I scored 2200 (one sitting) on my latest SAT and I have a feeling that if I take it again, I could get higher. But if I do, this would be my 4th time taking it, and I would not have time to take the SATIIs (considering retaking Chem 670 and Spanish 610, both of which I took last year).
My high school GPA is A*AA (UK A levels Predicted), and the two As are in Chemistry and Spanish. Would it be possible to show the admissions officer that I am a high achieving student for Chem and Span and therefore possibly not retake these subject tests again? Ive noticed that it is not mandatory to have sat II subject test scores for JHU, but I fear that it might put me at a disadvantage.
Not having SAT IIs will not hurt you but only benefit you. However, SAT subject tests set some sort of national standard, and, by scoring on the lower end of the spectrum, the admissions officer could question the difficulty of the classes you are taking. In this way, he or she may feel that the A’s you received are not worth much. Language subject tests especially have a lot of high scorers because a lot of native speakers take these tests.
If you are studying under the UK system, you have concentrated more on certain subjects and should do really well on SAT IIs. I would try to improve the SATIIs. If you can’t improve them, I would try to not submit them and show the A-levels as subject tests.
I too have bad SAT II’s. I have good SAT’s. (For an African American; 2120). But SAT II’s : 640 Math-II and 600 Bio-M :-S I retook Math II today (i actually practiced and found it easier) But I don’t know whether to retake Bio in January. Advice??? :(|)
Here are some previous threads on this same topic. Please read through them (and note the different opinions), and then post if you have additional questions:
@jefchuk , as a minority student there are additional considerations since you have more of a cushion with what defines competitive scores. I don’t believe there is data on racial breakdown of performance on SATIIs, but your scores would be more competitive than indicated by the posted percentiles for overall national performance (which is a good thing in your case). JHU also places a strong emphasis on diversity (like most schools). Furthermore, a strong SAT performance (and possibly AP/IB and upper-level math/science course performance) would further strengthen your record such that you don’t need to submit SATIIs to demonstrate those skill sets.
Please read threads to understand my viewpoint in better detail.