<instructions>Your goal is to analyze the following comment and estimate how highly it will be upvoted by the Hacker News community.</instructions><comment><author>bsanr2</author><text>I did 2160 out of 2400 (1490 on the 1600 scale), which got me Merit Commended and an Achievement Scholars Candidacy. No test prep, save for basic instructions and having taken the PSAT twice. AFAIC I bombed the math portion and would have scored over 700 if I&amp;#x27;d taken it a second time. I was a decent student, but nothing special. That was a decade ago. Currently working in a big chain retailer&amp;#x27;s warehouse for $17&amp;#x2F;hr.&lt;p&gt;Accordingly, I think the SAT is a bit of a farce. Like BMI, it&amp;#x27;s essentially worthless without context that, assessed prudently, could advise stakeholders on its own, without the test score. Likewise, it obfuscates the true nature of the strengths and weaknesses of the tested. With a 9xth percentile score, are you like me, possessing a high natural aptitude but dealing with the fallout of a mental health issues, a dysfunctional home life, and the fundamental difficulties of being black in American society? Are you a intellectually-middling child of wealthy parents who can afford to shove test prep down your throat until you &amp;quot;get it,&amp;quot; and then provide for your professional needs post-college? Or are you a hard-worker who studied diligently, only to exit undergrad to find that your options are severely limited by your debt load?&lt;p&gt;This is all kind of beside the point, however. We get stuck in this quagmire of discussing how best to facilitate the sorting and tracking of our youth into will succeed&amp;#x2F;won&amp;#x27;t succeed boxes, when we should be working to assure success across the board. Why are some American colleges (entrance into which is the aim of taking the SAT in the first place) excellent, and others not? Why the acceptance of such disparities in educational quality?</text><parent_chain><item><author>IMAYousaf</author><text>I missed 1 question when i took the SAT 6-7ish years ago, resulting in the second highest possible score. It made me a US Presidential Scholars Medal Program Candidate. Take what I say for what it’s worth, which probably isn’t a lot, but I’d like to share my experience and why I believe I scored well.&lt;p&gt;I never took any prep course. I always was of the mindset that the only value they provided was forced practice. I never bought that they taught secrets of test taking.&lt;p&gt;Instead I bought 2 books, and 2 books only. One was the official SAT Guide which was $20ish. Secondly I bought a Kaplan book which just had 12 tests in it for $20. Both of these books were also available in the reference section of the public library.&lt;p&gt;I worked through about a test a week the 4ish months prior to the SAT, and read articles online about the SAT if I came across them. I felt very in the know regarding the test and just flew through it when taking it.&lt;p&gt;I used that score to tutor others for pay, and my friends for free. I found out that just walking people through the test was about confidence, which really jumped people’s score up. Naturally most people I came across were between a 1500 and an 1800 out of 2400. For people below that, they tended to need remedial education to improve their scores. Between 1800 and 2150 usually was a result of understanding patterns in the test and what to look for. Those were learned through some rigor in prep using the two aforementioned books. Finally, for students who wanted to score above a 2150 to a 2400, the differences in those that did and didn’t were not educational content based, but rather big picture problem solving strategy in how to logic through problems and knowing what to look for.&lt;p&gt;The SAT, IMO, is a relatively good predictor of someone’s educational attainment the first time they try one prior to any prep. I scored exactly what I predicted and after $40 of self-study, which could’ve been done for free, I scored what I knew I could.</text></item></parent_chain></comment><story><title>SAT Scores Fall as More Students Take the Test</title><url>https://www.wsj.com/articles/sat-scores-fall-as-more-students-take-the-test-11569297660?mod=rsswn</url></story>
<instructions>Your goal is to analyze the following comment and estimate how highly it will be upvoted by the Hacker News community.</instructions><comment><author>dharmon</author><text>I only did alright on the SAT, but I smoked the GRE by doing something similar.&lt;p&gt;The Kaplan book had a CD with a few practice tests. I think I did 2. If for no other reason, they are super useful for figuring out how to pace yourself.&lt;p&gt;The math section was (is?) easy for most people on this site. This seems the norm because the score&amp;#x2F;percentile relationship was incredibly high.&lt;p&gt;The English section kills people. My pro-tip is, in the same Kaplan book, they have a list of the most common words. I made flashcards for the top 100, and I&amp;#x27;ll be damned if like 80 of them didn&amp;#x27;t show up on the test. I imagine this is similar for the SATs.</text><parent_chain><item><author>IMAYousaf</author><text>I missed 1 question when i took the SAT 6-7ish years ago, resulting in the second highest possible score. It made me a US Presidential Scholars Medal Program Candidate. Take what I say for what it’s worth, which probably isn’t a lot, but I’d like to share my experience and why I believe I scored well.&lt;p&gt;I never took any prep course. I always was of the mindset that the only value they provided was forced practice. I never bought that they taught secrets of test taking.&lt;p&gt;Instead I bought 2 books, and 2 books only. One was the official SAT Guide which was $20ish. Secondly I bought a Kaplan book which just had 12 tests in it for $20. Both of these books were also available in the reference section of the public library.&lt;p&gt;I worked through about a test a week the 4ish months prior to the SAT, and read articles online about the SAT if I came across them. I felt very in the know regarding the test and just flew through it when taking it.&lt;p&gt;I used that score to tutor others for pay, and my friends for free. I found out that just walking people through the test was about confidence, which really jumped people’s score up. Naturally most people I came across were between a 1500 and an 1800 out of 2400. For people below that, they tended to need remedial education to improve their scores. Between 1800 and 2150 usually was a result of understanding patterns in the test and what to look for. Those were learned through some rigor in prep using the two aforementioned books. Finally, for students who wanted to score above a 2150 to a 2400, the differences in those that did and didn’t were not educational content based, but rather big picture problem solving strategy in how to logic through problems and knowing what to look for.&lt;p&gt;The SAT, IMO, is a relatively good predictor of someone’s educational attainment the first time they try one prior to any prep. I scored exactly what I predicted and after $40 of self-study, which could’ve been done for free, I scored what I knew I could.</text></item></parent_chain></comment><story><title>SAT Scores Fall as More Students Take the Test</title><url>https://www.wsj.com/articles/sat-scores-fall-as-more-students-take-the-test-11569297660?mod=rsswn</url></story>