When I took the SAT, there wasn’t an essay portion available. There WAS an essay on the SAT II, formerly known as the Achievement Tests. I think it’s still structured the same as when I took it.
SAT: Verbal & Math – I got a 690 on Verbal and a whopping 510 on the Math.
SAT II: Writing (essay), Math (I, IC, or II; I was easy, IC was harder, but you got to use a calculator, and II was most difficult and you could use a calculator), and a subject test of your choice, ie, a foreign language, English literature, World or American history, or any science. I took English literature. I think my final scores were Writing – 680, Math – 510 (again), and Literature – 650. Only multiples of ten, again.
Not any more. Kyla’s right as far as I know. They haven’t given out any SAT scores that aren’t multiples of ten since at least the last score recalibration they did, which I think was in the neighborhood of 1994.
As a nearly useless data point, I took mine back in '96 and '97 and there were only multiple-of-ten scores on the half-dozen or so tests I took.
Add me to the camp of people who understand that SAT scores measure nothing but how well a student performs on the SAT. I thank my stars that they mattered so much when I was in school, because I’d never have gotten in the places I did without mine, but they’re totally useless as an indicator of how intelligent a student is, or how well a student will succeed in school.
On-topic response: I don’t know who Joe Conason is, but the more Dope exposure that’s out there, the better as far as I’m concerned.
I just wanted to agree with Kyla. I got a 1360 on my SAT, got good grades at one of the top public high schools in the country, had lots of activiities (incl leadership roles) and I was NOWHERE near being qualified for entrance to Yale.
In fact I was rejected by a number of non-Ivy League schools.
When my older sister took her SATs in 1969, she got scores that weren’t multiples of 10. When I took mine in the spring of 1971, my classmates and I got scores that were multiples of 10.
Thanks for saying that, Kyla. That’s exactly the point I was trying to make earlier.
BTW, I do know a few people that were admitted to Yale and other Ivies. All of them were absolutely top students, and had amazing SAT scores (ie, 1500s), and tons of AP classes. The one exception is a girl in my high school class went to Yale on an athletic scholarship (she was a gymnast). And she was still an excellent student - I just don’t think she would have gotten in had she not been recruited for her athletic abilities.
My ex is a brilliant guy. He’s working on a PhD in inorganic chemistry right now. He took 7 AP tests and got a 5 (top score) on 6 of them. He was saluditorian of his HS class, and was a National Merit Scholar (an award based on SAT scores). And he didn’t get into Yale. Is George Bush a total moron? Well…yes, actually. Come on! The guy didn’t think anything was amiss when a comedian asked him to send a message to PM Jean Poutine! That’s not a matter of misspeaking, that’s a matter of not knowing the name of the leader of the freaking country next door. Even I know that, and I don’t have a Yale education!
In short:
*It’s hard to get into Yale.
*Not getting admitted to Yale doesn’t automatically make you a stupidhead.
*That George Bush did get into Yale makes us all suspicious, plus highly amused that he submitted a brief to the Supreme Court explaining why he doesn’t like affirmative action, because lord knows, it’s unfair for one group to have any advantage over another.
*Also, George Bush is a complete idiot, with or without a Yale education.
Joe Conason!?! Is that the same Joe Conason who was on TV back in 1997, when asked about Clinton raping Jaunita Broadrick, said that maybe she asked for it?
Yes, obviously the man that has managed to gain the presidency is a complete moron, on par with the guy who works at the recylcing place down the street.
Sheesh.
The man may not be a ‘well-rounded’ doper type brain, but he’s got a brain. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t have lasted in the public eye, family or not.
As for his dad pulling strings… so what? If I had the ability to pull strings for my kids, I would. So would, I imagine, most other parents. Placement is one thing, succeeding is another.
Aside from his father being a very famous alumni, Bush probably also got points for going to Andover, one of the toughest prep schools in the country and the school of three different presidents, a number of Senators, Actors, and captains of industry.
Let’s face it - There are a number of very old, powerful families who get treated just a little special. Bush didn’t have to seek out special treatment, and his Dad didn’t have to pull strings. Someone just looked at the resume, saw the lineage and the prep schools, and rubber-stamped his admission. And the same thing happened to Al Gore.
I have no doubt that if Sam Stone had 1206 SAT’s and a public school education, Yale wouldn’t have given me a look.
While the work they give you at a place like Andover is certainly more challenging than that at your typical public HS, the fact is that it’s easier than you think to graduate from the Exeters and Andovers of the world, once you get in. And Bush’s lineage was - surprise! - undoubtedly a big help in getting into Andover.
Exactly. Thank you for making my point for me, Sam - he didn’t even have to ask for special treatment; he expected and received it as a matter of course. And now he’s saying that special treatment should be available to people like him, but not to them other kind.
The difference being, Al Gore doesn’t argue that special treatment shouldn’t be available to people who aren’t like him.
I’ll take it a bit further - forget entirely the public schools we graduated from. Yale probably turned down even a bunch of Exeter, Andover, Deerfield, etc. grads from lesser families, whose scores were in the 1200s and 1300s.
How smart is Bush? I’m willing to take his 1200 SATs as evidence that he’s got some basic brains. And the man is unquestionably shrewd, and shrewdness is a form of intelligence.
But he’d be sliced, diced, sauteed, and served up with garnish in GD, and it wouldn’t exactly take our sharper debaters to do it. That’s also a measure, and a nontrivial one, IMHO.
Okay, maybe that’s too strong. He’s averagely intelligent, probably. He and I have the same SAT scores! And I figure I’m averagely intelligent, not that SAT scores are really a measure of anything other than SAT scores.
I do not, however, think he’s smart enough to be the president. I don’t think I’m smart enough to be the president, either, FWIW.
