Picking between US and World History for the SATs

Test Preparation
1

I’m in a very stressful situation right now - I was prepared to take the SATs every month from October to January if it meant a score increase, only to find that I need an additional subject test for history (as it is the subject I am thinking of majoring in). I come from an IB school, where I did take history HL, but none of what we studied really relates to the history SATs. I am facing the dilemma right now of whether to take US SAT history (in which i have ZERO knowledge) and world history (of which i have some knowledge of the cold war, and a smattering of 20c dictators). I do know, however, that the world history test covers more topics and is longer, and that the vast majority of topics are topics I haven’t covered before.

Any suggestions on which to take? I have 3 weeks till the test and am stressing about what to pick! Will be very grateful for any suggestion/comment.

2

Having taken SAT II World History I’ll tell you what I know (but some of this overlaps with US History). You need to be quick–90 questions in 60 minutes. Both the curves are somewhat helpful. I would say when I took it maybe 20% was post-WWI history so the brunt of the test focuses on early up through I’d say 1700s. The test is for the most part fact recall, but there are some questions that do require a bit of analyzation. This was mostly what I got out of it.

3

Which would say was harder for you - US or world history? Or alternatively, what would you think would be easier for a beginner to cope with?

4

I’m a math teacher, not history.

But it seems to me that US history is bound to be easier for any kid brought up in the US.

For starters, you’re familiar with the basic story line-- you know the back story.

And it’s only 200+ years of material.

And, probably most important, the names and places are easier for you. You already know the difference between Washington and Lincoln and Eisenhower. You know the difference between New York and New Mexico.

Sometimes when you’re studying the history of a place where the language is different, the place and people names tend to look very similar. But with US history, that’s not true.

I’m not saying it will be easy. But, given the options, I would choose US History.

5

Ok got it, thank you :slight_smile: last query though, but many people say to download free practice tests online. Does anyone know where to download these from?