indian taking chinese SAT II

<p>i got a 690, which is 10th percentile but i was aiming for a 750+</p>

<p>my parents are from india and i'm born here so I was wondering if I should retake it..</p>

<p>also, i'm a junior in chinese 4 honors and i will probably skip to chinese 6 AP next year. i am just wondering if colleges will understand my situation in the 2 minutes they spend on my app when i apply next year. furthermore, will they favor me over natives that are taking chinese?? any help would be appreciated!!</p>

<p>my father went to MIT so I have some pressure to get into ivy leagues/stanford/MIT</p>

<p>Since you have been learning Chinese at your school, you have no “situation” that needs to be understood.</p>

<p>I’m not an ancient Roman, and I managed a 780 on the Latin exam >_></p>

<p>Your Chinese just isn’t excellent, that’s all.</p>

<p>Admissions officers won’t necessarily FAVOR you over Chinese applicants, since Indians are also an ignored minority, but they’ll certainly acknowledge the fact that it’s not your native language, and it’s the one that you’ve been studying over your high school career.</p>

<p>And, you feel pressured to gain admission to “Ivy League” schools simply because they are assumed to be good.</p>

<p>Problem is, the curve on your Latin exam wasn’t set by a bunch of Ancient Roman native speakers, while the curve on the Chinese exam was…</p>

<p>Well, the generosity of the curve is irrelevant, as long as you know what you’re doing.</p>

<p>i think both pro28 and kwu have good points.</p>

<p>chinese is dominated by native speakers…a 690 is awesome for a non-native speaker…</p>

<p>wow thats amazing
10th percentile haha
u might get favored because ur non-native
i think u should retake if ur skipping to ap chinese</p>

<p>Ha Ha great point Pro28. I would love to see those ancient Romans sitting for the Latin subject tests. Come to think of it they would probably bomb the test- wouldn’t be able to understand the directions. </p>

<p>To OP: I would bet there aren’t so many non-native speakers who get a 690. Do you also speak some Indian languages? Pretty cool and I’m sure will be noticed by adcoms.</p>

<p>well i speak fluent hindi and I have spent some of my break learning how to write hindi using the internet.. im also learning arabic on my own if that kind of counts?? </p>

<p>i mean i have many extracurriculars but i’m thinking chinese is a good topic to structure my essays on because it is more unique.. in my school and in my grade, i am the only non-native speaker who is in such a high level and who has gotten straight A’s in the class; although the latter isn’t much of an accomplishment</p>

<p>You are an American with fluency in Hindi and Chinese. You can converse with the vast majority of people on earth in their native tongues, including the two most important economies of this century. And you are learning Arabic on your own (of course it counts), a very important language of the Islamic world, that the US clearly needs to understand better. I think that makes you a HOT commodity, not only for colleges but also after you graduate. I would emphasize all the languages in my essays if I were you, not just Chinese.</p>

<p>The curve on the Chinese exam is really hard. A score in the range of 780-800 is 46th percentile. So that’s really good for a nonnative speaker, and the fact that you speak so many very important languages will be noticed by admissions officers.</p>

<p>thank you soo much. I feel a little more confident now.. but I think I would like to take it again. Specifically directed to the native speakers out there, what do you suggest is the best way to prepare? </p>

<p>My subscores were: Listening- 64 Grammar - 69 Reading - 74</p>

<p>I would like to have a 75 in all of the above and my main weakness is Listening.. I’ve been having trouble finding preparation books on the web and at stores like Barnes and Nobles..
if you know any reliable websites and/or companies I would REALLY appreciate it. thank you!</p>

<p>Definitely. But unless you’re confident you’ll get over 750, spend your study time elsewhere.</p>

<p>well i’m going to be done with SAT reasoning and US history, bio and math iic subject tests so I would like to take it again.. as of now, I have found iTunes podcasts to improve my listening but I really need books that have practice tests.. Chinese SAT books are so hard to find!</p>

<p>hahahaha omg this thread title made me laugh so hard…“indian taking chinese”…LOL.</p>

<p>ok haha, sry, I just have an odd sense of humor. you still did amazingly on the test, so i wouldn’t worry. you’re parents must be pretty cool too. i can’t imagine any brown parents allowing their kid to take chinese, haha.</p>

<p>yah it was actually my dad that told me to take it because he’s into business and everything.. i’m actually into econ and bio so it may not be of use to me :(</p>

<p>but i still continue because i like art and chinese is pretty much like drawing, as strange as it sounds coming from a guy :)</p>