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Is it just me or is something wrong here..

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theBearJew
Posts: 10951 - Karma: 15,633
Apparently on the SAT they had a questions about reality TV. I thought those prompts were supposed to be educationally challenging.

Here is the prompt.

Reality television programs, which feature real people engaged in real activities rather than professional actors performing scripted scenes, are increasingly popular. These shows depict ordinary people competing in everything from singing and dancing to losing weight, or just living their everyday lives. Most people believe that the reality these shows portray is authentic, but they are being misled. How authentic can these shows be when producers design challenges for the participants and then editors alter filmed scenes?

Do people benefit from forms of entertainment that show so-called reality, or are such forms of entertainment harmful?


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/17/sat-prompt-asks-students-_n_837087.html

WTF?
Mar 19 2011 11:16AM
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pmw
Posts: 5760 - Karma: 829
good job explaining why this isnt educationally challenging and why you find it so stupid


good thread OP
Mar 19 2011 11:20AM
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TehGaim
Posts: 139 - Karma: 16
Big fucking deal. If any kid can't answer that question they need to crawl out from under their dark, cold rock. Being current in popular media affairs is just as important as knowing when Lincoln died.
Mar 19 2011 11:21AM
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pmw
Posts: 5760 - Karma: 829
i said no


all reality tv is 100% bullshit so i argued with points that follow that
Mar 19 2011 11:22AM
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theBearJew
Posts: 10951 - Karma: 15,633
I just feel like there are plenty of other topics that are more widely known than reality TV. Maybe I'm just a hater when it comes to reality TV but I feel like it has no place for the SAT. I would have found the topic distracting from the test. IT just doesn't seem to fit with the SAT
Mar 19 2011 11:22AM
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pmw
Posts: 5760 - Karma: 829
how old are you?
how many sats have you taken?

how would you find it fucking distracting? that doesnt even make any sense


Mar 19 2011 11:24AM
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pmw
Posts: 5760 - Karma: 829
when mapping out my reasons at the beginning i used its lying, can corrupt morals, and gives a false sense of right and wrong

i dunno, i didnt think it was a bad prompt at all
Mar 19 2011 11:25AM
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TehGaim
Posts: 139 - Karma: 16
If some kid answers believing that reality tv 100% real they can mark his dumbass down.

Does it fit, no. Does it have academic prose, possibly.
Mar 19 2011 11:25AM
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_Will_
Posts: 80 - Karma: 14
its just you. nothings wrong
Mar 19 2011 11:28AM
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TehGaim
Posts: 139 - Karma: 16
Neither do I. By writing a well formed opinion, you demonstrate critical thinking, organization in your response and the ability to analyze a prompt and answer it appropriately. Im pretty sure they are not looking for knowledge of reality shows.
Mar 19 2011 11:28AM
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feihlination
Posts: 8356 - Karma: 1,084
well its not really requiring (the way the question is posed) that you watch reality tv, right?

all information is given in the question.



#########################################################
t-rex A and hippopotamus B are sitting beneath a tree and discuss their problems. A would like to kill B and eat him, while B would like to play a round of chess.

what can both do to solve the problem?
#########################################################
you dont need to know A or B to say 2-3 sentences about this great example of what i mean
Mar 19 2011 11:28AM
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pmw
Posts: 5760 - Karma: 829
and that liberal puss-shit known as the huffington post
Mar 19 2011 11:28AM
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theBearJew
Posts: 10951 - Karma: 15,633
21 years old graduating college this semester. I took the SAT 3 times.
Mar 19 2011 11:33AM
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feihlination
Posts: 8356 - Karma: 1,084
i am from europe, so idk much about this SAT and its corresponding system. are you "special" or "special" when you have to do it three times?
Mar 19 2011 11:36AM
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TehGaim
Posts: 139 - Karma: 16
It is really hard test to fail, so 3 times definitely makes him "special"
Mar 19 2011 11:39AM
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pmw
Posts: 5760 - Karma: 829
why did you say special twice?


and no, you just want to get the best score possible to many kids retake it at least once
Mar 19 2011 11:41AM
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theBearJew
Posts: 10951 - Karma: 15,633
Not a matter of failing it but you can take it as many times as necessary and it combines the best scores of the sections. So if u do well on math the first time it takes that score as ur best. So you benefit from taking it more times.
Mar 19 2011 7:51PM
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Smuffy
Posts: 4685 - Karma: 3,407
hahaha if you have to ask that you must be "special"
Mar 19 2011 9:27PM
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skier_boy26
Posts: 11295 - Karma: 502
I vaguely remember my SAT essay prompt being about tabloids and celebrities. Needless to say I was totally off guard for that (then again I didn't waste 1 minute studying for the SAT so whatever).

But there is so much to work with there that you can write your ass off. The more you write, generally the higher your score.
Mar 19 2011 9:33PM
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RudyGarmisch
Posts: 25443 - Karma: 13,844
Protip: Dont ever bother reading the paragraph above. Many students, like yourself, read it and think they have to draw on similar examples. You dont. Its there to trick you.

"Do people benefit from forms of entertainment that show so-called reality, or are such forms of entertainment harmful?"

This^ is the actual question. Nowhere do I see that you need to have watched "reality TV", as there are many examples from literature, film, plays, that depict normal scenes of everyday life that I could draw upon to prove my point. Shit, if I was really sneaky, I could turn the prompt around and prove through three examples of NON-reality entertainment that reality TV must be harmful. Seriously, if its on the SAT, you can use almost any three examples you want - I have yet to ever find a essay prompt that I cannot use some scene from the movie "The Matrix" from.

And for the reasons stated above, I conclude that the SAT is a bullshit test.
Mar 19 2011 9:36PM
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pmw
Posts: 5760 - Karma: 829
i learned this this year...so helpful
Mar 19 2011 9:43PM
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freestyler540
Posts: 13046 - Karma: 18,292
really? I already figured that out after the first survivor. But psychologist will tell you that we love these unscripted eruption because it is related to us. So, we just perversely wanna find more out to find what we have in common with the awe-so-special normal person on TV so we can get that simple pleasure of being someone important without doing  a thing.

but hey its entertainment right? it fulfills its purpose, like any other category of show.
Mar 19 2011 9:59PM
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Nobody.
Posts: 1193 - Karma: 471
I don't know, but this seems like a perfectly normal SAT question to me, they are supposed to pick questions out of the blue that they feel will challenge you on a level to get you into college, that's all I know, and my source is my sister.
Mar 19 2011 10:06PM
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