Asperger's and standardized tests (SAT, ACT, LSAT, GRE, etc)

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Thanks to everyone who replied. It seems that there are a wide variety of stories here. The fact is that these tests are less than "not perfect." They're inaccurate at predicting the ability of the test-taker to succeed at a given graduate school. Take the LSAT, for example. They say it predicts performance in law school because it tests for certain skills. That's nonsense. Ever hear of lazy geniuses? For me, it didn't even reflect my grasp of the skills it tests for, much less how I strive to be a perfect student and have succeeded GPA-wise. But law schools could care less about this.

I just also the fact that these tests are called standardized tests should set of some alarms. Only NTs would think of such a silly idea.

It doesn't mean you just test well. It means you have high aptitude to learn things. Having high aptitude means one has to work less to learn/perform something.

From what I've observed, they manage to turn their studying into socializing: study parties. Supposedly, they actually get a good bit of studying done.

I have a tendency of scoring fairly well on the standardized tests; however, this is largely because modern education is largely, if not mostly, almost entirely, training for such exams. Ironically, I score perfect scores on the math portion of our state's standardized tests, yet math is one of my worst subjects academically.

I do agree that standardized testing is inefficient and wish the best of luck to all of those who are planning its eventual replacement.

Standardized testing only works well for the average person, or those close enough to average. Unfortunately when you get too far from average all measurement tools fail - including standardized tests.

Personally, standardized tests work very terribly on me. I'm too far from average in too many ways.

I hate standardized tests like the ACT. My biggest problem with them is the ridiculous time limit that makes you rush quickly through the test, and thus more likely to make mistakes. The real world doesn't reward people who rush through things fast and make mistakes. Much better to do things right than to do them fast and wrong. The test does not accommodate people who are slow but effective thinkers, which is a shame.

This is why they do give extra time as an accommodation to those who qualify.

I studied for the SAT over the summer, and got 2320 out of 2400.
Although I haven't been diagnosed yet, I sure have many of the signs of AS.

It's all a matter of adapting and seeing the testmakers' line of thought.

I am on the fence for that one, UK anyway. As they caught female test paper markers downgrading male papers & teachers breaking the rules by getting inside information & some schools getting exam papers from dodgy exam body’s that designed the papers for high league table scores & then they is brain dumping, were people put up illegal websites for people to get the questions that are on the tests.

& then they was the cock-up of the exam papers, having to be re-done. I know when I was at school you did not get the papers back to check over them. Might be just UK here.

But do you now get them back, just so you can double check them?

During my SAT, the administrator filed her nails for about 5 minutes, and the sound of nail files makes me nauseous, so I didn't do so well on the test because I could not focus and wanted to run away and vomit. And because she had said at the start of the test that we were to remain quiet, I never spoke up. I sat there debating it, looking around the room frantically for an answer... for someone else to maybe say something... it was horrible.
I did better on the ACT, but I went into it nervous as well because of taking the SAT first. I'm pretty sure I would have done a lot better on both test if not for that dumb woman.

The prediction power is based on statistics across a large population. Statistically the lower the LSAT score the worse the performance in Law School. Statistically the better the MCAT score the better the performance in medical school. Yet there are individuals with low scores who do well and individuals with high scores who do poorly. But statistics looks at the population as a whole, and deal with probability functions.

Who said I didn't do well on standardized tests? I just don't do as well on higher education standardized tests, because it doesn't show my abilities and what I DO know. My point is that I feel it is unfair to keep having to take tests such as the GRE when those tests aren't going to show my true talents and knowledge of my field. The basic GRE, minus the writing part, is essentially the SAT. And many studies show that scores on the SAT don't change. So, if I already have graduated college, why in the world should I be expected to take a test for grad school that is almost exactly the same as the test I had to take to get into college? At least the writing part of the GRE is looking at whether you can use evidence and logic to back up arguments, which is important for grad school papers and research, but the rest is almost exactly the same as the SAT. I got the exact same score on the GRE that I did on the SAT. And because these tests have test-retest reliability, that should be the case, so why do I have to shell out more money to give the same useless results that have nothing to do with the skills I need for my career?

Bingo. That's me.



Yes, that is true. But I didn't get extra time on the LSAT even though I have documentation. I didn't even apply for it. The reason is because they "flag" test scores taken with extra time. This practice may be illegal and has been strongly condemned by the ABA. The SAT, ACT, GRE, and GMAT have al agreed to stop the practice of flagging in response to federal lawsuits.

I've crushed standardized tests all the way from early childhood through adulthood. The process will change based on what's being tested, but there's always a fairly simple way to find the answers the test-makers are looking for.

This is the first I'm hearing of it. I took extra time on all the tests and I've never had a problem.

Just because the ABA, the federal government, etc., and other "politically correct" organizations condemn it, doesn't mean that they wouldn't be just as alarmed by test scores done with extra time. Lawsuits won't solve anything.