<p>The guidance counselor told my son that he should only take an SAT subject test if he's certain he'll do well since colleges can tell if he's taken the test, and may want to know the score. True? Thank you.</p>
<p>Colleges will only know that he has taken the test if he reports having taken it. Some college do require you to report all tests. Also he should check to see if his tests are reports don his transcripts. Some high schools list testing on the school report.</p>
<p>^^^
I am 100% sure that is correct. I have heard that while the score is not reported the SAT report shows ALL test dates. I would like to know for sure what the answer to this question is as well. In some cases if you don’t do well on the spring subject tests you could re-take them in the Fall to improve the score. But I have heard that the test date will show for the first test as well.</p>
<p>The colleges that want to see all scores almost all require subject tests anyway. I do not believe the colleges CAN actually see if all results are reported to them, though, even if they “require” it. However, some schools do put them on the high school transcript (which, by the way, I think is a violation of privacy by the high school – given that all colleges do not require all test scores, this takes the advantage of score choice away from their students).</p>