in class."
"I agree, but if I don't keep my job, I won't be able to afford *any* classes at this school. So no disrespect, but if I have to take a B+ for the semester, that's okay with me."

I think she ended up giving me an A- for the semester.

@Abge,
They give a huge shit what the administration gets before they secure tenure.

I think my college just did a very good job protecting its professors from the university. They really could teach however they wanted.

Most of my professors have cared about holidays. For example, it's not uncommon for them to cancel an extra class before Thanksgiving.

"@Draug ... you do realize that I get homework over holiday breaks too. I had six essays to write over Thanksgiving break; three for one class and two for another. The fact that your instructor/professor/insert-title-here is from India is not why (s)he gave you material to cover over the holidays, it's because teachers are taught to try to take over their students' lives."

That wasn't the issue, bo. It was the particular type of homework which required me to interrupt others during their more hectic time of the year. Had she said "write a 1500 page paper and research it from the internet with full APA citations in-text and references" I would have eaten it up. I love writing the papers. I kill when it comes to them. But the *interview* was the problem. Find someone who does a job you would never consider doing and interview them... OK, most of my friends are in cool jobs I *would* consider doing. My family? Mostly retired or also having cool jobs I would consider (my brother is a college baseball umpire and my brother-in-law a CEO - both cool jobs in their own ways). So it means a total stranger working food service or a mail man or retail clerk or a bank teller. You get the idea. People who are *very* busy at this time of year.

@Draug,
A crappy job you'd never consider doing, huh? You should have asked your prof if you could interview him.

I never took the ACT, but I got a 1220 (under the old 1600 scale) the only time I took the SAT.