<p>I was just wondering if there is any point in taking more than 3 SAT subject tests? I always it was the more the merrier with the better universities requiring at least three. However, one of my classmates insists that he knows as a fact that taking more than 3 subject tests is useless.</p>
<p>I’ve always felt it wasn’t a bad idea if one were preparing for an AP in a given subject. Taking AP Chem? Why not take the SAT Chem Subject Test as a form of preparation? Or if you’ve already taken the AP and felt you did well, why not take the Subject Test to get yourself an easy high score without having to “reinvent the wheel” by studying a completely different subject. </p>
<p>Thus, if you end up taking 5 or 6 APs, what’s the matter with coupling it with the same Subject Tests? S2 did it and ended up with (3) 800’s and (2) 790’s. He applied to 16 top colleges, received no rejections, and will be attending Princeton in the fall. I suppose, based on that, taking more than 3 Subject Tests is not a useless idea.</p>
<p>I often wonder this as well. People say that it won’t matter because colleges ‘average’ out only the top 3 scores of your subject tests anyway. But then where does the Math IC play into this? Wouldn’t it be advantage then to take the IC and IIC if you can get 800 on both quite easily?</p>
<p>For most people I know, you’d be surprised at how much easier IIC is than IC. It’s the curve. All it takes is one or two dumb mistakes on problems you KNOW you know how to solve and there goes your 800 on IC.</p>
<p>A few colleges require more than 3 SAT Subject Tests for home schoolers—but only a very few. Apart from that, the only reason to take more than 3 would be to be able to choose your 3 best scores from among, say, 4 or 5 tests. Probably wouldn’t matter that much as long as the average of 3 was high; a marginally higher score on a fourth (dropping the third) would make only a small difference in the overall average.</p>
<p>Let’s just say you want a healthy mix of subjects. Don’t take Math I, Math II, and Physics. But if you do have a nice mix with good scores in each, no point taking more. </p>
<p>I took math II, physics, and french. I did badly on the french (that was my attempt at mixing it up), so I took chem and retook french. Took chinese just for fun. Worked out for me, not even much effort.</p>