<p>hi i am currently in thailand... this is another one of the chances questions....</p>
<p>will technical school like MIT or caltech look into low verbal scores rather than just focussing on the high math scores??</p>
<p>my stats:</p>
<p>sat 1: math 780 verbal 460 !!! writing 580 essay 10/12
sat 2: math 800 physics 760 chem 710
toefl: 267 computer-based</p>
<p>no gpa/class rank as i follow the british curriculum</p>
<p>doing full IB diploma
Math HL 7
Physics HL 7
Chem HL 6
English A1 SL 5
Thai B SL 7
Economics SL 4!!!!!!!!!
(NB: i reckon i will get 2 bonus points)</p>
<p>ECAs:
swimming since like 4ever, seasac, bisac, blah blah blah
play soccer a bit not serious ( not in school team... too busy with swimming)
invited to British Math Olympiad round 1 (top 800 in world)
gold, silver, and bronze certificates in british math challenge in junior, intermediate, and senior competitions on 3 consecutive years
math competition @ ISB (a school in thailand u prolly dunno) about a year ago
World cyber games (WCG 2005) 7th place in thailand at Warcraft</p>
<p>my description of myself:
i am very math/science orientated.... as you can see from my low verbal and economic scores.</p>
<p>here are the lists of the colleges im applying to.... wut are my chances???</p>
<p>1st choices: Caltech, MIT, Harvey Mudd
2nd choices: U of Michigan- Ann Arbor, U Texas- Austin
Safe choices: Illinois tech, Clarkson U</p>
<p>haha no I'm not making fun of you; I'm just wondering if it's really considered an "award"... I wouldn't think so... so it'll probably just be ignored by colleges</p>
<p>im not on adcom, but i would think ur hard course schedule and olympiad/competition stuff are ur strongest highlights.</p>
<p>Though i think u should also keep in mind that Caltech also has one of the highest (sometimes claimed THE highest) average SAT scores with both verbal and math combined... i don't think they care too much about the writing. :P maybe it's better to stick with ur toefl score?</p>
<p>if u applied this year, hope u did well on ur essays. :]</p>
<p>anonamous, no offense. But I don't think physics 760 chem 710 is too impressive.</p>
<p>I mean, if you going to mention "Olympiad" at all in your application you should be getting 800s in anything that's remotely related to math and science.</p>
<p>If you want to rely on math and science to get into Caltech, you should be getting 800s on every SAT and SAT2s BEFORE you even mention any "olympiad" or "competition".</p>
<p>unclehan, a 780 on the SAT in math really isn't any different from an 800. The College Board knows there's an error of at least +/- 30 points, and I'd say it's more like +/- 80 points. 780 means (depending on the test) either 1 or 2 questions incorrectly answered. Okay, so the guy ****ed up once. Big deal.</p>
<p>The SAT IIs are slightly more troublesome. On one hand, the Physics SAT II is notoriously poorly designed. A Physics C student would have no chance on it. On the other hand, you ought to be able to do better than a 710 in Chem and a 6 on the IB. The curve on the SAT II Chem is steep compared to some subjects (e.g. Math IIC), but not that hard.</p>
<p>
[QUOTE]
On one hand, the Physics SAT II is notoriously poorly designed. A Physics C student would have no chance on it.
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</p>
<p>Wrong. SAT II Physics is almost an automatic 800 after taking Physics C. Taking that course is probably the single most effective way to do well on the exam, granted one has a decent teacher.</p>
<p>GracieLegend -- I'd say Phys B is a better bet (because you learn topics not technically on the C curriculum but on the SAT II Phys) but the basic point is right: a student good enough to get a 5 on the AP Phys C probably knows enough physics to get an 800 on the SATII</p>
<p>
[quote]
Wrong. SAT II Physics is almost an automatic 800 after taking Physics C. Taking that course is probably the single most effective way to do well on the exam, granted one has a decent teacher.
[/quote]
Um, no... Ben has it right - consider the topics that aren't part of the Physics C AP curriculum but are on the SAT II: fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, gases, waves, optics, atomic physics, and nuclear physics. These are all part of the Physics B curriculum, which far more closely parallels the SAT II.</p>
<p>AP Physics C teaches you the right way to think about physics, as it closely examines each subtopic and goes into considerable depth. However, it only covers several of the topics on the exam.</p>
<p>AP Physics B goes over all topics, but is probably more similar to an introductory physics course in its approach. </p>
<p>I guess AP Physics B can definitely be more helpful than AP Physics C. For me personally, it was the opposite; I got a lousy 690 on SAT II Physics after my high school freshman course, and got an 800 after just 25 minutes when I took AP Physics C the following year. </p>
<p>The fundamental point is; simonster's assertion that an "AP Physics C student would have no chance on it (SAT II physics)" is completely false, as taking the course will help one tremendously on the exam. (Possibly less than AP Physics B for some people, though...)</p>
<p>I'm not sure what IB Physics Higher Level entails (breadth, like Physics B, or depth and calculus like Physics C), but if Ben is right, and a Physics C student should be capable of an 800, the score is still slightly disappointing. It looks like the curve is easier than the chem curve (you can miss 9 for an 800, rather than 2).</p>
<p>I'm not sure whether the way other people's Physics C classes are taught is different, but in my class, we're only learning mechanics and E & M. If it weren't my first year taking physics, I'd probably know at least a little about the other topics. Based on the</a> information on the College Board site, however, unless I studied the other material specifically for the SAT II, I could only get a maximum of 58-75% of the questions right (assuming I got all mechanics, E & M, and miscellaneous questions right), which isn't good enough for an 800.</p>
<p>However, it is true that my AP Chemistry class covered at least some of the topics on the SAT II that Physics C doesn't (although from a different viewpoint), and might be able to well if I bought a prep book and studied up. Luckily, I don't have to worry about that, because I'm done with SATs for the rest of my life.</p>
<p>anonamous, what topics does the IB cover? How does it compare with the list at the College Board site? Same goes for chemistry. It's possible we're underestimating you if the topics don't match up.</p>
<p>actually, i really don't think anyone here is qualified to give out chances, especially with the cavalier attitude some of you cocksure jerks have. i sense a lot of bitterness in this forum.</p>
<p>there really is no room for debate on statistics. obviously people with higher scores have higher acceptance rates. any reasonable speculation begins and ends there. who are you to judge someone's subjective factors?</p>