<p>LJVKLJEPRKJELRJEKL I've worked my whole flippin' life to get into "the right college." My applications are going to be great. Minus SAT II scores. I got a 630 on the Chemistry SAT II. This is not because I suck at science; it is because my Chemistry teacher didn't teach me half of the stuff on it. I've gotten screwed by the administration at my school, so all of the other strong applicants took Physics junior year (I was planning on taking it senior year, the normal time to take it at my school, but not enough people signed up. i wonder why? -.-) The 630 is in the 44th percentile! Are they going to look at that and freak out? I really am not bad at science. MIT is my dream school.</p>
<p>I totally feel your pain. 620 here. took honors chem as soph, did great, now in AP Chem as senior - that year break killed me. i knew it was not good the day i took it -did not realize no calculators allowed and was sick it was only test i took that day - wish i would have canceled. fyi, rest of my stats sat I 770M, 780V, 800W, math IIc 800, Lit 760. ACT 35. im not looking at MIT but i wish you good luck and i bet it will be okay. just retake it in december, thats my plan. november test comes too soon for me, will stick with scheduled spanish and us hist for november (if i can cram it). good luck and lets hope our day gets better.</p>
<p>Heh, you ran into the same situation on your SAT II chem test that I did on my AP Calc BC test (i.e. the teacher didn't cover all the material).</p>
<p>How are your other grades and numbers? If you have all As in chemistry, strong grades overall, and the rest of your test scores are strong, the adcoms will probably realize that something went wrong with your chem test, because your score was an outlier, and they won't decide that you're not qualified to do the work because of it. I mean, it won't help you, but it probably won't break you. If you have many weak areas in your application, if there is a pattern, then you have a problem.</p>
<p>I once heard someone connected with MIT - possibly even an adcom - describe the judgment of applicant qualifications as a table. If one leg on a (presumably four-legged) table is broken, the table will still stand. If two legs are broken, it will fall. This is obviously not a perfect analogy - for one thing, you are not being judged on exactly four equally-weighted things, and for another, if you screw up a quarter of, say, your classes and standardized tests, you have a problem - but the point is that one thing going wrong doesn't necessarily make the whole thing collapse.</p>
<p>This is one reason to take more than one science SATII. The math SATII is very easy and doesn't really tell you anything different than the SATI.</p>
<p>I think if you haven't completed the AP class or the equivalent, the admissions committee will be somewhat understanding. However, to you underclassmen and juniors out there, it's to your benefit to self-study or take an AP science class before you take the SATII.</p>
<p>Gah! I'm in the exact same situation. I have pretty good ECs (president of 4-5 science clubs. vice president of a community service club, etc), did research over the summer, and have a high GPA (top 1-2% of class), and I got a 670 in chemistry! I'm very worried now, and I don't have time to retake =/.</p>
<p>I'm wondering the same thing...
", the adcoms will probably realize that something went wrong with your chem test, because your score was an outlier, and they won't decide that you're not qualified to do the work because of it."
what if you take the same subject test twice and get the same score? does that mean you're not qualify to do the work even if you're willing to work hard and that shows in your grades?</p>
<p>It won't hurt you. No really, it won't.</p>
<p>For one thing, don't use the "I wasn't taught all of the material" excuse on your essays or anywhere else. Don't even mention that when you have your interview, or anything of that sort. It'll just look like you're trying to scrape up an excuse for your slightly lower score; that just exhibits the stereotypical "shove the blame on someone else" attitude. If you had wanted to do really well on the exam, then a college like MIT would have expected you to study the material and learn it yourself if your school setting had really been as bad as you put it.</p>
<p>Not all is lost, though. The SATII scores I sent in last year were 640 MathII, 650 Physics, and 710 Bio-E. It's not that bad, and I'm sure your other scores and dedication to the sciences is more than enough to cover for one little 630 =) best of luck!</p>
<p>Hey Vivi, what were your reasoning test scores? is there anyone in the class of 2012 with really low SAT scores but is thriving at MIT.</p>
<p>Please bother to reply or PM me.</p>
<p>those scores arent going to help you one bit, they will actually probably hurt your chances.
sorry that is all i got to say</p>
<p>I believe I have found your problem:
"I've worked my whole flippin' life to get into "the right college.""</p>
<p>If you take that attitude, obviously you are going to freak out over every thing that doesn't work out exactly as you planned. One score is not ever going to make or break you. What jessie said: if you did well in Chemistry and other sciences in classes and other tests, and there's one test on which you did just plain well instead of super zomg amazing, no biggie.</p>
<p>^^I completely agree, LauraN. Does MIT even want people who obsess about test scores? That's just so annoying...I'm not trying to be mean, but your 630 could have been worse (and a 630, by the way, is NOT bad at all).</p>
<p>that is true, and what you all say is true, yet in what way are they going to see that you tried your whole life to get into MIT if your score is sub-par?</p>
<p>^^I'm sorry, but perhaps I'm not understanding what you mean by "sup-par." To me, anything above a 600 is a great score...even a few high 500s are cool with me (by the way, I'm not saying I have these scores...).</p>
<p>You took the test, received the scores you received, now focus on crafting the more important parts of your appliction. Enjoy your ECs, get involved, write compelling essays, encourage your teachers to write your applications truthfully and with deliberation; I'm just not that worked up about scores. If you don't have the "perfect" scores, then I'm sure MIT will look at your transcript for some evidence that you are an intelligent person...oh and your interview! If you were able to leave a memorable and mature immpression on your EC, I'm sure all of those things count way more than some silly test. (I'm not a big fan of College Board or ACT...monopolies if you ask me.)</p>
<p>um, no one is gonna say the 630 is gonna help you. and no one is gonna say it's the end of the world. I think you know that.</p>
<p>my teacher didn't teach me half the things on SAT chem either. that's why you get the book and self-study. I spent ~5 hours total finishing up the book and learned everything I needed to know for the test. easy. mostly painless. don't blame your teacher.</p>
<p>it could work two ways;
1)you are a really bad test taker but a good student (this is nearly contradictory)
2)You are doing so well in school but you get a 630 on chem what does this imply?
This implies that your school curriculum is so easy that anyone can get the grades you do (assuming all A's) that you manage to get 630. I dont know about you, but I am not aware of too many ivies or high top tier colleges that are very happy about this score. Maybe colleges like Colgate or something liberal arts colleges might be OK with it, but I doubt the toptier, especiall MIT, will be impressed.........
everyone understand where I am going with this?</p>
<p>Kind of...but it's very difficult to say that just because someone scored a 630 on a subject he will have a hard time gaining admission...so many other factors are taken into consideration that simply judging a person's scores is not enough.</p>
<p>but see, that is where you are wrong, while yes they do check everything from personality to grades, realize they depend on these scores to rank you academically from the rest of the people in the nation. This is key</p>
<p>eh, but I'm going to believe MIT when they say that personality and fit really are key when it comes to selection. I'm sure you can be admitted with a 630 SAT II score, especially if you have done well in the class.</p>
<p>First of all, read the rest of the thread. Vivi posted her own SAT II scores and she is currently an MIT student.. they looked at more than just her scores, which really aren't bad at all in the first place. </p>
<p>Also, while they do use scores to get your foot in the door, so to speak, one anomalous score among other good ones will probably not affect anything.</p>
<p>you can believe them, however I wouldnt play chances with colleges</p>