Can we get something straight? The SAT does not test “rote learning”
People seem to be throwing around the term “rote learning” a whole lot these days in regard to the SAT, without any apparent understanding of what it actually means. So in a modest — and perhaps vain — attempt at cutting through some of this linguistic obfuscation, I offer the following explanation.
This is an example of a question that tests rote knowledge:
The dates of the American Civil War were:
(A) 1849-1853
(B) 1855-1860
(C) 1861-1865
(D) 1866-1871
(E) 1872-1876
This question does not require any thought whatsoever, nor does it require the answerer to have any actual knowledge of the American Civil War beyond when it occurred. It is simply necessary to have memorized a set of dates, end of story. This is what “rote learning” actually means — memorizing bits and pieces of information, devoid of context, and without consideration of how those particular bits and pieces of information fit into a larger context. (more…)