<p>You definitely want to raise that Math score, the biology itself is respectable but raising it wouldn’t hurt as well. To answer your question: Taking Korean will not boost your chances significantly. It’s about the same level as taking the Math Level 1. Of course, taking it and getting a high score won’t HURT you, but it isn’t a good third test to round out your SAT II’s. You’re better off taking a second science (chem. or physics) or a humanities (history, lit)</p>
<p>"Of course, taking it and getting a high score won’t HURT you, "</p>
<p>I wouldn’t be too sure about that. If the student is a native speaker, walking in and getting an 800 has been negatively viewed by savvy admissions officers. It happens fairly regularly by kids who want an “800” star on their transcripts – but this grade grubbing is fairly obvious. In these cases, the cynicism is rightly placed since they are looking for students who demonstrate superior academic hunger and achievement. A national who takes the Korean Subject test — fails this measure.</p>
<p>If, however, you aren’t a native speaker and perform well, you should indicate as such.</p>
<p>It won’t impress Harvard admission officers (I just heard this last night at an info session) but is not a bad idea if the test is in ADDITION to other SAT Subject Tests you take for colleges that require those. In general, an SAT Subject Test in a family heritage language should be above and beyond fulfilling a college’s requirements with other SAT Subject Tests. Having the language score will still help with your placement into language classes after being admitted, or help waive a foreign language requirement at some colleges.</p>
<p>I understand an example does not represent a best approach. However I know a kid, who’s a dual citizenship; took a (native) foreign lang, Math II, and English Lit for SAT sub tests; claimed spending absolutely minimum (study) time to SAT related. This kid is accepted by Top 20 universities and attending Yale.</p>
<p>A SAT II test is just another part of your total package colleges look at. Having Korean is not necessarily make you “look-bad”.</p>
<p>Among 2008 high school grads, only about 4,400 took the SAT II Korean test. Of those, 77% scored in the 750-800 range, presumably because most of them were native speakers or came from bilingual households. Another 11% scored in the 700-740 range, for a total of 87% scoring 700 or higher. Bottom line, if you do take the Korean test and score well, it won’t tell the adcoms much because almost everyone who takes the Korean test scores well—presumably because almost everyone who takes the test is a native speaker. It does look like resume-padding of the most flagrant sort. I’d advise against it if you’re a native speaker.</p>
<p>I’d also advise against it if you’re not a native speaker, for a different reason. Do you really want to walk into that test going head-to-head against a pool of native speakers, most of whom are going to score in the 750-800 range? That sounds like a fixed fight you’re almost certain to lose. You don’t want to be one of the 13% of test-takers who come out with a sub-700 score. That won’t look too good on your applications, either.</p>
<p>I mean no disrespect to the Korean language or to its native speakers. Knowing multiple languages is a real plus in today’s interdependent world, and far too few Americans have fluency in a second tongue. But fluency in your native language isn’t the kind of academic achievement the SAT IIs are supposed to be testing for, and taking an SAT II in your native tongue and passing it off as some kind of academic achievement has a tawdry quality to it that at least some adcoms may find off-putting.</p>
<p>I think monolingual English-speaking admission officers actually discount too much the difficulty of keeping up a good standard of English in a home in which one or both parents are not native speakers of English, especially after a childhood that may have been spent living overseas. But, yeah, the irrational prejudice exists, so the Korean speakers and Chinese speakers have to take three OTHER SAT Subject Tests for the most selective colleges, and then wonder if they should take the test in their non-English language (which does, at least, demonstrate that they know a language other than English) to be on a level playing field with other applicants. Not very fair, in my opinion, but that is the way it is.</p>
<p>I am korean and I did the SAT II korean test and lit test.
I don’t think they mind that much, it depends on the level of difficulty of the school though.</p>
<p>just take other SAT II’s to go with it. honestly, i dont think they require much outside studying if any at all…(for example, if you took AP world history…take the world history SAT II!) i took korean and 3 other tests; could have taken one more…but didnt really see the point of taking 5 SAT II’s anyway.</p>
<p>just remember that in the grand scheme of things, the SAT II is a really small part of your application</p>
<p>personally, i don’t think it matters to much.
a cornell student told me, in the end, they look at the highest scores and care only about that. :|</p>
<p>It’d be more correct to say bump otra vez :P</p>
<p>I really recommend against native speakers using their native language test as one of the three required tests. It just makes you look lazy and it takes no skill to pass a test that is basically elementary school level had it been administered in that particular country.</p>