As of this morning, the Blogger SAT Challenge has been looked at by 177 people. The number of completed essays is considerably smaller-- Dave estimates somewhere around 40-- and so far, everyone I've heard from has said that it was a lot harder than they thought it would be.
Even Kate thought it was tough, and she's way smarter than I am.
So, do you have what it takes to face the Challenge? It'll only take 21 minutes, and it'll give you a new perspective on education...
(Also, if you're an English composition type who would be willing to grade a few of these SAT style, email me at orzelc at steelypips dot org. We're looking for some volunteer graders.)
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So, the Blogger SAT Challenge has officially run its course, and Dave has posted the question to Cognitive Daily. I'll reproduce it below the fold, and make some general comments.
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It was almost exactly as hard as I thought it'd be.
Which is to say: really easy when you've spent the last few years turning your brain into a machine that takes in questions and spits out five-paragraph essays, but a little too short on time when you're out of practice at that.
High school essay writing seems like kind of an esoteric skill, really. Like juggling. Read question. Think of plausible three-part response. Write introductory paragraph, ending with topic sentence. Write three paragraphs, one for each part of the answer, connecting each with an appropriate transition. Write concluding paragraph summarizing the contents of the rest of the essay.
I was really, really good at that back then. But who cares?
It was definitely harder than I expected. I'd like to think I don't completely suck at running an idea around my brain and slapping some words into a blog post. The biggest difficulty for me was that I couldn't take a break, step outside and smoke and mull over what I think I think. I have a habit of disagreeing with myself throughout writing, and I do a lot of editing as I figure out what I'm saying. But with this challenge, knowing I didn't have the time, I felt rushed to get it written and at least edited to make sense.
I did mention this challenge on my own blog, so I hope to have sent a few people this direction, but I can't know whether I've helped or not.
I had a crack at it...it was pretty tough. We had timed essays when I was at school too (in the UK), but usually with much longer time limits and more narrow questions.
I'll be interested to see what other people came up with. I'll not be so keen to see my own work again, though...