<p>okay, so ive taken 2 SAT IIs so far...and ive gotten a 650 and a 640... (Math I and Chem, respectivly)....im planning on taking three more, but illl prolly just take the ACT instead. </p>
<p>if i do well on the SAT I, and the ACT, should i send in both?? will the ACT cover for my SAT 2s??</p>
<p>No.</p>
<p>Take both SAT and ACT to see which you do better on. They will decide which looks better if you can't.</p>
<p>For SAT II's, they are completely different that SAT and ACT. I say retake the chem and mathI since you know how the test is and you can increase your score.</p>
<p>Quality over quantity.</p>
<p>where? You should send in ALL of your tests, but whether or not your SAT IIs will hurt you really depends on where you're applying, considereing some schools don't even ask for them.</p>
<p>You can't send the SAT I scores without the SAT II scores going along with it, and vice versa. Some colleges will accept the ACT in lieu of the SAT I but then also require SAT II's. </p>
<p>Typically the SAT II's only have to be high at about the top 15-20 schools. I know that Emory says that the SAT II's are optional and will only be used if they helped you. Some public universities won't use them in any case. The OP's SAT II's would be referred to as evidence of solid work. They are average scores, but they are average for the few people who take the SAT II's. Having said that, they are very important for those 15-20 schools. The Math level 2 is especially important for engineering.</p>
<p>Take both the ACT and SAT as well as SAT IIs. Depending on what you want to major in and where your interests lie, scores on subject tests may not matter all that much. Of course, as a previous poster has noted, if you're interested in Engineering, TAKE MATH 2. </p>
<p>If you're aiming for the top tier of colleges, you may want to consider retaking Chem. If you do really well on Math 2, no one will care that you scored in the average range for Math 1. Besides, if you score abysmally on the ACT, you can simply not send it.</p>
<p>Some colleges accept the ACT in lieu of both the SAT I and IIs. My daughter applied to six selective schools, including three Ivies, and they were all like this. Nice because her SAT IIs weren't very good ... she just sent in the ACT which was. She liked the format of the ACT better than the SAT I and so never even took the latter.</p>
<p>Yes, there are some schools which ask for the ACT and SAT IIs. Fortunately, she wasn't interested in any of them! She also wasn't interested in any of the schools that require or express a preference for the SAT I (in years of asking people just who is in this category, I've only been directed to the web sites of Princeton, Wake Forest, and Randolph Macon).</p>
<p>I don't really know if your ACT would "cover" for lower SAT IIs. I guess you have to see if your SAT I score is that much better than the ACT score to make it worthwhile to see.</p>
<p>You can take practice tests of both the SAT I and ACT and see if you do better on one or the other.</p>
<p>You also might do better on the SAT IIs in other subjects. People keep saying that colleges only look at your two top scores.</p>
<p>My daughter chose not to retake the SAT IIs because she couldn't figure out where she went wrong. She came out thinking she had done well. So it isn't as if she would have known, "I need to study X and Y."</p>
<p>Interestingly, my daughter also took the Math IC and the Chem tests. What I've heard from others is that the Math IC is so easy that the curve is really wicked. Make a few careless errors and it can really hurt. Chem seems to be dependent on how well your course happened to fit what CB chose to put on the test that year. I've heard of kids who had the top A's in community college chemistry taking the chemistry SAT II and doing as you did or even worse. Its curve may also be bad. </p>
<p>I found it very frustrating not knowing exactly what would be on the test. The prep books do not agree with one another. The CB descriptions are vague, at times. We homeschooled and so I think my daughter's results were a function of my choice of textbook, rather than anything to do with her. </p>
<p>The tests are supposed to reflect the "usual" content of particular courses, not any particular one. Hence, those teachers who build up a knowledge of what is important to cover or just happen to get it right will have kids who get better results.</p>
<p>I hung out on discussion lists for teachers of AP subjects. They spent a great deal of time reviewing past tests and trying to figure out what are the best books to use, what might show up on the test this year, and the like. Maybe the same sort of process is at work for SAT IIs ... </p>
<p>You don't mention your proposed field. For math/science/engineering, you may need math (the IIC) and science SAT IIs. But if you have some good AP or CLEP results in math or science, it may not be essential. If you are going into a humanity, I don't think the IC and the chem would be critical -- colleges would look at what you did on humanities testing.</p>
<p>My opinion is based on what I would do as an ad comm member, not any specific information as to what they actually do. But my daughter's math and science ACT subscores were only at the 92nd percentile and she got into an Ivy -- but her field is unrelated to both and her other subscores were very high. So maybe they (or at least some of them) do what I think they should!</p>
<p>wow , thanks so much everyone</p>
<p>im not going into the math/science/engineering fields anyway...so i guess the chem and math 1 scores wont hurt me?
i think im going into poli sci.</p>
<p>one more thing- if i send my average SAT2 scores to a school that only requires the SAT1 or ACT (uchicago), will that hurt my chances??</p>
<p>and would it be worth it, to send a reallly really good SAT1 score, even if it is paired with some mediocre SAT2s?</p>
<p>thanks</p>
<p>I guess it would depend if your ACT is really, really good, too! Then, if it were me, I would skip sending the SAT II scores. U Chicago is another school that admitted my daughter, so it will take a good ACT by itself.</p>
<p>Are you planning on a history test of some sort? Or one of the AP government courses? You could even self-study for the AP tests if your school doesn't offer them. These would seem the most relevant to what you are interested in. Maybe some volunteer work on a political campaign or an advocacy group? I am just trying out ideas of how you could let your passion show.</p>
<p>My daughter is interested in Egyptology so none of the subject matter tests were that close. World history has very little of the ancient stuff in it. So she did correspondence work with an Egyptologist and supported her application that way. I should rephrase that. She didn't do the correspondence work to support her application; she did the work because she has been gaga for ancient Egypt since 3rd grade. The fact that it supported her application was probably secondary.</p>