In November, I’m thinking of taking 3 subject tests, one of them with listening (but I am a native speaker). I am retaking math 2 and chem (760 and 670) on that day with the language one. But would it be better to just take 2 tests instead? (from experience) How much does your focus flag when you take 3 tests? I don’t want to burden my parents financially by not taking 3 but it would honestly be meaningless if the scores aren’t good…
Thank you!
I took 3 on the same day and did not find it too bad. We were given a five minute break between each one and I brought a snack which helped me re-energize. I guess it varies from person to person though. Maybe try and take 3 practice tests at home back-to-back and see how you feel? Also bear in mind if you’ve taken the SAT general test, that’s like nearly 4 hours so if you were fine with that then 3 hours should definitely be manageable. Hope this helps x
IME, 3 tests are fine. However, retaking a 760 is, IMO, a waste of time and money, as is taking a language test in your native language.
Thank you so much for responding!
(I’m taking the general SAT this year too, so I’m not sure how well that’s going to go, but after taking practices, I guess three hours isn’t that bad 
) @skieurope but I heard for the math 2 that almost everyone scores an 800; wouldn’t it be disadvantageous if anyone got a score below that? Also, could you explain more about why the language test wouldn’t be that good? As many students can take their native language as a course at school (no one’s stopping them and they have a higher chance to have better grades), don’t just as many take their native language for the subject test too for the same reason?
(I’ m sorry this ended up so long!)
It’s just that it’s not particularly impressive if you score well on a test when it’s your native language. Many schools recommend against taking a subject test in your native language on their websites (in the same way they advise against taking both Math 1 and Math 2).
@sansculottes is absolutely right. many schools discourage taking the Subject Test in the native language; that would be like an American submitting a TOEFL score. As for the 760 vs. 800, the difference is statistically insignificant for admissions.
But I heard that, particularly for the less popular languages, the majority of students who take them are students who speak that as their native language? @skieurope then at what score would most people retake a subject test and (if you know of course) in general, how do subject tests tie into admissions? I’ve heard that they’re useful for colleges to find out what you are interested in, but would they use what subjects/ score to determine whether you are accepted or not then? Unless it’s a school that is highly specialized in a certain area, then would it really matter…???
Many people take the language test as an extra test (e.g. if a college requires 2, then the language test is their third), possible as a means of testing out/getting credit for their language in college. And that’s fine. However, those that are submitting them as one of their required subject tests with the assumption that colleges will be impressed with their 800 are sadly mistaken. If the college requests 2 Subject Tests and you submit Spanish as one of your 2, yes, it will look bad. If Spanish is one of more than 2 that you are submitting, it’s fine. Several college websites concur. For example, [url=https://www.brown.edu/admission/undergraduate/how-would-brown-view-sat-subject-test-my-native-language]Brown[/url] and [url=http://undergrad.admissions.columbia.edu/apply/first-year/testing]Columbia.[/url]
I don’t know that there is a hard and fast rule. IMO, conventional wisdom seems to say that for highly selective colleges (i.e. the HYPMS level) once you hit 750, call it a day. For the next tier down, 700+ is probably fine. Do not get caught up in the percentiles. Colleges are not cross-referencing scores to percentile charts. Once you hit a certain level, they are simply checking the box and moving on. While you will potentially spend dozens of hours on an application, the admissions officer is only spending minutes reading it. Don’t overthink this.
The majority of colleges do not admit by prospective major. Do not try to read the tea leaves to discern what a college may or may not want. If a college says it wants 2 Subject Tests but does not specify which ones, any 2 are fine (with the native language exception above). If a college wants specific Subject Tests, it will make that very clear.
@skieurope Thank you so much for clarifying; I don’t think I’ll be taking those two then, and just take the test for chemistry. Thank you.
@skieurope May I ask what is the ideal score for the Sat II’s. (Like Bio, Chem, US/World, and Math II)
@darkcrescendo I gave my opinion in post #7.