Good colleges want 2 SAT II results, but...

Test Preparation SAT Subject Test Preparation
1

<p>Hi everyone,</p>

<p>I'm an international student (Singapore) planning to apply to Yale, Stanford, Carnegie Mellon and a couple other schools. The thing is, in my junior year I chose to study Art, Theory of Art, Computing, Maths and Economics. Out of those four, the only one reflected in the SAT II exams is Math. Granted, they give you Math I and II, but I've heard that if you take Math II, then taking Math I is contrived, useless, and a waste of money.</p>

<p>Singapore math is pretty tough so I should have no problems with the Math II test, but many good universities (e.g. Yale) require me to submit two SAT II scores. Some need three. My subject combination means that to make up the requirements, I can only take:</p>

<p>Two: Math I, Math II <em>or</em> Chinese
Three: Math I, Math II, Chinese</p>

<p>I'm rather out of touch with Bio, Physics and Chem, and never studied History, Lit or Geog. The only language I can take is Chinese - but I'm a Chinese*, and after reading several other threads here it seems that ACs frown upon you taking a native language in the SAT II.</p>

<p>If it's of any relevance, I took the SAT I without preparation last year and scored 2270. Upon the advice of friends and family who said once you get above 2200 ACs will look at the other components of your application, I am not planning to take it again.</p>

<p>Any advice for this situation? Responses much appreciated.</p>

<p>*Although I consider my native language to be English - my Chinese is pretty rusty, and was bad even when well-oiled. But ACs are just going to look at my surname and jump to that conclusion, right?</p>

<p>PS: Chinese is only offered once a year in November, but admissions usually close in December. Is it too late to take Chinese? Will the scores get sent on time?</p>

2

<p>Usually both Math I and Math II will NOT be accepted.</p>

<p>I advise you to take Math II, and a science (Phys,Chem,Bio), as well as a humanity (e.g. US History). I imagine that unfortunately, due to both your surname (as you mention) and the fact that you are international, a Chinese language score would be disregarded. </p>

<p>Hope this helps.</p>

3

<p>Hi xjudokax,</p>

<p>Thanks for your reply. That’s really terrible news to me…I’m taking major A-level examinations (required for both Singaporean and UK universities) this year. Add to that intensive training for a choral competition and the remaining free time being spent on my A-level art coursework, and it’s pretty much impossible for me to study any of those (Phy/Chem/Bio etc.) to the level required for a good score SAT II. Specifically, I haven’t touched the sciences for 3 years and have never taken humanities other than Economics and Art.</p>

<p>Is this the end of the road for me? I’m never going to get to study in the US? :(</p>

4

<p>Batllo replied but it’s not showing up here…anyway:</p>

<p>Here is the message that has just been posted:</p>

<hr>

<p>You can study in the US, you need to find colleges that do not require the 2-3 SATII tests.
Apparently art is your thing so why not apply to Art Institutes?</p>

<hr>

<p>Studying in the US would be a waste of my parents’ hard-earned money if I did not attend a selective college. There are still more kids after me waiting for their turn at college too…</p>

<p>I am also planning to apply to art schools but I am still very unsure about turning art into a career. I want to get a good, more ‘general’ education in say Computer Science (another major interest area) at a school that offers a broader range of courses to take. My belief is that a firm grounding in a range of non-art subjects is the way to go if I want to give my art more meaning. I can study art on my own at private ateliers or even through online courses - but getting a really comprehensive undergrad education means I do need those 2-3 SAT II tests.</p>

<p>Thank you for your reply nevertheless.</p>

5

<p>Do MATH II, Science.</p>

6

<p>Just FYI, on a test like Physics, you can probably miss 15 of the 75 questions, and still get a 750 - a very respectable score. I studied for Physics for only about a month, and got an 800. I did have a solid background in mechanics, but I had never seen electricity, magnetism, or optics before. If you buy the SparkNotes book (or just do it online, where it is free), I imagine you could easily attain this score.</p>

<p>So in short:
Take Math II and Physics. You’ll survive. You can even miss 1/3 of the questions can get a 700.</p>

7

<p>Just out of curiosity, how well does your academic history match up with the recommendations/requirements of the colleges you are interested in? For example, Princeton recommends two years of history, which you say you’ve never studied.</p>

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<p>Well, see, I’m really unsure about the academic history part. Our syllabus is different from the US in many ways, but here is what I have so far:</p>

<p>Upper secondary school (Grades 9-10):

  • Bio, Physics, Chem
  • Math
  • Chinese
  • Language Arts (English with a tiny bit of Lit thrown in)
  • Integrated Humanities (mix of history and geography)
  • Higher Art</p>

<p>Junior college (Grades 11-12):

  • Art and Theory of Art
  • Computing
  • Economics
  • Math</p>

<p>Not really interested in Princeton though.</p>

<p>xjudokax - Thanks for that assurance, I’ll start thinking about it. How difficult would you say the Physics test is? In upper secondary I learned a bit of basic kinematics, waves, electricity and optics, but I’ve completely forgotten all of it. My classmates taking Physics now are learning about superposition and internal resistance (I have no clue what those are)</p>

<p>By the way, can we choose not to send SAT II scores? Or is it compulsory once you take the test?</p>

9

<p>If you scored 2270 on the SAT I, how much did you score in CR? Literature is a harder version of CR, and out of all the SAT II, would be the easiest to self study if you already have a strong English-language background.</p>

<p>On the other hand, I believe universities will understand that students taking the A Levels (like me, luckily I’m doing A Level Lit and Biology), may not have the same subject mix as that students taking the AP or IB. They will probably realize that you’re taking CHinese, for example, out of necessity since you have no interest/learning in any other SAT II subject. It’s not like you’re going to be an engineer and refuses to take Physics and takes Chinese instead.</p>

10

<p>I got 750CR, 780M, 750W. I do have a fairly strong English background, but I’ve never studied Lit before (whereas I have a bit of foundation in the sciences). Worried that there’ll be a lot of questions with technical terms :-/</p>

<p>Doing A levels too - where are you from, Drelnis?</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>It would be best if they realized that! But there seems to be no way to indicate this to the admissions comms. other than essays - which don’t seem to be a very good place for it anyway…</p>

11

<p>

Prep books can teach you the technical terms. I used Princeton Review’s prep book (if you added it all up, probably only for six to eight hours over a couple weeks), and they had a two to three page list of all the literary terms that you have to know. The only one they left out was apostrophe, I don’t know why. But they weren’t extremely hard terms. I had taken lit classes before, but at a local college, where the focus was always on what we were reading, not how we were reading. With minimal prep, I got a 720 on Lit. With a little more prep and reading all of those literary terms, I got a 790. The good thing about Lit is that so many people take it that some scores below 800 (such as my 790) are still 99th percentile, whereas other tests, like World History, according to my score report, have 800 at only the 95th percentile.</p>

<p>You say some schools require three, but only one (Georgetown University) does. If you are not applying to Georgetown, then Math II and Lit would be good for you. If you are applying to Georgetown, try either a science or something like World History (NOT United States History, since you haven’t grown up with years of it like students in the US have). I imagine there are useful prep books on all subjects.</p>

12

<p>Hmm, okay. I have got almost zero exposure to poetry and plays though (the only play I’ve read is Romeo and Juliet).</p>

<p>Am now thinking of having a go at Lit, but I just went to the SAT website to have a look at the Lit test. I’ve got one question wrong so far (on my fifth) and am working through the questions at a very slow pace, being unused to poetry after binging on non-fiction for years.</p>

<p>Do you think such issues can be solved with more practice?</p>

<p>I also just realized the test date for Chinese clashes horribly with my A-levels (both in November). Might take the Lit and Math II in June though. Okay, wait, edit: I don’t learn Stats until the second half of this year, so have to postpone them to sometime after September, after finals (preliminary exams - used to predict your A-levels grades…or something. Problem is with good schools prelims are ridiculously hard and almost everyone scores Cs and below).</p>

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<p>You have the entire summer to prepare for the SAT Subject Tests…</p>

<p>2-3 hours a day will get you a perfect/near-perfect score on any subject.
If you don’t know any other language, I would also suggest either taking Lit or Chem/Physics. Watch out, however, for if you are applying to something engineering-related, you will need Math Level 2 and Chem/Physics. Literature won’t do.</p>

<p>And, if it won’t take you a lot of preparation, I think you should take the Chinese one, too. If it doesn’t help you, it won’t you hurt either…The odds are, however, that it might facilitate your admission to a uni.</p>

<p>Just take something that you know you will enjoy. :wink:
I myself took Math IIC and a language…</p>