<p>Thanks for the insight. I would definitely do some studying before attempting any of these SAT IIs, AP or not! Congratulations to your son. I will look into maybe opting to take AP Bio or AP Chem next year instead of Physics, I’m prettty sure it can be done. And about USH… I’m not even taking that yet, still in Modern History (Frosh year was Pre-Modern History) so I would have to completely self-study it if I did it this year. Interesting that they’re changing it to be less alligned with the APUSH course… seems counter-intuitive, doesn’t it?</p>
<p>@Smargent </p>
<p>I know, it sucks that I’m in this situation… oh well, I probably would have taken the SAT next October regardless. Thanks for your recommendations, I had not heard of some of these books. I will be looking into them on the internet as soon as I finish my ridiculous amount of homework for this weekend! Also, I don’t plan to take SAT II Math until the end of Junior year, after the completion of Honors Pre-Calc BC. I’m enrolled in two languages (Chinese & Spanish), but although I achieve high marks in both, my Chinese teacher is quite nutty and gives us impossible tests with 30+ point curves (5 people in the class) and I am one year behind everybody else from my grade in Spanish because I didn’t take it in middle school like everyone else. Thanks for the tips though.</p>
<p>@Melissawilliams </p>
<p>I see what you’re saying. Dang, 780 with no prep? If only I could nail CR like that . I’m really into the performing arts, including singing, acting, playing guitar, and public speaking. I’m not sure what second test to take because I probably would like to work in business that involves interacting with people, giving speeches/pitches, etc. Unfortunately there’s no public speaking SAT II! Imagine that, they give you a prompt and you make up a 10 minute speech about it… Anyways. I’m not a big fan of science. However, if I don’t do a science then all there is left for SAT IIs is language tests (read above), Lit (possible), and history (which I absolutely abhor). Oh well.</p>
<p>@LucidGman – sorry to have been unclear. I was not suggesting that you take the USH subject test this year, but pointing out that there will be some changes this year, so perhaps some info will be available for next year’s test takers. </p>
<p>I agree with @Melissawilliams – take the tests that play to your natural strengths. I don’t know that the SAT CR & Lit subject test overlap all that much, but I have never actually looked at the content of either. My older son scored a 770 in CR but mid to upper 600s in Lit.</p>
<p>I have heard that the language subject tests are not for the average HS foreign language student, but instead are taken my native speakers. But, I may be completely wrong about that.</p>
<p>Really? I wouldn’t expect either of them to be lenient, considering (no racism) native speakers of Chinese are typically more qualified academically in general, which leads to more native speakers taking the test, which yields a hard test and harsh curve to balance all of them out with simpleton Mandarin students like myself.</p>
<p>Ah, I see now. Math and English seem to be my strengths, but I’m not sure why I did so terribly on CR! I think I will take a science too, and see if I can take AP Bio or Chem next year, because although I don’t like science much, I am strong in it.</p>
<p>I thought that too about SAT II Language Tests - Plenty of native speakers out there who can surely get easy 800s, which will make it very hard for me to score well. This scenario makes me feel bad for internationals taking the SAT I CR + WR sections with English as a 2nd, or even 3rd language. Ouch.</p>
Hi guys! I’m back again to continue this (sort of) old thread. I figured it would be less hassle to keep contributing to this thread than to start a whole new topic. Anyways, here are some updates and questions.
I took my second practice test today, after reading through some of the Blue Book and doing the SAT Question of the Day every day since Christmas. To my surprise, I scored a 2130 (640 CR, 730 M, 760 W), assuming a 10 essay.
I ordered Direct Hits Volumes 1 & 2, along with Erica Meltzer's Ultimate Guide to SAT Grammar a few days back, prior to taking this test. I now feel that I should have ordered "The Critical Reader"... I am leaving for an international, 3 week trip on Saturday and it seems that I've bought the wrong books. It's too late to order new ones now! :(
Now for a more detailed breakdown/the point of this post:
In Math, I got 4 wrong. The curve was really lenient for this test, but appropriately so. One or two were iffy, and the other 2 I just fell for the CB's traps. I don't really need much advice on this section.
In Writing, I got 2 wrong, both in the Improving Paragraphs section. Now that I have Erica Meltzer's book, should I go through it just for good measure, even though I aced all of the sentence corrections? I don't feel too confident on the rules, but after a lot of SAT QOTDs, I felt that the right answers "popped-out" at me.
Critical Reading is where I'm having the most issues. I got 13 questions wrong, 6 of them from vocab, and 7 from passage-based reading. Will Direct Hits Volumes 1 & 2 prepare me enough to get 0-1 vocabulary questions wrong each time? If not, what other efficient lists exist (1000 words or less please)? Also, for passage-based reading, I took the test on my computer as to save paper, and I feel that scrolling up and down interrupted my "flow" of reading the passages. However, I hate to make up excuses and I want to be able to confidently select each correct answer like I often did during the Writing section. Given that I have 3 or 4 months until test day, and will be away for 2 and at school for 1, are there any strategies that you have found helpful? Prep books? I've read through some CC threads such as Noitaraperp's and I used his/her strategy of playing devil's advocate, but it didn't seem to work too much.
Thank you all for your input. I know that this looks like a jumbled mess, but I hope that it is decipherable
. I’m really into the performing arts, including singing, acting, playing guitar, and public speaking. I’m not sure what second test to take because I probably would like to work in business that involves interacting with people, giving speeches/pitches, etc. Unfortunately there’s no public speaking SAT II! Imagine that, they give you a prompt and you make up a 10 minute speech about it… Anyways. I’m not a big fan of science. However, if I don’t do a science then all there is left for SAT IIs is language tests (read above), Lit (possible), and history (which I absolutely abhor). Oh well.</p>