Hello,
I took the Japanese Subject Test and I thought I did really well on it… well I got a 730 :(
I was really bummed out cause this was my first subject test and im a sophomore
i plan on majoring in linguistics in college and is this score going to look bad? I want to apply to an Ivy League but Im afraid this will look bad… Should i retake it? Should i focus on something else?
But I am a native Korean speaker so should I just take the Korean SAT 2 or retake the Japanese?
Thanks in advance!
Hey! Fellow Korean!
A 730 isn’t bad, but it isn’t great either––for the Japanese SAT II. Most of the people who take this subject test are native speakers of Japanese, who take it for the same reason you are tempted to take the Korean SAT II: to take advantage of their language to reap a potentially impressive test score. This is why the average scores for both of these tests are high. These tests are ostensibly easy tests (which is not true).
Which brings me to my next point: it’s not impressive if you take the Korean SAT II. I had the same idea as you two years ago (I never did end up taking it though), and in hindsight, it’s not something worth investing time in. My reasoning is twofold. 1. AdComs already know you speak Korean because you’re Korean, so most likely than not, you do speak Korean; 2. You will most likely send two subject tests when you apply to college. Do you really want your two subject tests to be two languages (one of which is your native one, the other one being closely related)? I get you want to major in linguistics, but think about the bigger picture. AdComs aren’t going to look at your Korean subject test and think, “Hmm, perfect score on the subject test of the applicant’s native language. This is as good as a perfect score on SAT Physics!”; they’ll most likely just think that you don’t have any other worthy subject test scores to send in and you wanted to repair that gap with what is essentially a filler test for most.
If you feel that strongly about doing well on the Japanese SAT II, then by all means, retake it. If you really want to take the Korean SAT II, take it (I personally do not recommend it). But keep the bigger picture in mind. Ivy Leagues and other top schools expect your breadth of knowledge to be advanced, so having two language SAT IIs, no matter the major, will not help.
@Wolfgangbread 안녕!! thanks for the advice i probably wont take the sat korean cause i play to take other subjects… anyway 고마워!!
Do NOT take the Korean one. Admissions officers will disregard it, since you already speak Korean. And it is considered kind of a cop out to take one for a language you speak at home.
The curve is pretty steep on all the Asian languages, I think because a lot of native speakers do take them. A 730 isn’t great percentile-wise, but I don’t think it will hurt you too much. I would study for an take a couple more subject tests, though (maybe not language tests).
Hello, fellow Korean here as well! Personally, the Korean SAT Subject Test is extremely challenging, even for Korean native speakers. I personally think your score of 730 is very good, and I think it should be fine for most colleges. If you would really like a higher score, since you are a sophomore, I would recommend to retake it. Otherwise, you should be fine.
Have a good day!