One sided coin on the SAT

Since my sources here are from this REALLY old technology called "Books," I won't be able to do many snippets, but hopefully my point will be well backed by a few quotes and SHEER RHETORIC. So buckle up.

These past two weeks have been bookended by two events: the ACT and the SAT. In an attempt to keep my head above water, I - that is to say, my mum - bought the offical SAT guide, and we resused my sisters 2005 version of the Princeton Review's Cracking the ACT.

First off, props to Cracking. The Princeton Review has always done a good job on AP, College Searches, and entrance exams. It started off saying "The scores tell you this: If you do well on the ACT, it simply means you did well on the ACT." Which is a great way to say "Good gravy kids, this is just a test. It's only a test." The Offical SAT  guide book (we'll call it Guide for short) starts with and advertisment on their online course, saying that with the purchase of this book, we are entiteled to a discount on the online course. Isn't the College Board supposed to be non-profit?

For those non-believers of my opening statement out there, check out my previous questions. A rhetorical questions, might I add.

Cracking went through each type of problem, showed you what the testers are looking for, explained common traps the writers left, and then present strategies to solve it. Guide, however, seemed to pride itself in containing EIGHT practice tests. Their breakdown section was no where near as personable as Cracking, and a bit gloomy to be honest.

My favorite part came to the Guide's essay. It's sample essay had a prompt that stated "There is always a however" (only, in not so many word) and asked to take a stance on it. They wondered  The essay that recieved a Six (an actual student's essay) was about being a perfectionist and nearly killing himself to do well in school. But who cares about him.

I was just shocked that a standardized test had the gall to ask if there were two sides to every problem. For the next five hours, I was about to sit through too many questions; each and every one of them had one outcome: one correct answer. In fact, this single answer was SO correct, that they'll take points away if you choose the wrong question.

So are there two sides to this issue? Is college entry standarized test the be all end all of a highschooler? I mean, facts say that your quality of life is tenfold that of someone who does not have a degree. In 8th grade, the statistic was $1,000,000. Each and every essay the Guide presented as an example agreed that there always is a however. Yet, they seem to bank a lot on the fact that you need their test to get into a good college. Hell, to get into ANY college. What do you think? Reponses welcome.