Chapter 1: What is the test prep industry built on?
Welcome to Skeptical Sunday. I'm your host, Jordan Harbinger. Today I'm here with Skeptical Sunday co-host, writer, and researcher, Jessica Wynn. On the Jordan Harbinger Show, we decode the stories, secrets, and skills of the world's most fascinating people and turn their wisdom into practical advice that you can use to impact your own life and those around you. We'll see you next time.
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Chapter 2: How do standardized tests impact college admissions?
Today we're talking about test prep, not just the books. Everything people use to prepare for a standardized test, courses, tutors, apps, all of it. We're not debating whether studying actually helps. Obviously it does. What we're asking is what prep materials actually do well? Where do they cross the line into being overhyped or just outright predatory?
And how much of this is genuine help versus manufactured anxiety for profit? How did a few study guides turn into a multi-billion dollar test prep economy? Helping us cram the answers is writer and researcher Jessica Wynn. So let's start with the obvious question here.
Chapter 3: What role does social media play in test prep anxiety?
Are test prep books and courses, are they actually helpful or is all this kind of just vibes?
That's a great way to frame it. Look, they can be helpful. The question is helpful for what and helpful compared to what and helpful for whom.
OK, so great. We're getting philosophical right out of the gate. I like it because I think what people really want to know is if I drop five hundred dollars or five thousand dollars more like it on a book and a course or whatever. Am I buying actual help and peace of mind, or am I buying some really expensive anxiety accoutrements?
Sometimes all three. And that's what makes this industry so fascinating and so problematic, because there is value in some of these materials, but it's all wrapped up in fear, inequality, and marketing.
Chapter 4: What are the effective strategies for preparing for tests?
Okay, but let's set the stage here. When did this become a thing? My parents did not buy me a $500 book to take the SATs.
They were like, good luck, use a number two pencil, try not to embarrass us, and I think the gunner in our class was like, you gotta go to the Barnes and Noble and get this book, and it said Kaplan on it or something, and I was like, okay, and it was a bunch of practice tests, and it was like, ooh, man, you're really taking this seriously. You gotta book a practice test?
Wow, okay, this guy knows what he's doing. That was the extent of it. Nobody was in a class. Yeah.
And nobody had tutors.
Chapter 5: How do socioeconomic factors affect access to test prep resources?
I don't even think my parents realized I took the SATs. I actually took them twice because my first attempt when I got out of the car, my graphing calculator fell in the parking lot and I stepped on it. So I took the math section with just my brain that day.
That sucks. Brains are definitely substandard equipment these days. By the way, people are probably like, what's a graphing calculator? Do we use those things anymore?
I think so. It's probably just an app. I don't remember how big and clunky those things were.
Chapter 6: What are the psychological effects of test prep on students?
Yeah, TI-82. Yeah. Exactly. Then in my school, which is ironic because it was a bunch of like wealthy kids around me, a lot of them, they kept getting stolen. And it was like, who's stealing these calculators? And you found out it was like a rich kid stealing all the calculators and selling them. Born entrepreneur, I guess, and slash to go to prison. Yeah. And I remember those things.
Not that I ever did this, but you could make a file in there and you could...
Chapter 7: How do international students navigate standardized testing?
save things in that file, and then the teachers got wise to that, because people would put little cheat sheets in the graphing calculator. Oh, for sure. That's how I passed calculus. That's right. So then it was like, what if I make a file and the top part looks like I'm just working on a problem, And then if you scroll down far enough, there's all the answers.
And then it was like a game of cat and mouse. And then teachers were like, aha. And then it was like, oh, but there's this other screen that you can get to if you do this. It was just a whole thing.
Chapter 8: What are the future implications of AI in test prep?
And I remember I got a different graphing calculator because they didn't require you to have a TI-82 or TI-83. I got some other brand and the teacher would just look at it and be like, I don't know how that thing works. Not me. Some other guy had all of his cheat sheets in that thing. And it was like, good luck figuring that out, Mr. Hart. You're never going to get there anyway.
I wonder if it's harder or easier today.
Yeah, because you probably can't use your phone. That would be too easy. Right. So it's like you got to use this special thing. But then I don't know. look, kids are going to find a way to cheat. We had a Japanese school that used to run on Sundays or Saturdays at our school, and they would just use all the classrooms.
Japanese, because I guess all the auto suppliers from Japan were working in Detroit at that time. And so they wanted their kids to learn more than they were learning in American school and also learn in Japanese. And every Monday, you'd come in and you'd find the teeny tiniest little piece of paper balled up in the little pencil trough on the desk and you'd be like, ah, what's that?
And you would unroll it. It would be this microscopic Japanese kanji written down. And I remember taking one and showing it to the Japanese teacher and being like, what is this? I find this every Monday on this desk that I sit at. And she's like, this is a cheat sheet for an exam.
Oh, man, you jerk. Yeah.
And I was like, oh, never mind. And she's like, yeah, I don't care slash know who that is. So whatever. But yeah, it's like, hey, bro, clean up your evidence after you're done. Throw this thing somewhere. Don't leave it in the pencil trough. Come on, man. Those Americans will never be able to read this. Rookie mistake. Yeah.
But then it's like, what do you think this note is in Japanese that I find stashed away every day? Or you'd come back and you'd open up the desk if you had one of those. And underneath, there'd be kanji written inside. And it's like, do Japanese people just? Not know how to look inside. This is the most obvious attempt at cheating. These kids need to learn.
These kids need to learn how to cheat, for God's sake.
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