<p>My daughter got a 670 on her foreign Language SAT 2 test and a 4 on the AP in the same language (as a junior) - should she retake the SAT 2 or does the AP make up for it? She is applying mostly to higher end LAC's. We'd love not to give any more money to the College Board but she is torn about what to do. She has two more SAT 2 in the 700's.</p>
<p>You don’t have to retake it.</p>
<p>Hmm, if she is applying to top LAC’s I would advise here to retake. Colleges don’t take AP scores into as much consideration as SAT II scores. For most schools,AP scores don’t matter at all.</p>
<p>^^^^what he said :P</p>
<p>Sorry for my terse reply, but it’s what I hear that language SAT II tests are pretty difficult (I wouldn’t know yet) and hey take into consideration overall, so if you have good grades in the class and a decent AP score that demonstrates your capability of handling the language and fluency and one test isn’t going to measure your ability or be a significant detriment towards your language ability. It’s not like a total failure, 670 isn’t a total bad score, and especially with two other good scores it’s not as if you would have to retake it or it would be a real boost in affecting admissions decisions.</p>
<p>They are tough - that puts her in the 60% or so - you are testing against native speakers (which drives me kind of nuts) She has a B+ and at her school that is a very good grade - only 3 kids have graduated with straight A’s in the last 2 years.</p>
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<p>Which Foreign Language was it?</p>
<p>APs do not trump SAT IIs for admission. APs can of course
be used to demonstrate above and beyond competence.</p>
<p>Top LACs i.e Williams, Amherst and Wellesley will be looking for
scores typically between 720-750 on the SAT IIs.</p>
<p>AP’s are basically meaningless compared to SAT’s or ACT’s or SAT II’s, they are only used to waive or accumulate college credit</p>
<p>AP’s dont do too much towards your admission</p>
<p>^^^^
Agree 100%
Do not count too much (or at all).</p>
<p>The top LACs can be just as selective as the big five. There isn’t exactly an arbitrarily defined cutoff for most desirable SAT score, but generally a score of 750 or above is most preferable when applying to any of the nation’s top national universities or LACs.</p>
<p>Spanish - I guess she will retake it - most of the schools she is applying to only require two SAT 2’s and she will have 3 but it’s probably worth another shot.</p>
<p>She may want to take something else. For the SAT II in Spanish, she is competing with native speakers and may find it difficult to increase her score and/or percentile. 670 is a very good score for a non-native speaker.</p>
<p>I haven’t heard anything previously about APs being unimportant. I thought they were generally as important as the SAT IIs, or, as a whole if one takes many, greater in weight. Is my world view about to be shattered 
?</p>
<p>At my college, a 580 on the SAT II or a 4 on the relevant AP exam exempts you from the language requirement. A 670, therefore, is a very good score for a non-native speaker.</p>
<p>It is my understanding that the college is just going to look at your top 2 SATII scores anyway. So if she already has two scores in the 700s, there’s probably little point in retaking it. It may be used for placement, or to fulfill the language requirement. In that case, the AP score will count. although I wouldn’t be surprised if a 670 is high enough at most places.</p>
<p>This is an interesting discussion-- I had thought that the AP was a harder test than the SAT II subject tests, since I thought the AP tested “college” level ability and the SAT II tested “high school” level ability… have I got this distinction wrong? Thanks!</p>
<p>Well the SAT IIs are more precise indicators of ability in a particular subject. For example, I got a 5 on my AP Chem test. I don’t know what the curve on the test was, but say the lowest score you could get and receive a 5 was a 70% of the maximum points. If you were to look at several applicants with 5s on the test, you wouldn’t know whether the person got 70% of the points or 100% of the points. With the SAT II, however, you can look at a score and know with certainty how well someone did. This is probably just one of the reasons colleges prefer the SAT II over the AP test for admissions.</p>
<p>I think most high ranked LACs only require 2 SAT Subject Tests. If your daughter already has 2 in the 700s, then I don’t think there’s much point in taking the Spanish test again. The score isn’t likely to improve so dramatically that it will top her two other subject scores, is it? Not sure what the point would be in taking it again. Also, I agree with Chevda, if she wants to take another test in hopes of another 700+ score, it might make more sense to take another test entirely. That 670 is a strong score for a non-native speaker, and they will see it and understand that – but they can rely on her other scores for the purposes of admissions statistics.</p>