<p>Well, I've gotten myself into a little situation.</p>
<p>I'm a homeschooled senior, and my dream school is Stanford. On their website, Stanford specially recommends that homeschoolers take SAT II tests, so I've been planning on taking SAT bio and SAT American history this December—the last opportunity I have before applying. </p>
<p>What I didn't realize because no-one in my family has ever taken SAT II tests before, is that they always fall on the same day as the SAT I, which I have been planning on retaking. (got an 1810 the first and last time I took it my junior year.) Basically Dec 6 is my last chance to take the SAT I and the SAT II, so I'm going to have to choose.</p>
<p>I am also taking the ACT in December, and I think I can score really well. Stanford, however, demands that I send all of my scores from all of my tests. So the question: would it be better to have </p>
<p>a great ACT and SAT I score, </p>
<p>or</p>
<p>a great ACT score, a terrible SAT I score from the year before, and two great SAT subject test scores?</p>
<p>It’s hard to be impressed with your scores and preparation as a Stanford applicant. I hope you have safety schools.</p>
<p>Stanford strongly recommends subject tests. You need to take them if you want to apply. Your SAT is way below the average for Stanford. You have no idea what you will score on the ACT. None of this bodes well for your Stanford chances.</p>
<p>With an 1810 on your first SAT sitting, what makes you think you are competitive within the Stanford applicant pool?</p>
<p>Sorry if this comes off as insensitive or insulting. I just wonder how people on the forum choose their “apply to” schools…I see many threads where it seems like the applicant is reaching. A lot. </p>
<p>I would support the advice to take the ACT and the SATIIs and not sit for the SAT again.</p>
<p>FYI, was just on the Stanford site and found this:</p>
<p>Testing
The SAT or the ACT Plus Writing is the only exam required for the Stanford application; however, we welcome SAT Subject Test and/or Advanced Placement exam scores from home-schooled students as an additional measure of academic preparation. </p>
<p>I don’t read that as “especially recommending”. But if you were told differently by a Stanford admissions person, then go with that.</p>
<p>Even after reading that note on the Stanford site, I would still say do the SAT subject tests and the ACT. You might be better suited to the ACT. Also, if you haven’t already, it would not hurt to take practice tests for both the SAT and ACT (not to mention whichever SAT II subject test you were planning on)…so at least you have a ballpark of where you might score on the real thing.</p>
<p>As a home school student, if you take SAT subject tests, you may want to take three of them to show that you have good achievement in more subjects.</p>
<p>@sevenda & @mnm111: I realize it’s a huge stretch—feel free to say it as bluntly as you want. I should’ve started preparing years ago to have a legitimate chance at Stanford. But if there’s one thing I learned from high school, it’s that for me personally, life is more fulfilling when I aim high and fail sometimes than when I aim low and win every time. And yes, I certainly have backup schools.</p>
<p>I think I’ve decided what I’m going to do:</p>
<p>I’ll take @ucbalumnus advice and sit for all three SAT II tests this December: biology, american history and math II. Then I’ll, hopefully, have a good standardized score in math, science and social studies that should help to legitimize my homeschool courses and grades. I’ve already started practicing for the ACT and I find it much easier than the SAT was, so I think if I practice regularly between now and then I could get a pretty solid score on that too.</p>
<p>Thanks so much everyone for the advice! I was sure everyone would decide I was a hopeless case and move on #:-S </p>
<p>Even if you were competitive as a Stanford applicant, you have a one in 20 chance of getting in… and based on your being a homeschooled student with low standardized test scores, my gut feeling is that your chance is even lower. Sorry. That being said – most of the students applying are submitting SAT II scores. And your first SAT test score is too low for Stanford. I think, based on your first SAT score, that it would not be worth your studying over the next month to prepare for another SAT I. I would recommend that you spend a great deal of time preparing for the ACT. Take each of the four tests using practice tests 2-3 times individually. Then take the entire “test” (so that you can get used to the order of the test and the length of it in terms of time management) at least twice. This is a lot of preparation. But leaving this testing til December of your senior year was a big mistake anyway… meanwhile, you will simultaneously need to be preparing for at least two subject tests. Again, use a practice book and start making your way through the book. Take the practice tests for each several times.</p>
<p>I agree with the suggestion that you try the ACT and take some SAT subject tests. What the parents in our home school network tell our teens is to treat test prep as a full-time job. As a home schooled student, you have a lot of hours between now and test time in December to prepare. Create a game plan so you’re making the best use of your time. Good luck.</p>