Culture Spot : SAT Reasoning Test (America’s equivalent of the Baccalaureate)

In this video, you’ll hear about America’s equivalent of the Baccalaureate exam. Like the Baccalaureate, the SAT exam is a requirement for entry to college or university, however it isn’t a requirement to successfully complete high school. You can obtain your high school diploma with taking the SAT. Even though on a national level all American universities and colleges require a SAT exam for entry into their institution, the test isn’t administered by either the federal or state governments.

The video studies how the latest SAT results seem to vary according to social status and race in the United States.

From September 2, 2009 - SAT results from the class of 2009 show several interesting changes in the U.S. educational landscape.

a gap	-	un écart
to narrow	-	réduire
insight	-	un aperçu
a press release	-	un communiqué de presse
to lag behind	-	être à la traîne
an achievement	-	une réussite
lower performing	-	moins performant, de faible perfomance
to point out	-	montrer, signaler
online tutoring	-	le tutorat virtuel
unfair	-	injuste
income	-	le revenu
score	-	une note, un résultat
to take something a step further	-	aller plus loin
likelihood	-	la probabilité, les chances
curriculum	-	le programme
pattern	-	un modèle
the playing field	-	le terrain de jeu (les circonstances)
an op-ed (abbreviation for opposite the editorial page)	-	une contribution, une tribune libre, une opinion
the (learning) curve	-	la courbe d’apprentissage
the issue	-	le problème, la question
a dropout	-	un lycéen qui abandonne ses études

The SAT Reasoning Test (formerly Scholastic Aptitude Test and Scholastic Assessment Test) is a standardized test for college admissions in the United States. The SAT is owned, published, and developed by the College Board, a non-profit organization in the United States, and was once developed, published, and scored by the Educational Testing Service (ETS). ETS now administers the exam. The College Board claims that the SAT can determine whether or not a person is ready for college. The current SAT Reasoning Test takes three hours and forty-five minutes and costs $45 ($71 International), excluding late fees. Since the SAT's introduction in 1901, its name and scoring has changed several times. In 2005, the test was renamed to the "SAT Reasoning Test" with possible scores from 600 to 2400 combining test results from three 800-point sections (math, critical reading, and writing), along with other subsections scored separately. (taken from Wikipedia)

Visit the College Board’s official webpage for the SATs : http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/sat/about/SATI.html

Could you pass the SAT, try out a daily question : http://apps.collegeboard.com/qotd/question.do

Learn more about the SAT at : http://www.howstuffworks.com/sat.htm