A Cornucopia of Questions

Test Preparation SAT Subject Test Preparation
1

<p>Sweet thread title, huh? Anyway, as the registration deadline for the May SAT Subject Test roles around, I realized that I had not decided which tests to take. I have a few questions, and this seems like an excellent community in which to find help.</p>

<p>What is the maximum recommended number of Subject Test to take? Is it the more the better? Would a bad score hurt your college application? Or can taking these things only help?</p>

<p>I am currently taking US History (not AP, though I did qualify to do so) and doing quite well, even though the subject bores me to death. I was wondering whether it makes sense to take the SAT II US History exam in May, even though we will not yet be finished learning new material. Should I wait until June? How far along into US History does this exam cover? Could I purchase a review book and learn what we have not covered in class?</p>

<p>I am also taking French V, and am hoping to take the AP French exam (even though I'm not in AP French- we'll see how I do on the practice one). I see that you can only take the SAT French with Listening in November. I am not planning on taking French next year, so I don't know whether it makes sense to wait that long to take that exam, when I could just take the reading one in May/June. What are the advantages of one exam over the other?</p>

<p>I am currently in Latin III, and I did excellently in Latin I and Latin II. Is that sufficient training for the Latin Subject Test? I have pretty well mastered all grammar and I have gotten medals (I think second highest level in Latin I and the highest in Latin II) from the National Latin Exam.</p>

<p>I took Chemistry in 9th grade and Biology in 10th, and I did very well in both, especially Chemistry. But I'm currently in 11th grade, and I'm unsure whether I will be able to relearn the material that I've forgotten. How extensive are these exams? Would it be stupid to take either of those Subject Tests?</p>

<p>Finally, regarding the SAT Literature exam, what exactly does it consist of? I assume it doesn't require knowledge of specific works, right? How exactly does one study for this exam?</p>

<p>If you have any other questions that would help you better answer mine, feel free to ask.</p>

2

<p>I’d take four Subject tests, because the maximum that colleges want is three (that I’ve seen) and with four, you can drop your worst one. Choose a VARIETY of subject tests- don’t take three sciences. I would advise take the Math I or Math II (if you know the material) and two other subjects.</p>

<p>Wait until June IF your class gets up to the end of US History. Some classes just stop covering history up to about the 1950s and then take a long time reviewing. Ask your US History teacher if you’ll cover the whole of US History. If not, then you can choose whether to take it in June or May, but I’d take it in June because it’s closer to the date when you reviewed for your final exam.</p>

<p>On a sidenote, the AP French exam is REALLY hard. There’s a speaking portion which is 25% of your grade where you get one minute to read a prompt and then you have to speak for one minute or so. Are you fluent? Do you have a good accent? And the MC questions are really hard, so be sure that you’re good at it! The advantage of the listening test is that if you’re good at listening, you’ll get a better score. And besides, if you’re a junior (I guess that you are), November is pushing it because you might not have enough time to send it to colleges. So take it before.</p>

<p>I can’t comment on Latin- CB says three yrs of the language, but if you feel you’re competent, look at the practice qusetions and then you decide.</p>

<p>It wouldn’t be good to take Chemistry and Biology when you know the material in so many other subjects. It’s a waste of your time to go over it again. </p>

<p>SAT literature doesn’t go over specific works, but it’s really hard. It’s like a huge SAT Critical Reading but harder. You study by constantly reading literature and analyzing it, just like you study for Critical Reading.</p>

<p>My advice to you is don’t take SAT Literature or a Science; take SAT US History, SAT French or SAT Latin (or both) and SAT Math Level I (or Level II if you’re up to the material). They’re the things you’re good at, they don’t require much studying because you know them and it’s a wide variety.</p>

3

<p>I’d say try French in May, U.S. History in June, and a Math test somewhere in there (what level of math are you taking this year? If you’re not yet taking pre-calculus, take Math I this spring. If you’re taking precalc or beyond, take Math II). If you think you’d do better on French with Listening, take that in November. It’s not too late for regular decision, but if you apply early check with the specific college(s).</p>

4

<p>I recommend taking 3 SAT Subject Tests, one science, one math, and one humanities (English, history, or foreign language). Don’t take 4 unless you mess up on one of the 3. I also suggest taking them in June, as you have APs in May, so I’m not sure how studying for SAT II will interfere with studying for APs.</p>

<p>Since you did well in Chemistry, try Barron’s SAT II Chemistry. Maybe you’ll remember what you learn along the way, so it won’t be that hard.</p>

<p>If you’re taking Pre-Calc, try Math 2. If you’re not, try Math 2 anyways (read PR and Barron’s) cause Math 1 is hard to get a good score on. The major topics Math 2 has that Math 1 doesn’t are matrices, polar graphs, and some functions stuff. Matrices and polar graphs are only a couple of questions, so not learning them can still get you an 800 provided you know everything else.</p>

<p>As for humanities, try history or English Literature. History (Barron’s SAT II USH is decent) isn’t terribly hard, just boring memorization. English Literature (Kaplan’s possibly?) is just passages (from famous books or poems) and questions regarding the passage’s meaning, themes, style, vocab, etc. Language SAT IIs are hard to do well on b/c natives throw the curve off.</p>

5

<p>To help you guys make recommendations, I’m taking the following courses, and in none of them am I having too difficult a time:</p>

<p>AP Calculus I: AB
AP English: Language and Composition (or something like that; I may not have the course name exactly right)
French V (plus possibly the AP exam)
US History
AP Physics: Mechanics C
Latin III</p>

<p>Thanks for all the responses so far! Keep them coming! I haven’t read through your responses entirely yet, but I’ll let you know when I do.</p>

6

<p>Take Math Level II then, forget about Math Level I. Still take US History, still take Latin and/or French, but you said you hadn’t taken Physics for a while? You’re doing AP Physics!</p>

<p>So here’s my advice for you

  • SAT Physics
  • SAT French
  • SAT US History
  • SAT Latin
  • SAT Math Level II</p>

<p>Choose four and good luck :)</p>

7

<p>I agree with tim739 that you should pick from the list he made you, but here are my suggestions specifically:</p>

<p>-Either French or Latin, not both, unless you plan on majoring in foreign languages or something.
-All of the ones but Math II, whichever you should choose to do, you should take this school year. Since you’re already in Calculus, you can study/review over the summer and take Math II in the fall, but take the others this spring.
-You really don’t need 4. Really. 3 will be plenty. I’d suggest taking 2 this spring, seeing how you do on them, and then taking Math II (and a 4th one only if you’re really unhappy with one of your spring scores) in the fall.</p>

8

<p>I agree that you should take either French or Latin and take Math when you said but I would take 4. I know of a few colleges that require three and four just gives you that flexibility and it allows you to choose your best scores if you do badly on one.</p>

9

<p>Thanks for all the excellent responses! I guess the big question is this: does it look bad to take more tests, getting more good results, but maybe some bad ones too? For example, which looks better to colleges: 4 good SAT II’s and 2 bad ones, or 3 good ones and 0 bad ones? I have a few additional questions remaining:</p>

<p>Does anyone know at which point in US History the SAT US Subject Test stops requiring knowledge? 1980? 1960? 2008?</p>

<p>How much of an indicator as to how well you’ll do on the SAT Literature is the Critical Reading portion? Would I be correct in assuming AP English Language and Composition is nothing like the SAT Lit.? I would be awesome if it did, because I’m going to rock that AP English exam.</p>

<p>Does AP Physics Mechanics C cover most of what the SAT II Physics contains? I know that Mech. C does not cover a great deal of material, but those which it does, it does so tremendously in depth. I’m just worried that I’ll have to learn a lot of material on my own–something I really don’t want to do.</p>

<p>Also, Tim739`, since you’ve already taken AP French, I figured you were the right guy to ask (though this is, again, slightly off topic). I just took the 2003 AP French exam for practice, so my teacher could see how well I was doing. I took it at 3:00 AM having practiced for no more than 2 hours with my Barron’s AP French book (only practicing the listening, which is always the part I worry about). She graded it, and I got a score of 110, which was apparently the lowest score you could possibly get and still receive a 4. But, since the speaking and essay are subjective, she said many graders may have given me a 3. I did make quite a few idiotic mistakes that I’ll probably never make again, unless I take another exam at 3:00AM. Assuming I get (some, though probably not very much) more practice in between now and May, do you think it will be worth it to take the AP exam? Could I work it up to a 5, or should I just try to bank on a 4?</p>

10

<p>Bumpity bump bump.</p>

<p>Personne n’a aunune reponse? (Did I do that right?)</p>

11

<p>I would think doing very well on three tests would look better than taking more but doing well on some and poorly on others. I don’t think sending 5+ tests really matters to colleges unless you ace all of them.</p>

<p>Word is that the SAT II Lit exam is much harder than CR. The curve is really harsh, so don’t take it unless you’re very confident in your reading abilities. I believe there’s a great thread out there by lolcats that has lots of useful info on the lit test.</p>

<p>I’ve heard that AP Physics Mechanics C doesn’t cover a lot of the material on the SAT II. I would recommend picking up PR and going through it to make sure you know everything. I haven’t had any AP physics classes so I’m basically doing that from scratch, and it’s taken up much less time than I expected.</p>

12

<p>Alright. I guess I’ll limit myself to four tests.</p>

<p>One final question: do you recommend taking the official practice tests first to try and see which SAT II’s you’re best at, or do you recommend waiting until the end of your preparation to gauge how well you’ve prepared and to predict your score?</p>

13

<p>Pwetty pwease?</p>

14

<p>There’s a little booklet CB publishes with 10-20 sample questions for each test. I would try to get your hands on that (I think you can get it off the CB website) and use that to decide which tests you want to take, then save the complete practice tests until after you’ve studied.</p>

15

<p>Oh sorry mikey, I didn’t know you had more questions. As for the SAT US History, I’d say it would be safe to stop at September 11, 2001 with the last topic being the effect of terrorism on American society. Anything else is subjective because it’s happened fairly recently and I don’t think they can comfortably test on it.</p>

<p>While the Critical Reading and Lit section are different in some ways, they still require the same skill set. For example, someone hopeless at English isn’t going to do well on either. They both require skills that lend themselves to reading and comprehension. My advice to you: don’t take Lit. The curve is too harsh, it’s very hard and it’s a lot of practice. While I’m sure there are admissions officers out there who knwo the relative difficulty of subject tests, many officers won’t know that Lit has a harsh curve and is hard to get an 800 on. Take something else.</p>

<p>As for AP French, I haven’t taken AP French. I know it sounds silly to say that I have experience, but I’m really good with standardized tests since I spend way too much time picking ones I should take and studying. Trust me, I’ll be able to help you without ever taking the test. Firstly, is your French teacher an AP French teacher or a normal French teacher? Secondly, what score do you want? Is a 4 good enough?</p>

<p>Here’s what you can do to get a 5:
Review verb conjugations, pronouns (me, te, le, la, les, leur, lui) because they’re ALWAYS on there, prepositions, vocab, etc. These will definitely improve your score. Keep taking practice tests and you’ll get better at that annoying section where you have to insert one word yourself. If Barrons has a listening section, do it, and do it over and over again. You’ll get better.</p>

<p>Here’s what you can’t do to study by yourself:
Speaking. It’s really, really hard to do it by yourself. Your speaking is probably riddled with errors and there’s no way you could ever know that what you’re speaking on practice tests is sufficient enough. Here’s what I advise: whether your French teacher is an AP teacher or not, keep bringing tapes of you speaking. She’ll be able to tell you where you consistently make mistakes or not. From now until the AP test, do three full practice tests and each time, make her grade it.</p>