<p>Let me preface this by saying I know getting a 720 on a subject test is good, just like getting a 2100 on my SAT I. Despite that, I will retake the SAT I, because my gpa is not high, i want to go to some competitive schools, and I have the capability to do better.</p>
<p>But I know that Lit is said to be one of the harder subject tests, so i was wondering if 720 is considered a good score by the more competitive schools, William and mary, uva, maybe northwestern. I took Lit and US subject tests in may, got a 720 and 730. In June I'm taking the SAT I, and in October i'm thinking of Math 2, possibly Latin, and i'll have room for another, so i was wondering if it was a good idea to retake or no.</p>
<p>I would retake if you guys feel like you misinterpreted one passage and got a 720 because of that. I think literature can come down to luck at times…if you get a passage that you don’t understand well, it will throw you off for all the questions dealing with that passage. If you feel like you can do significantly better, go for it.</p>
<p>Different kinds of people take different SAT 2 subject tests. Therefore, percentiles can be very skewed for some of them, notably the Chinese and Korean language tests. I got a 770 for the Chinese Listening test back in November, which corresponds to the 30th percentile. My friend got a 780 on the Math Level 2, which was a 90th percentile. These two examples illustrate that on many subject tests, people that know they’re bound to do well take them, which skews the percentile range to not be an accurate representation of ability. I’d say a 720 is pretty good, even “if” it’s at the 87th percentile, because generally, people who are great at literature take it.</p>
<p>It’s false to say that percentiles mean nothing. They compare one’s performance with that of others who took the test. This information is valuable to admissions officers, as it puts perspective on the score. </p>
<p>Because an 800 on the Literature test is the 99th percentile and an 800 on the Math 2 test is the 90th percentile, the former is more meaningful to admissions officers.</p>
<p>As has been pointed out, percentiles can be greatly skewed. With the SAT 2’s, you are not being compared to the college applicant pool as a whole. You are being compared to a smaller subset that is taking a particular test. In the college application process, you are not being compared only to the people that took literature or chemistry.</p>
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<p>Officers see the score, not the percentile. Other applicants’ scores are what puts perspective on the score.</p>
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<p>Most colleges are fairly liberal in allowing students to choose what tests to take. You will not be penalized for scoring high on an “easy” test.</p>
<p>I would like to add that anything in the 700 range on a subject test (except the languages…which I’m not really sure hold that much weight at all) is very respectable</p>
<p>I disagree with bloog as far as languages go. Sure, if I’m Chinese and get an 800 on the Chinese test, that doesn’t look outstanding. However, I believe a student who does well on a language test in a subject that is their second language, that looks very good. For Lil’ Sally Whitegirl to get an 800 on French would look better than for Pierre Frenchman.</p>
<p>87th percentile on a test where the only people who take it are literary whizzes is pretty good. 99th percentile on CR means you’re top 1% out of everyone who takes the exams – lit geniuses or people who can barely read english.</p>
<p>Lol, okay so basically i’ll retake it in october if i’m really feeling up to it, i’m gonna take math 2 and probably latin then too. No science, because i’m awful at chem, have only learned rudimentary physics, and haven’t taken bio since freshman year.</p>
<p>My main problem was not enough prep this time around, i couldn’t get the timing down right. But thanks everyone</p>