Advantages/Disadvantages of taking SATII of your native language.

Applying to College
1

it is just logical to say that colleges don’t really care if you score high on your native language or not.

However, I’ve lived most of my life in foreign countries and hold a US citizenship.

Do you think its wise to take the SATII of my native language (korean) in order to show that I’m also proficient in it?

Advantages/Disadvantages of taking SATII of your native language; any ideas?

PS. Its not like I don’t have 3 SAT II’s. In fact, I’ll be taking 5 SATII’s including Chinese as a foreign language.

2

<p>Lol the percentile curve for the SAT II Chinese test is crazy...</p>

<p>From the last time I checked:
800 is 69th percentile
790 is 45th</p>

<p>so ya...I think its quite worthless unless the school you are applying to just sticks your highest score in a formula to see if you get in or not. But it certainly won't hurt you if you take it.</p>

3

<p>I'm taking it because I want to show them that my B's in Chinese is simply because my chinese class was very difficult. Everyone apart from me and this other kid was from the mainland or cantonese.</p>

<p>lol. was the percentile that bad?
790 and a 45th... lol.
I was hoping to get a score higher than a 700 :P</p>

4

<p>Percentiles for SAT II Chinese:
800 - 56%
750 - 27%
700 - 15%
650 - 9%
600 - 4%
550 - 2%
500 - 1 %</p>

5

<p>well, a HIGH SA2 language can exempt u from College language requirement, at least in HARVARD</p>

6

<p>i didnt take chinese but did physics instead becoz its kinda meaningless... and the adcoms know how easy a chinese native could get a perfect score for SATII chinese anyway.</p>

7

<p>I think it's only recommended to take the SAT II in your native language under two circumstances:</p>

<p>a) you really cannot do a third SAT II in any other subject - and I mean really cannot do it and would totally bomb it no matter how much you studied. </p>

<p>b) you have already taken three SAT IIs and received satisfactory scores on them. Then go ahead and take the SATII in your native language as a fourth (This will let you fulfil credits at a few colleges, not just Harvard).</p>

<p>The SAT II is no place to show proficiency in a native language, especially not in Korean or Chinese.</p>

<p>You can no longer withold scores. Bear this in mind; a bad score on this exam can really reflect negatively, while a good score contributes little if nothing at all. In other words, you're taking a risk for no gain.</p>

8

<p>I never checked out the difficulty for SAT Korean but presumably, it is designed for elementary children level. Thanks for the tips; I won't take it.</p>

<p>What do you think the difficulty of SAT French or Spanish is then?</p>

9

<p>People taking an exam such as the SAT II or AP in their native language always annoyed me. Just saying that you're a native speaker is genereally enough to prove you know the language, and taking the test just messes up the curve for people who have spent time in school studying it, especially if you're submitting TOEFL scores. I could go to Germany or France or any number of countries and ace their English language proficiency exams, but what would be the point?</p>