14 May 2008

SAT time!

About 4 years ago, I was fortunate enough to find my way into the work from home arena. I applied for a position scoring the (at the time) new SAT essays. I was really excited that I had found something using my degree that I could do around my boys' schedules and the pay was (is) phenomenal. SAT's are given about 7 times a year, so the scoring windows fall around that time for about 2 weeks. A year later, I found my regular teaching job, teaching from home over the Internet.

So, for two years, I have been leading a double life. I teach most of the time, and then I take off from that to do SATs, mostly because it pays substantially more. As I have made my way up in the company I teach for, I have had less and less of a desire to do SATs. It is a high stress kind of work. I know some of you are thinking, how hard is it to read essays? You try reading poor handwriting for hours at a time knowing that your bosses are tracking how quickly you are reading, and the quality of your scoring. I also am constantly aware of the fact that what I do can have a direct impact on where a student will go to school.

Anyway, last year, Andy told me that I needed to decide what to do about SAT. Like I said, I am doing very well in the company I am working for, and I am trying to focus on that work as where I will continue once all of our kids are in school. I couldn't decide. Then in November, I thought the answer had been made for me. For the first time since I had started, I had not been asked back to score. This position is very cut-throat, and your coming back is based on your quality statistics compared to the other scorers. I had always been asked back, only this time I wasn't, and the funny thing was that my stats had been one of the highest I had ever had. So, I had a nice break from SAT.

Then last month, I got an offer to come back and score for May. I am doing it right now, and doing pretty well on my stats. So, the question resurfaces, WHAT DO I DO? I don't have an answer yet, but when I do, I'll be sure to let you know.

1 comment:

Ellen said...

No envy here, and no solution either. I thought editing manuscripts from non-native english speakers was rough. I can only imagine what you encounter with the SAT. Good luck with your decision...whatever it may be.