Studying 14-16 hours a day for the Chinese SAT's?

[Hacp]

Originally posted by: nerdress
I don't think I studied for the SAT's, which would probably explain my awful score BOTH times I took it.

And then I go ahead and ace classes in college..does this make any sense?

Yes it does make sense. The SATs are a test of how hard you're willing to work. If you put the time and effort in, you can easily get a good grade. Now there are students who don't put the work in and rely on prior knowledge, and they still get a good grade, but that just shows that they retained the information they needed to succeed from high school courses.

In your case, you didn't study for the SATs and you did horribly. However, in college, I'm guessing you made at least a small effort in preparing for your classes, which should explain the good grades.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Originally posted by: mcmilljb
I'm surprised people in the US honestly think you can do well on the SAT without preparing and *gasp* studying. You study for tests in a class, why not for the SAT?

Not worth the time if you have a score high enough to get into the school you want to attend. If it makes anyone feel better, I do not recall any graduate schooling giving a darn about SAT scores, but you have to deal with its big brother, the GRE. I did not bother studying for it either, because I knew I could make high enough to go to the school that I wanted to attend.

 

[mcmilljb]

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh

Originally posted by: mcmilljb
I'm surprised people in the US honestly think you can do well on the SAT without preparing and *gasp* studying. You study for tests in a class, why not for the SAT?

Not worth the time if you have a score high enough to get into the school you want to attend. If it makes anyone feel better, I do not recall any graduate schooling giving a darn about SAT scores, but you have to deal with its big brother, the GRE. I did not bother studying for it either, because I knew I could make high enough to go to the school that I wanted to attend.

You won't know your score until after you take the exam. I'm not arguing you need to go to the extreme like the Chinese, but what harm do you do to yourself to work hard for something that can improve your life? Some scholarships are based off SAT scores. It might also help you decide to apply for a better school you might not have thought about.

If you're going to take a test you paid for, why not try your best to get the most out of it? Some people aspire to more than just getting by, especially if you can get something else out of it.

 

[Nik]

I don't feel bad for the Chinese having to study so hard. It's not like they have a human rights section of the test.

 

[ChaoZ]

You only get one chance a year to take it? What a load of crap.

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: mcmilljb

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh

Originally posted by: mcmilljb
I'm surprised people in the US honestly think you can do well on the SAT without preparing and *gasp* studying. You study for tests in a class, why not for the SAT?

Not worth the time if you have a score high enough to get into the school you want to attend. If it makes anyone feel better, I do not recall any graduate schooling giving a darn about SAT scores, but you have to deal with its big brother, the GRE. I did not bother studying for it either, because I knew I could make high enough to go to the school that I wanted to attend.

You won't know your score until after you take the exam. I'm not arguing you need to go to the extreme like the Chinese, but what harm do you do to yourself to work hard for something that can improve your life? Some scholarships are based off SAT scores. It might also help you decide to apply for a better school you might not have thought about.

If you're going to take a test you paid for, why not try your best to get the most out of it? Some people aspire to more than just getting by, especially if you can get something else out of it.

you can take tests to see generally how you are gonna score

 

[mcmilljb]

Originally posted by: Anubis

Originally posted by: mcmilljb

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh

Originally posted by: mcmilljb
I'm surprised people in the US honestly think you can do well on the SAT without preparing and *gasp* studying. You study for tests in a class, why not for the SAT?

Not worth the time if you have a score high enough to get into the school you want to attend. If it makes anyone feel better, I do not recall any graduate schooling giving a darn about SAT scores, but you have to deal with its big brother, the GRE. I did not bother studying for it either, because I knew I could make high enough to go to the school that I wanted to attend.

You won't know your score until after you take the exam. I'm not arguing you need to go to the extreme like the Chinese, but what harm do you do to yourself to work hard for something that can improve your life? Some scholarships are based off SAT scores. It might also help you decide to apply for a better school you might not have thought about.

If you're going to take a test you paid for, why not try your best to get the most out of it? Some people aspire to more than just getting by, especially if you can get something else out of it.

you can take tests to see generally how you are gonna score

You mean practice tests are not part of preparing for the real test? They only come with most study material.

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: mcmilljb

Originally posted by: Anubis

Originally posted by: mcmilljb

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh

Originally posted by: mcmilljb
I'm surprised people in the US honestly think you can do well on the SAT without preparing and *gasp* studying. You study for tests in a class, why not for the SAT?

Not worth the time if you have a score high enough to get into the school you want to attend. If it makes anyone feel better, I do not recall any graduate schooling giving a darn about SAT scores, but you have to deal with its big brother, the GRE. I did not bother studying for it either, because I knew I could make high enough to go to the school that I wanted to attend.

You won't know your score until after you take the exam. I'm not arguing you need to go to the extreme like the Chinese, but what harm do you do to yourself to work hard for something that can improve your life? Some scholarships are based off SAT scores. It might also help you decide to apply for a betterd school you might not have thought about.

If you're going to take a test you paid for, why not try your best to get the most out of it? Some people aspire to more than just getting by, especially if you can get something else out of it.

you can take tests to see generally how you are gonna score

You mean practice tests are not part of preparing for the real test? They only come with most study material.

IMO no
i took the PSAT did well enough and did not study at all for the real one took it with the worst hangover ive ever had in my entire life and scored great

 

[slsmnaz]

Originally posted by: Anubis

Originally posted by: mcmilljb

Originally posted by: Anubis

Originally posted by: mcmilljb

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh

Originally posted by: mcmilljb
I'm surprised people in the US honestly think you can do well on the SAT without preparing and *gasp* studying. You study for tests in a class, why not for the SAT?

Not worth the time if you have a score high enough to get into the school you want to attend. If it makes anyone feel better, I do not recall any graduate schooling giving a darn about SAT scores, but you have to deal with its big brother, the GRE. I did not bother studying for it either, because I knew I could make high enough to go to the school that I wanted to attend.

You won't know your score until after you take the exam. I'm not arguing you need to go to the extreme like the Chinese, but what harm do you do to yourself to work hard for something that can improve your life? Some scholarships are based off SAT scores. It might also help you decide to apply for a betterd school you might not have thought about.

If you're going to take a test you paid for, why not try your best to get the most out of it? Some people aspire to more than just getting by, especially if you can get something else out of it.

you can take tests to see generally how you are gonna score

You mean practice tests are not part of preparing for the real test? They only come with most study material.

IMO no
i took the PSAT did well enough and did not study at all for the real one took it with the worst hangover ive ever had in my entire life and scored great

I did something similar just switched the hangover- was hungover for the PSAT and still did great on it. FIgured why study for the SAT when I would be fine. Some people are just good test takers.

 

[TridenT]

Originally posted by: nerdress
I don't think I studied for the SAT's, which would probably explain my awful score BOTH times I took it.

And then I go ahead and ace classes in college..does this make any sense?

Maybe because you did the homework in college?

China is going to own us one day... China and India... They will eventually screw us because they will have so many engineers.

 

[Fox5]

Originally posted by: mcmilljb

Originally posted by: nerdress
I don't think I studied for the SAT's, which would probably explain my awful score BOTH times I took it.

And then I go ahead and ace classes in college..does this make any sense?

Is it safe to say you studied and prepared for tests in college?

I'm surprised people in the US honestly think you can do well on the SAT without preparing and *gasp* studying. You study for tests in a class, why not for the SAT?

I did well on the SAT (1430 on the 1600 scale) without studying. It's not a hard test. Heck, even the SAT II's aren't hard tests if you've taken the pre-requisite courses. The GRE wasn't hard either, though the vocab was a bit less common so I could see the need to study for it.

You only have to study for the SAT if you haven't learned the material on it by that point, and in that case your high school failed you.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: Imp
The great "if you do well in school, you'll succeed" myth continues on.

Originally posted by: Champ
the pictures of the hospital was insane...they are taking this way too far

I can't believe that this is physically or mentally healthy

Don't know if it's underreported in the west, but out of China, you always hear stories of kids who commit the suicide cause they failed a test, or didn't get an A. That's culture for you.

because here we make it too easy. Get an F, you can just take the test over.

 

[thecrecarc]

Sigh, that news article is all too true. People I know in china tell me the stories, ugh. Hell, even if you bomb the SATs, you can merely retake it without any concern. It is crazy over in china.

 

[JS80]

lol sounds like Korea. imagine a society where the cashiers are college graduates. over-education FTL.

 

[TruePaige]

Originally posted by: TridenTBoy3555

Originally posted by: nerdress
I don't think I studied for the SAT's, which would probably explain my awful score BOTH times I took it.

And then I go ahead and ace classes in college..does this make any sense?

Maybe because you did the homework in college?

China is going to own us one day... China and India... They will eventually screw us because they will have so many engineers.

That's such a narrow view of things.

The great engineers / mathematics pioneers have always had creativity. Countries like China and India make it hard to follow your dreams, and cut so many talented people who never had a chance.

We also have twice the college enrollment of China as well in case you were curious.

 

[eLiu]

I don't know if it's been said yet (too lazy to read), but the reason people in China (Taiwan, India, and probably other asian countries) study 12hrs a day, every day, for 4 years for the "SAT" is because that score determines what college they go to. And you get at most one try per year (often just one try period). (Actually in many of those countries, there are several such exams that decide what quality of middle/high school you get to attend.)

Not only that but those "SAT" exams aren't a joke like ours is. I guarantee you that 99% of US college grads could not do well on the math part of any of those tests. There's just no comparison between any exam, pre- or post-graduate, issued in the US and these asian college entrance beasts.

I'm not saying that their testing strategy is good or optimal. It seems ridiculous to me to have your whole life based on one exam. One thing is for sure; if the US had this system, I would've gone to a much lower ranked college,

 

[Pepsei]

it's not just china, taiwan, japan..etc have similar tests like this. can anyone verify if south korea's too?

college is very difficult to get into in japan and taiwan, if you don't make it, you have to wait another year to take the test. unlike the states, hell, i got a shitty 1200 (out of 1600) back in the 1988 and i had a handful of choices.

 

[ivan2]

the reason they try so hard is because in china there's only 1 shot to get into the top school. most people don't retake next year, even if they do, it's for the chance to go to college at all but not the chance to go to the best schools. and they believe if you don't go to the top school you will go to crappy school and live a crappy life.

it's not just college entrance, middle school and high school entrances are similarly stressful.

 

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: her209

Originally posted by: Imp
Don't know if it's underreported in the west, but out of China, you always hear stories of kids who commit the suicide cause they failed a test, or didn't get an A. That's culture for you.

Darwin Award. By the way, this happens in the US also.

and it's usually the Asian students, right?

 

[TehMac]

Originally posted by: Imp
The great "if you do well in school, you'll succeed" myth continues on.

I don't think it's a myth for them. And regardless, China is approaching the top nation of technology and business. They work harder than other nations, and are coming up the ladder.

 

[smack Down]

Originally posted by: eLiu
I don't know if it's been said yet (too lazy to read), but the reason people in China (Taiwan, India, and probably other asian countries) study 12hrs a day, every day, for 4 years for the "SAT" is because that score determines what college they go to. And you get at most one try per year (often just one try period). (Actually in many of those countries, there are several such exams that decide what quality of middle/high school you get to attend.)

Not only that but those "SAT" exams aren't a joke like ours is. I guarantee you that 99% of US college grads could not do well on the math part of any of those tests. There's just no comparison between any exam, pre- or post-graduate, issued in the US and these asian college entrance beasts.

I'm not saying that their testing strategy is good or optimal. It seems ridiculous to me to have your whole life based on one exam. One thing is for sure; if the US had this system, I would've gone to a much lower ranked college,

If 99% of the US college grads couldn't pass the math test means it is a piss poor test.

 

[BW86]

that's just crazy

 

[TecHNooB]

I'll keep this in mind whenever I study for finals

 

[grrl]

Originally posted by: Pepsei
it's not just china, taiwan, japan..etc have similar tests like this. can anyone verify if south korea's too?

college is very difficult to get into in japan and taiwan, if you don't make it, you have to wait another year to take the test. unlike the states, hell, i got a shitty 1200 (out of 1600) back in the 1988 and i had a handful of choices.

The situation is the same in S Korea. Students spend their high school years stressing over and studying for their SAT.

 

[FS]

Originally posted by: zinfamous

Originally posted by: her209

Originally posted by: Imp
Don't know if it's underreported in the west, but out of China, you always hear stories of kids who commit the suicide cause they failed a test, or didn't get an A. That's culture for you.

Darwin Award. By the way, this happens in the US also.

and it's usually the Asian students, right?

Yup, it usually happens among Asian Americans.

PS: Here's an interesting piece of writing by an Asian man that's related to this topic and is worth reading.