APRIL FOOLS

On April 1, 1995 the "recentering'' of SAT scores will go into effect. The official College Board guide to the SAT I gives two sets of conversion factors for its sample test - one for use before April 1, 1995 and one for use thereafter. For example, a verbal raw score of 52 will be counted as 530 before that date, but as 600 afterwards. Last year just 17 students achieved a perfect grade of 1600 with 800 on each test given only for no incorrect answers. After April 1, three incorrect answers on the verbal test will still be given a score of 800.

Figure 3, from Science 265 (1994) p 1030, summarizes this change.

We wonder how often this debasement of the nation's intellectual currency will be necessary in the future. With socialism in education increasingly turning our institutions of higher learning into remedial academic grade schools, the universities may soon be unable to perform their modern goals of politically correct social engineering.