<p>My son is a rising senior and has been advised to take 2 SAT subject tests. He's having trouble deciding what to take, partly because of some conflicting information from his peers. We've been encouraging him to take US History and Math II, but one of his best friends, who is good in math, took the Math I, so now S thinks that's what he should take. (He got the top grade in his class in honors pre-calc, and scored a 750 on the math SAT, so I think he'd do fine on the Math II.)</p>
<p>Another friend told him the US history SAT was "impossible, full of memorization of dates!" so now he's questioning that as well. He has had APUSH and got an A (no scores from the AP test yet). His older sister had the same course and got a 5 on the AP and a 770 on the subject test, so I think they covered the material adequately enough for him to do well.</p>
<p>Of course, his parents know nothing. My question is this: if he takes Math I instead, will it hurt him when applying to his reach schools? And what other subject tests would be "easier" than US History? He thinks he's bad at English, even though he scored 800 on the CR portion of the SAT. @@</p>
<p>He has ruled out the ACT with writing. Why? He is 17. </p>
<p>He should take Math II. Schools look more highly upon it, and it also has a better curve (you can afford to get a few wrong, and still get an 800). I’m sure he’ll do fine in Math II since he’s done so well in his honors pre-calc class.</p>
<p>Regarding the US History…I would have him take the practice test to see. Personally, I found that it was full of random memorization (much more so than APUSH, which I found to be more about the “big ideas”). However, it sounds like the APUSH class prepared his sister well, so he might find it easy.</p>
<p>The thing about Math 1 is that it goes up to Algebra 2, and Math 2 goes up to precalc and trig. Math 1 has a harder curve (to get an 800, you can’t miss a single question) whereas on the Math 2 test, it is slightly better (I think the curve is 3 or 5 skipped). The difference between Math 2 (Math 1 I don’t know about) and the math on the SAT is that on the SAT it is much more problem solving whereas on the Subject test it is much more direct. I got a 750 on the Math 2 subject test but got a 670 on the math section, but that I how I tend to do problems. If he is a much more straightforward problem-solver, by all means take Math 2. If not, do Math 1, but be aware of the lack of flexibility.</p>
<p>Thanks, @douzepoints . He enjoyed precalc a lot more than he did Algebra 2, so it makes sense to take an exam that has more of the math he likes. @OrchidBloom, that’s what he heard about the US H test, too. D didn’t complain when she took it 2 years ago, but she loves history and perhaps the test has been updated.</p>
<p>Personally I wouldn’t take math 2. I got a 770 on SAT math, but math 2 scares me to death. Then again many will say otherwise. I found math 1 to be about as hard as SAT math. I can say that taking math 1 instead of math 2 isn’t really gonna matter. There’s literally never been a time when an otherwise qualified student didn’t get into a school solely because he didn’t take math 2.</p>
<p>In my opinion sat USH is real easy. Convince him to take that, if you can.</p>
<p>@Ynotgo, he hated chemistry but did well in it, so I’m not sure about that one. He just finished honors bio and loved it–got an A+ in the class–but I had heard that unless you had AP Bio, you shouldn’t bother with the subject test. Is this true?</p>
<p>I’d say take practice tests in chemistry and bio and see which one he does better at. It’s more a question of what topics the honors class at his school covered than doing the AP class.</p>
<p>If you’re choosing between Math I and Math II, I would go for Math II since it is known to be more highly looked upon, especially in top schools, and it has content that he probably still remembers (instead of digging back through Alg. 2 notes and remembering what was learned, he can just review Pre-Calculus and other more recent concepts). </p>
<p>I’d honestly take Math II and US History. Math II has a very generous curve, so even if he gets several wrong, he can still get an 800. If he just took precalc, that should help him alot and give him everything he needs. I wouldn’t reccomend chem or bio if he is afraid of memorization, only choose those if he is strong in those subjects. I’d honestly choose US History if he got a 5 on the test.</p>
<p>Here’s why. I too, got a 5 on the APUSH test (abeit without taking the class). From my impressions on the SAT II subject test, it should be very managable if he handled the APUSH test well (especially if he took the class). The friend may just have a bad experience, but that doesn’t mean he will. In fact, although I thought the SAT II was slightly more difficult than the APUSH multiple choice and I <em>thought</em> I got like 1/5 of the questions wrong, I ended up with a 790… yes a 790. So from that I learned that the curve is the most generous (besides math II) and with a little context clues, process of elimination can help alot with the ones he isn’t sure about.</p>
<p>If he has an 800 on CR, he is probably very good at that in the first place. If you are unsure, you could always get him the blue book of practice tests and see which subjects he does best in, but my recommendations stand, good luck!</p>
<p>I agree that Math II is the better test for him. The curve is extremely generous and he sounds more than equipped to manage the level. My D just took it and was on the brink of canceling her scores because she didn’t have time to reach the last 5 questions on the test and was certain she’d made mistakes aplenty. She kept insisting that she failed. She was shocked to find that she scored at the top.</p>
<p>As to History, he should look at the practice tests to gauge whether this is a test that fits. D took it three weeks after APUSH and didn’t find it difficult.</p>
<p>Why does he think he is “bad” at English, especially with an 800 on the CR section of the SAT I? I was about to recommend lit when I saw what you’d written. (He sounds like my D’s soul mate.)</p>
This is an update a year later: My son took the Math II, got a 760 and the English and got a 790. He also, incidentally, won the AP English award at his high school for his year, and plans to major in English at Oberlin when he goes there this fall. They gave him a nice merit scholarship, probably because of his, you guessed it, English scores. Not bad for a kid who wasn’t very good at it.
