<p>Post #50, from reading all the results thread from top schools, it seems like SAT subject test is not considered a big deal. Some kids were accepted with lower than 600 scores and some with perfect 800 on many subject tests were rejected. I think SAT is more important.
However, I think your SAT score is fine.</p>
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<p>Search this site (or maybe Google) for Academic Index. It’s a kind of formula that some colleges use to help rank students for admissions purposes. SAT Subject Test scores are a startlingly important part of it. </p>
<p>But I don’t know to what extent this index is actually used.</p>
<p>Post #62, AI is very old. It never did apply to D2 so I don’t think it’s very useful.</p>
<p>Re using SAT II scores (or AP scores) for foreign language placement: If the object of the game is to satisfy the college’s foreign language requirement and never take a course in that language again, this is a great idea.</p>
<p>But if you’re going to be taking more of the language, you might be better off taking the college’s own test (if they have one), especially if it has been a year or more since you studied the language. If you rely on a Subject Test (or AP Test) score taken in your junior year or earlier, you might be placed into a foreign language course that is beyond your current skill level. It’s amazing how much of a language you can forget in a year. The college’s placement test has the advantage of assessing your skills at the right time.</p>
<p>Also if you are using the language subject test to get out of a language requirement, it might be best to wait till June of your senior year when you are likely to get your highest score.</p>
<p>Mathmom’s strategy also has the advantage that if your score is disappointing, it won’t play a role in the admissions process.</p>
<p>However, if you’re using the language subject test to get out of a language requirement but you’re not taking the language as a senior in high school, you might want to take the test earlier, when your language skills are strongest. If you don’t want the other colleges you’re applying to to see it (just in case it’s not as good as you are hoping), send your scores to all the other colleges before you take it.</p>
<p>Some colleges let you meet the foreign language requirement with the SAT II, but pose very high thresholds, e.g.</p>
<p>Princeton (760 for Spanish [Placement</a> Test](<a href=“http://www.princeton.edu/spo/undergraduate/language-requirements/placement-test/]Placement”>http://www.princeton.edu/spo/undergraduate/language-requirements/placement-test/) )</p>
<p>Barnard: (781, except 700 for Hebrew [Requirements</a> for the Liberal Arts Degree | Barnard College](<a href=“http://barnard.edu/catalogue/curriculum/liberal-arts]Requirements”>http://barnard.edu/catalogue/curriculum/liberal-arts) )</p>
<p>And some won’t let you out of that one no matter what (e.g. Yale).</p>
<p>Harvard’s SAT requirement is now 700 - it was 600 when I attended and until very recently was 650. Alternatively you can get a 5 on the AP which I would have thought was harder than getting a 700 on the SAT. (At least when last I looked at a sample SAT for German it seemed easy-peasy to me.)</p>
<p>Got an email from S2’s HS the other day – BU will no longer require SAT-IIs starting this fall. It’s on my email at work, so will post the link when I get there.</p>
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<p>Also Cornell’s College of Arts and Sciences, but not the rest of the university.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for all the replies!
I think this is an important thread as many people are unaware of the nuances with subject test.
For S the plan is to take SAT Chem in June and then, after hopefully formulating the college list over the summer, look into it again and see if another science test is needed.</p>
<p>Great idea about “playing the system” 
How many submit their subject test scores before the official application?
And if he submits subject tests now, aren’t all the SAT tests going to show up when he submits his SAT reasoning score?</p>
<p>For many on this forum, the cost of SAT exams are nothing compared to family contribution they will end up having to pay. Besides, subject tests are for those schools that are most selective and probably have better financial resources to support the incoming class. </p>
<p>I cannot see why parents are making it a subject, how many subject tests their children should take. I think students should take all subject tests that they think they are strong. If they do not take a subject test, admission officers should be able to think that may be that subject was not his/her best subject area. </p>
<p>Plain and simple, is it not?</p>
<p>This thread is 6 mos old. Another risen from the dead. </p>
<p>And to explain to this new-ish poster, the discussion about the # of subject tests is commonly asked about as relates the the number required by certain schools or programs. Some schools require them to be in the sciences or the humanities. Some schools now accept the AP or ACT scores as demonstrated content knowledge.</p>
<p>And, when posting in the parents forum, its usually considered courteous not to criticize what they choose to discuss. Once can simply choose not to participate. Just sayin’</p>
<p>I heard a number of college adcomms say at parent/student info sessions that they do <em>not</em> want students spending all their Saturdays on testing. They would much rather see prospies doing things that interest them. </p>
<p>More than thee SATs or more than three SAT-IIs sounds a little desperate to me.</p>
<p>I would not take more than three SAT-IIs in any event. Math Level II, a humanities (social sciences/lit) and third that may be required by a school’s specific program/major. Note that some engineering schools want Chem or Physics, but not Bio.</p>
<p>S1 (STEM major) took Math Level II, World History (taken after AP) and Physics. He took the SAT once.
S2 (IR/Russian major) took Math Level II, USH and Lit. He took the SAT twice, but we would have considered the ACT if he was unhappy with his scores.</p>
<p>In any event, get all this testing done by the end of junior year. You do NOT want to deal with this the fall of senior year!</p>
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<p>No, it is not.</p>
<p>For the benefit of other new posters, the only students who will probably benefit from taking more than two or three subject tests are homeschoolers. For homeschoolers, AP exams and SATIIs are viewed by many schools as impartial corroboration of their independent work. </p>
<p>It is a common fallacy amongst people who come from cultures where one’s fate is largely determined by tests to think that the more tests the better. It would appear that Aleggo is such an individual. In actual fact, admissions officers at elite schools may well tale a dim view of a student who comes across as a testing robot obsessed with scores. They expect students to have excellent scores and excellent grades in the most rigorous curriculum, and to have done something beyond that.</p>
<p>Absolutely agree with consolation. Homeschoolers might be required to take more than 3, but otherwise no more than 3, and more commonly only 2 are necessary.</p>