<p>for the SAT</p>
<p>You only need knowledge up to Geometry for the SAT math. If you’re taking the subject test for math II, however, you’ll need Algebra II knowledge.</p>
<p>You can; I don’t know how easy it’d be to get an 800, though. Depends what’s covered in the algebra 2 curriculum at your school.</p>
<p>Yes you can but some prior knowledge never hurts. I’ve actually used differential calculus to solve one of the SAT problems but I’m sure there was a much easier and simpler way. I couldn’t ascertain the easier method so my calculus knowledge saved me.</p>
<p>So in theory, yes you can score well without any experience of Algebra II.</p>
<p>you can get a perfect score without alg2</p>
<p>On the contrary, you don’t need to know any math to get a good score, all it really takes is guessing really good.</p>
<p>If you think you need to know Algebra II, go test out of it or something so you can learn it before the test.</p>
<p>It will definitely help and it’s recommended to take up to Pre-Calc, but it’s not absolutely necessary. You can study the topics you don’t learn; for the most part they’re pretty simple to grasp if you’re good at math.</p>
<p>^^^As xthrillakillax said up there, though, calculus does make a lot of stuff way easier. But you don’t really need to know calc for any of the test. Only limits, which are barely covered and are really easy.</p>
<p>are we discussing the regular sat math or the subject test?</p>
<p>I am referring to the reg sat math.</p>
<p>@Mythic, what’s the probability of you guessing all the questions and getting a good score? I’ll let you figure out the binomial distribution.</p>
<p>^^Oh, I was referring to the math II subject test. Regular SAT you could easily get an 800 without algebra 2. </p>
<p>Chances of getting it by completely guessing, well you’d have to be the luckiest person ever for that to happen.</p>
<p>I got a 740 in 7th grade during Algebra I. I do think that Algebra II would have certainly helped. I have a 800 now. If you know how to use your graphing calculator, you can do a lot of the more difficult problems. Still, if you master concepts of Algebra I, you can do very well (700+).</p>
<p>@rspence</p>
<p>The probability of blindly guessing correctly on every single MC question is approximately 1.7592186</p>
<p>@xthrillakillax yeah it’s just (1/5)^n where n is the number of math questions (assuming we ignore grid-in).</p>
<p>But still, it helps to at least be experienced with algebra (e.g. you can instantly recognize which theorems to use) in which an 800 is easy to obtain, as long as you don’t make silly mistakes.</p>
<p>Well… my first practice test score prior to taking Algebra II (but after Geometry) was around 470. Now that I’m nearly done with the course, my score has gone up ~130 points. However, to be honest, I didn’t learn much in Algebra I in 8th grade, so a lot of what I was supposed to have learned in 8th grade, I learned this year.</p>
<p>I think as long as you have a good grasp of Alg. 1 & Geometry, you’ll do fine.</p>
<p>If you gave me an Algebra II test or a Precalc test right now, I’d probably not do well at all. I got a 740 on math. It’s definitely doable. You just need to know basic math, Algebra I, and Geometry and do some practice tests and some training.</p>
<p>There are none of those messy formulas and logarithms; most of it is mathematical reasoning and logic. Also, avoid dumb mistakes and read questions carefully, I remember one simple question tripping up so many people on this site because they read it wrong. It was amazing to see.</p>
<p>Yes, of course you can. But you are going to have to make sure you really understand many of the Algebra 2 topics. So, yes and no.</p>
<p>Got something in the area of 720-40 last year in 7th grade during alg 1, but all my practice tests this year in geo give me less than 680 because I forgot so much. Ironically, the stuff I remember is never on any of the SATs i take haha</p>
<p>I got a 600 in 7th grade and was not even half way through algebra 1. If 600 is high for you, then you have nothing to worry about.</p>
<p>The probability covered in Algebra 2 is definitely beneficial. I’m talking about the normal probability questions that you’ve likely seen before, combinations, permutations, the scenarios where you use P = nCx(p^x)(q^(n-x)), prob. of an event not happening, prob. of multiple events, etc.</p>