<p>It’s been our experience that it is best to take the SAT2 test after the AP class, not the honors. So the kids take the AP and the SAT2 a month apart. If you DS is taking AP Bio, AP Chem and AP Physics then I would take all three SAT2s without further study and submit the two highest. If you DS stresses over tests, then pick two SAT2’s and be done with it.</p>
<p>It is too much testing, but if you are prepared to take the AP then take the SAT2 and see where the chips land. Depending our your particular teacher, some AP tests match up better than others for the SAT2. Since most schools only ask for 2 SAT2 tests, take 3 or 4 and then choose.</p>
<p>Interesting. I had never heard of SAT II tests until I got on this forum. I don’t think kids at our school generally take them. At least, GC has never sent any info home about them. My older D did not take any (but did take 7 AP tests) and I don’t believe any of the schools she applied to required them. She was able to place out of quite a few general education credit due to her AP scores, do SAT II scores work the same way?</p>
<p>Longhaul: I am curious as to schools that require you to submit all SAT II tests that you take. I’ve seen where colleges require two SAT II scores, but where does it say that you must submit all that you take? What are some schools that fit into this category?</p>
<p>Anyway, if DS is required to send in Bio SAT II, which he took in 9th grade after taking honors bio (no AP in 9th grade), I am not worried that his score (high 600’s) will hurt him. Especially if he does better (which I expect) in chem this year (taking honors but has familiarity with the test) and next year in physics (will be taking AP).</p>
<p>megpmom: My DD, now a college freshman, did not need any SAT IIs for any of the 9 schools she applied to. They were optional. Talk to the GC about this and also investigate the schools that you might be thinking of for your D/S. Also look into it yourself.</p>
<p>awed…just awed that you parents have figured out the dates for the APs and the SAT IIs. It never occurred to me that this was the job of parents in JANUARY(?!?) of 10th grade! D has two AP classes this year but I don’t even know if she has to register for the tests. I promise faithfully to set my alarm clock any day in May or June that my D says she needs to have a backup to wake her, wish her luck and hand her her number 2 pencils with the cup of coffee (in my bathrobe)…but my support ends there…oh, perhaps I will ask what exam she is taking that day… Enjoy winter, being 15, and relax…really relax. I had never heard of SAT IIs until S’s senior year when he says…hey Ma…all these schools need these tests…can I have the credit card to register? I dutifully paid, and then gave him keys to car to get to test site. All went well apparently those mornings in November of his senior year and he is a freshman at CMU that does require 2 of these tests. So…relax…let your kid do some of the planning around these tests (or not) …good practice for real life</p>
<p>Considering that my S probably won’t start really looking at colleges until the summer before his senior year, he won’t know if any of them require SAT IIs’. I guess he will just wait and take those tests senior year once he knows if he needs them. I would hate to insist that he take exams that he won’t need. He’s most likely going to be a music major so maybe he won’t need them. I’ll remind him to check into that when he starts investigating schools.</p>
<p>Well, mine came to me asking which ones he should take this year
Personally I think that November of senior year is kind of late. There are of course exceptions, but I think they stay exceptions.
The kid I know well that got into MIT and Caltech this year got all of it under his belt by the fall of junior year .</p>
<p>Just found out S has made it to the final 10 in a video contest.
But I guess I can’t post a link here :(</p>
<p>I told mine that he was taking 2 this year. This is not a process that I can just leave up to him to manage/plan/schedule. He understands this and doesn’t put up a fuss when I sign him up for things.</p>
<p>Our HS sends home an AP schedule with the kids AND mails one directly to the home in the Fall. The first deposit (or full payment) has to be paid in November. I’m vaguely aware of the May date but only because I had to sign a paper. They do the AP testing off site, so while I’d love to just make a nice breakfast, I will have to arrange to drop & pick up D this year as she won’t have her license yet. Junior & senior year will be different; for D1 the tradition was that they would go out for breakfast before (afternoon exams) or lunch after (for morning exams) as a group.</p>
<p>Still not quite so sure about SAT II’s. We weren’t aware of them for D1 and it was a sticking point in the Fall of her senior year. There was a school she was seriously considering but they needed SAT II’s and she hadn’t taken any. Should she study & take them in the Fall on top of already insane schedule? She ultimately decided that she wasn’t serious enough about the school to cram & take more tests. Knowing what I know now about senior year, I’m going to encourage D2 to finish all testing by the end of junior year. Which may or may not include SAT II’s. But I don’t think there are any on her horizon this Spring. </p>
<p>After 4 snow days last week, and yesterday’s holiday, D is hoping that they’ll have at least a few days of school in a row. Weather is starting to look ominous for Thursday here though. She said the AP Euro & Algebra II teacher were a little stressed last Friday when they were talking about how far behind they’re falling!</p>
<p>Like reeinaz, I can’t leave the process up to me son. He doesn’t plan in advance, but yet he gets crushed by the stress of having too much to do at one time.<br>
In helping my neice through the process (she is a senior this year), I realized how much long term planning there is and why it is best to line up the SAT II with the courses the kid is currently taking. I also learned that there is NO WAY I can afford college for my kid and the very generous schools require SAT II. So, rather than looking at it like I am adding pressure to a 15 year old, I choose to look at it as taking presure OFF the spring 11th grade year when it is prom, more APs, SAT, ACT, and college visits (as well as budgeting out some of the cost issues). I have no idea if he’ll even apply to schools that require SAT II, but I watched my neice go from having some schools high on her list to freaking out under all the testing pressures and then drop a high reach, but perfect fit school to avoid another day of testing (which was the morning after prom!). </p>
<p>My family really needs to FA shop. That means applying to many more schools than my kid probably wants to. Last thing I want to live through is my kid completing apps senior year and taking tests on top of his class and work schedule. That isn’t the helicopter parent in me, that is the parent who does NOT want to helipcopter in senior year.</p>
<p>As far as AP test dates, the school mails a schedule to us before Christmas break. They also remind you of the SAT II dates to line up with the APs.</p>
<p>And really, before CC and helping my neice, I would have thought starting this early was crazy. But with all I’ve learned, it certainly makes more sense to have the kid only study the material once (either for AP or because SAT II coordinates with current classes) and be done with it.</p>
<p>Linymom – I may be very wrong in my interpreting the Pomona website - I read it to say you must report all SAT and SAT II grades, but maybe it just means all SAT and they are not using score choice.</p>
<p>Like others, I too have learned through the process of shepherding an older child through the college application process. Although my S had learned that our state flagship recommended two SAT II’s and that the school expected you to heed this recommendation, he had no idea that some SAT II’s were better taken at the conclusion of corresponding courses. Consequently, he very hurriedly took three in December of his senior year. I have learned through the generous folks on CC that two of the three SAT II’s would have been better taken at the end of his sophomore year! Therefore, my D will be taking the Math 2 SAT II at the end of this year due to the math sequence that she is following. She has asked her AP WH teacher if the course corresponds well with its SAT II counterpart, but the teacher was unaware if it did. She would like to take the WH SAT II if she has been prepared for it so that she can concentrate on the SAT I next year in a very busy year likely to include four AP exams. She will wait for the US History SAT II next year if she does not receive a difinitive answer about the WH SAT II. </p>
<p>I am also aware that some schools require you to submit scores from all tests taken and am wary of her taking tests indiscriminately. None of our state schools require this, however, and she is obviously unaware in her sophomore year what privates or OOS schools she might be able to consider that would adhere to this policy.</p>
<p>Blueshoe: I think AP/SAT2 can be school specific. However, my DS12 found a very strong correlation between the WH AP and the WP SAT2. I would have her take it without extra studying. </p>
<p>I’m not sure if DS12 will take SAT2 in UShistory. He’s doing well in the class but I don’t think he’ll need it. He’ll take the SAT2 Bio and I guess one more, just not sure in what yet. </p>
<p>DD13 will take the SAT2 in WP this year. She’ll likely take the SAT2 in Chem and Math2 as well. </p>
<p>Which math class should MathII be taken after? Algebra 2 or Trig/Precalculus? From my experience some schools require and a lot of schools “recommend”, so, especially if you don’t know which schools you want to go to, it is probably a good idea to take the test after the corresponding class.</p>
<p>SAT II Math II should be taken at the end of PreCalc/Trig.</p>
<p>My son was told to avoid Math I (which corresponds to Alg 2) for kids who take PreCalc by 11th grade because the curve isn’t as generous. He doesn’t understand the curve, but he just didn’t want to take 2 Math tests and figured he’ll take the “higher”</p>
<p>Yep, D will be taking Math level II after trig/precalc this spring. She will probably take one science next year, most likely Chem if she takes AP Chem class next year. The US History this spring is just in case she applies to Georgetown, which last I checked still wanted 3 SAT II’s.</p>
<p>Geogirl, I agree that the AP/SAT II correspondance probably does depend on the school/teacher. That’s what we are a little nervous about here. I thought the teacher might be able to give my D some guidance based on what her previous students have done, but I don’t think that many students are taking SAT II’s at her school and certainly not in tenth grade. Thank you for sharing your S’s experience. My D will probably make her decision a little later in the spring.</p>
<p>Tx5athome, my D is in trig/precalculus this year and I understand there is no calculus on the Math 2 SAT II, so at the end of this year is a good time to take the test.</p>
<p>Just chiming in with the others that HATED seeing my son '10 scramble to take two SATII fall of senior year. After getting admitted early to his first choice (which didn’t require them), he didn’t apply to any schools that required them. Oh, well. </p>
<p>The concrete things completed here: getting D a new e-mail account to be used exclusively for college application process and getting an ID for CollegeBoard, just in case. I report occasionally about the concerns of parents on this forum, and that seems to help her see the broader importance of thinking ahead to testing and class selection in high school.</p>
<p>Woohoo!! This is the first quarter that my son has not gotten a “danger of failing” notice from any of his classes and according to him, he has turned in all of his projects on time. Another first! I felt bad reminding him about the missed assignments he still hasn’t turned in though…lol.</p>
<p>Longhaul’s post (#1310) on studying for each subject just once (and thus taking some SAT subject tests after studying the course in 10th grade) makes a lot of sense to me. I didn’t quite get the message when my daughter, now a senior, was in 10th grade, and it turned out that there was only one date during her senior year on which she could take the necessary SAT IIs. My sophomore son will probably be taking the US History SAT II (and possibly Math II) at the end of this school year.</p>
<p>Let me address the issue of whether one has to report all SAT II scores. My experience with my daughter’s colleges is that none requires all SAT II scores to be reported, and it doesn’t make sense for a college to require just two and, at the same time, require all. I think the confusion arises because some colleges require all SAT I scores to be reported if a student reports any, and people use “SATs” as shorthand for this. Requiring all SAT I results to be reported doesn’t necessarily mean all SAT IIs also have to be reported, or that reporting SAT IIs require one to report SAT Is, or vice versa.</p>
<p>I called Stanford to make sure I understand their policy. Stanford allows one to choose either ACT or SAT I scores to report; for whichever you choose, you must report all results. In addition, regardless of whether ACT or SAT I was chosen, applicants must submit two SAT II scores.</p>
<p>As a result, my daughter reported both test dates of the ACT plus two of the three SAT subject tests she took. The admissions officer at Stanford confirmed that that was sufficient. Of course, I recommend that parents or students confirm the policies of each college when the time comes. I hope this information helps!</p>
My D will probably make her decision a little later in the spring.</p>