My student decided last night he wants to take the SAT Chem Subject Test on June 3, which is in a little over 3 weeks. What is the worst thing that can happen by taking it after waiting this late to prep for it? He is just finishing Honors Chem and has only taken a practice PSAT at his school. He sat and did one Chem subject practice test (College Board practice test) and struggled to get through it and scored a 680. If he wipes out on the Chem subject test in June, is there any way to suppress it so that colleges won’t see it when he goes to apply? And if he wants to take Chem subject test again in August to try to get a better score, will the better score be allowed to supersede the lower score? Do schools average subject tests? Also, I’m thinking about spending $875 for a souped up prep course (10 hours over 4 weekend-group sessions leading up to June 3). There are some holes in our school’s curriculum that need to be filled in along with learning the test flow and design and general strategies. For those of you who know the Chem test, is it realistic to think he can get his score up and do well by June 3? He also has regular school to contend with though finals do no start until June 12th.
Good question. Did you get an answer?
Typically, when sending subject test scores to colleges, you select which scores to send. My daughter took four subject tests, and sent only her two highest scores (in two different areas). There are some schools that state that they want all scores sent, but typically that relates only to SAT I and ACT, not subject tests. However, it is best to throughly read the policy for each school before sending.