I have heard that every 30 points are considered as one tier for SAT subject scores, so 770 and up are very good.
Are Math(800) and US History(740) good enough? My son is applying to colleges like U Michigan, U of Illinois - Urbana Champaign, Northwestern, and EECS major. Or is it better not to submit any SAT subject at all?
First, asking if the highest score possible is “good enough” is just silly.
Where have you “heard” this about 30 points? Any such generalizations are typically not useful. The highest Math 2 score and a 65th percentile score (770) are not the same (depending on the school).
I would say those scores are fine for the schools listed. The math score will help. The history score probably won’t have much weight given the intended major, but it’s fine.
UIUC does not even accept subject test scores.
For schools that highly recommend SAT Subject scores, Engineering majors are expected to take Math 2 and either one of Chemistry or Physics.
740 on US History is fine if the student is not contemplating a History major-it’s basically memorization of facts. It is odd that a STEM major would want to take that particular test though.
No need to submit scores if the schools don’t ‘strongly recommend’ (meaning submit if you have the scores) the tests. But I would advise that the OP’s son take either Chemistry or Physics if possible.
Anything over 750 on a Subject Test pertaining to the major is considered good, although the percentiles do vary.
I disagree, it depends on the subject. For example, 750 in Math II is 58th percentile. Many kids you are competing with at the top colleges will have 800 in Math II.
Below is the test score and percentile:
https://secure-media.collegeboard.org/sat/pdf/sat-subject-tests-percentile-ranks.pdf
It’s not about percentile. It’s the score. Adcoms don’t get percentiles or raw numbers. 750+ is good.
It’s not about figuring out if they highly vs strongly recommend. Any highly competitive college wants to see all the metrics. And some do want a stem and a humanities test.
The score is meaningless without the percentile as you are competing with everyone else taking the test. An ACT of 36 is meaningless unless it is compared against all the other test takers and you know it’s 99.9th percentile. It’s a rare score. If a 36 was 50th percentile would it be as “special”.
10,000s of kids are getting 800 on Math II so a 750 is not impressive compared to your peers. You can try to spin it any way you want.
Dont make this more complicated. 36 is the top score. That’s enough. (Except that, for top schools, it’s subscores.) So what if it’s 50th%ile? What score is higher?
I’m telling you 750 is the rough bar for top colleges… They don’t peel away the layers and get hyper analytical.
If some colleges report a higher 75th percentile, that’s based on the volume of applicants and the rest they look for.
Holistic.