Standardized tests are not on your side

One of the major differences between school and standardized tests, examined

Students often ask me, “why am I able to do so much better on school tests than I can on standardized tests?” 

A key element of this is the fact that school is generally on your side; schools want their students to do well. Go in for extra help, or even simply tell a teacher “but I worked so hard on this!” and you’ll most likely receive extra credit assignments, more lenient grading standards, and all kinds of other sympathetic considerations. On a standardized test, however? Not so much. Case in point, here’s an example math question from a recent digital practice SAT:

Now, this is the exact type of question that should be done using the digital SAT’s built-in calculator, Desmos. Here’s how we do that…first click on the arrow up there in the corner and select “table”:

Now fill the table with the values you are given:

Now click the + sign again, and add an equation in the same format as all of the answer choices, that is,

But take care to note the following three differences:

a) instead of f(x), we write y

b) instead of the equals sign, we use the tilde ~ (usually found immediately to the left of the ‘1’ key)

c) instead of variables like x and y, we use x1 and y1, which we type just like that in Desmos :

[ Actual text to type into Desmos here:  y1~ax1^2+bx1+c ]

As soon as you’re done typing, Desmos will display the correct values for a, b, and c:

Which means that the correct answer is:

Awesome! Now, what’s the official College Board explanation? This horrible monstrosity:

It’s not formatted, it’s difficult to follow, and it doesn’t even MENTION DESMOS! The tool that is the ENTIRE POINT of the question! Not only that, but if you were to actually go ahead and solve the problem this way, you would spend SO MUCH TIME on it that you would undoubtedly get a lower score overall than had you simply NOT attempted this question and better invested the time elsewhere.

So I think this serves as a wonderful illustration: these people are not on your side. While teachers and schools advocate for their students, always striving to help them achieve more, the SAT, in this particular case, is actively holding students back by not providing them with the best, nay, even, the correct explanation of the question in question.

In a nutshell, standardized tests are not trying to help you. They want you to make careless mistakes. They’re trying to trip you up. Once you’re aware of this, it’s a lot easier to compensate for it. For example, on every question, look for careless mistakes as if you’re sure they’re there. Because, given this environment, there’s an excellent chance they are. 

Once again it’s my honor and duty to remind everyone about when all of the upcoming SAT & ACT test dates are, and when all of their signup deadlines are…so here you go, my latest table: