<p>I will be taking SAT II shortly. Can strong SAT II scores (>700) substitute for poor GPAs (or grades), or at least make my application look better? What about APs? Or IGCSEs for 10th grade scores?</p>
<p>By poor grades I mean something like B (or perhaps C).</p>
<p>The trouble is that high standardized test scores show that you can master the material. Colleges will then want to know, so why didn’t you get A’s in your classes?</p>
<p>If you’re pairing high test scores with grades that aren’t equally strong, you’ll need to do something to combat the assumption that you underperformed in class because you were a bit of a slacker.</p>
<p>This doesn’t mean, of course, that you can’t get into college anywhere. You will, however, have a hard time gaining admission to colleges that match your test scores if you don’t have grades to match. You might be able to get into colleges that are a bit more selective than your grades alone would suggest.</p>
<p>Very well put Sikorsky. This would be a perfect opportunity for an interview or essay to explain the discrepancy.</p>
<p>It depends on how big the difference is between the high test scores and GPA. And whether the courses are AP or honors or just college prep. A B average for a student taking hard classes still has a good chance at a many good schools.
It also depends to a large extent on where you are applying. Harvard for instance will not be impressed 
So the answer is “it depends”.</p>