• foofiepie@lemmy.world
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    3 hours ago

    I just found out this weekend the the algebraic (super easy) shortcut to divide an integer by a fraction that I showed my son - was referred to as ‘cheating’ by the teacher, who said the people who grade the SATs would mark him down for that.

    I’m actually quite confused about that.

    • ponypuncher@lemmy.world
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      4 minutes ago

      Ha! I worked in Test Prep and College Admissions consultation for nearly a decade at a fairly prestigious company in a major city with major private schools (major money and major lineage/legacy) and unless there have been major changes to the SAT/ACT since the pandemic that teacher is completely full of shit. There isn’t even a guessing penalty anymore on the SAT let alone any way for them to know how a student comes to the answers they choose. You don’t have to even turn in your work when you turn in the test.

      Sounds like the teacher felt stupid or threatened or both and made up nonsense to combat their own failing. And honestly, I would consider giving bad advice that could impact a student’s future malpractice. That was actually the standard for teaching algebra when I was in school so a teacher telling your kid it is cheating is beyond confusing. It’s borderline abusive and at the very least completely incompetent.