Regular Joe

Regular Joe

Thoughts and opinions from Dispatch columnist Joe Blundo.

A little TLC for the SAT

The SAT people have unveiled sample questions from their redesigned test.
They say they're aiming for questions that better relate to real-world problems.
So the math samples, for example, ask students about foreign-exchange rates for vacationing Americans. The language portion focuses less on obscure words and more on vocabulary that students are likely to come across in their daily lives.
I still think the test needs some help. There’s a “real world” and then there’s a “really real world,” where the way things are supposed to be aren’t always the way they are.
That needs to be better reflected in the new SAT, I think.
I’ve written some sample questions of my own:

1. A politically active tycoon wants to influence federal policy by purchasing some members of Congress.  Senators are $1 million each and representatives are $250,000 each. If he allots $10 million total and intends to buy at least five senators, how many representatives will he be able to purchase with the remaining funds?
A. 40
B. 20
C. None. After meeting some of these Congress people, he decides they’re vastly overpriced and decides to buy some state legislatures instead.

2. Linda must attend a parent-teacher conference at her child’s school at 6:00 p.m. She gets off work at 5 p.m. If the walk to the parking lot takes 13 minutes and the drive to the school takes 27 minutes in normal traffic, will she have time to stop for a margarita?
A. Yes.
B. Yes, but she might need the margarita more after the parent-teacher conference.
C. Are you kidding? Traffic is never “normal” between 5 and 6 p.m..

What is the meaning of gubernatorial as used in this sentence: “In their first debate, the gubernatorial candidates spent an inordinate amount of time accusing each other of destroying jobs, harming families and sewing evil with every step.”

A. Governor
B. Goober
C. Goobers running for governor
D. Good reason to change the channel.

Choose the best interpretation of this sentence: The ophthalmologist wore jodhpurs to the luau.
A. The eye doctor better hope everyone at the luau is near-sighted.
B. No wonder the ophthalmologist doesn’t get many dates.
C. Are you sure that’s not just an autocorrect screwup?