A few weeks ago I heard an admissions officer from an Ivy school answer a question about recommended SAT II tests directly. He said that at least at the school he represents that the “recommended” designation for SAT II exams was implemented to help those who could not afford to take the test or those who did not have the exams offered in a convenient location. He did go on to say that not including SAT II exams would not hurt a candidate at his college. He recommended that if a candidate has strong SAT II scores that they should be submitted as they can help an application, but if a candidate too SAT II exams and didn’t have strong results he/she would be better off not submitting them.