<p>I thought I was finished with standardized testing after finally earning the ACT score I was hoping for. Then I found out that I must take two SAT IIs for Dartmouth and three for Harvard. Blah. My school is teeny tiny and only offers a few college credit classes. I have exhausted all of them: English, Chemistry, Biology, and Calculus. I already did well on the ACT math section (35) and I don't want to have to prepare for yet another math test as it is my least favorite subject. I am probably most prepared in the sciences, but I do not wish to major in science. I am leaning towards majoring in either political science, education, or journalism. Ideally, I could take the US History, Literature, and French exams to demonstrate my interest in these subjects, but, as I have not received advanced instruction in school, I probably won't do as well on them unless I study compulsively over the summer. October is probably the last time I'll be able to take them.</p>
<p>US History - preparing for this one is mostly memorization of facts, which can be done over the summer.</p>
<p>Literature - I’m taking this one in November, and I’m getting Barron’s review book to prepare for it. I haven’t taken advanced Literature courses (AP Lit is only offered for seniors at my school) but I think it should be fine.</p>
<p>French - Language tests are more difficult. On top of memorizing vocab and learning grammar, exposure to the language is also very important. 3+ years of a language would be safest. </p>
<p>Some schools don’t require you to take the SAT II’s if you took the ACT with writing…I’m not sure if this applies to Harvard and Dartmouth, but you should find out.</p>
<p>Yes, I’ve checked- there are a few schools I’m interested in that require two or three in addition to the ACT: UCLA, Claremont McKenna, Cornell, Dartmouth, Emory,Georgetown, Haverford, and Swarthmore.</p>
<p>French is supposed to be ridiculously hard (though there is a generous curve). It might be a good idea to swap that out for a science if you feel comfortable with one of them.</p>
<p>biology is ok. there are trick questions but generally most ppl say its easier than, like, chem & physics. there is a slight curve for bio, too. i took it in may & it was pretty tricky, but the curve was lenient enough.</p>
<p>If a school requires three SAT subject tests (or recommends) two in the general field that you are intended in eventually majoring in (humanities or math/sci) will be sufficient. </p>
<p>SAT IIs don’t require advanced knowledge like the APs to get good scores. I found prepping for them extremely difficult and boring and in the end, unhelpful. I would just take a practice test for each subject that I’m considering and then just concentrate on the two or three best subjects (they should be in your intended field anyway, or why would you be interested in that field)</p>
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<li>“French is supposed to be ridiculously hard (though there is a generous curve). It might be a good idea to swap that out for a science if you feel comfortable with one of them.”</li>
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<p>I can say from personal experience that I believed the French test to be quite difficult despite earning As in my French class, always placing within the top 10th percentile for the national French exam, and being a decent standardized test taker…[sarcasm] I am so eagerly awaiting my score on June 26 [/sarcasm]</p>
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<li>Personally, I would recommend U.S. History if you are thinking of majoring in the humanities, as it is not only relevant but a decently easy test to prepare for–trust me: I have not take U.S. history since the 2005-2006 school year and with the Kaplan book I felt confident on about 80/90 of the questions…certainly enough to earn a respectable score.</li>
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<p>Also, if you have taken Precalc, I might recommend Math Level II, although you should probably review concepts such as permutations, statistics, combinations, etc. if as in my case, they were not covered in your school’s class.</p>
<p>The only other test I can speak for is Chemistry, which I would not recommend unless you have taken AP Chem, or an extremely rigorous “honors” level class (as I did). While I performed very well on this exam, I believe my score would have been negatively affected had my course not been so intensive.</p>