<p>Thank you, citygirlsmom - I was beginning to feel like the only one here whose d didn't ace the USH SAT II, despite getting a 5 on the AP test (but only a B+ in the course). She got a 650. Then again, she did take it in October of her senior year rather than immediately after the AP test in junior year.</p>
<p>Oppsy I meant SAT2</p>
<p>Thanks for all the input--and to answer your questions: I should have said she didn't have a conventional course. Because of scheduling problems, she had to take an online course during her junior year. It was not rigorous. Obviously, we made serious errors of judgment on this. Given her perfomance on the math sections of the ACT, she probably would have done much better doing a math SAT II.<br>
I really appreciate the supportive messages. I think I will go have that cup of tea!</p>
<p>Despite all the agonizing on CC, I don't think that many schools take the SAT II scores that seriously. Perhaps if USN&WR starts rankings based on SAT II averages they will (not that I want to give it any ideas), but right now it's hard to imagine a denial based solely on those tests. I've known kids who scored in the 600s on SAT IIs and got into Ivies. </p>
<p>As for the OP -- perhaps those scores will hinder her at this one school. But it is only one school, none of the others will see those scores; hopefully she will be happy at the other places she applied in case she doesn't get into this one.</p>
<p>Edited to add: Which is why I think it is absurd when kids retake the SAT IIs, especially to improve scores already in the 600s. And many kids seem to retake them.</p>
<p>I'm not so sure about that, sly_vt. I agree that SAT I and/or ACT scores are more important to the colleges, since they affect the all-important USNWR rankings, but everything I've seen and read seems to suggest that SAT II scores are at least moderately important. A denial based solely on SAT II's? Highly unlikely, I'd agree. But mediocre SAT II's don't speak particularly well for your knowledge of a subject, and I can't really imagine why colleges would consider them if the had very little effect on admissions. </p>
<p>Of course, that's not to say that people don't get overly nutty about SAT II's...I'm pretty sure that the colleges that I applied to would have thought that I was insane if I took some people's advice to retake my 770 Math II since "so many people get 800's".</p>
<p>
Well, that's what my daughter did, too --so don't be so quick to judge. Here is my daughter's reasons for sucky SAT II scores. At the end of her 9th grade biology course, with the advice of the bio teacher, my d took SAT II & got a 520. She took chem in 10th grade but decided to forego the SAT II, as obviously sciences were not a strong suit. She went to Russia during her junior year and could not take US history - and also had her math sequence interrupted as well. Math is her weakest subject in any event -- low scores all around on the SAT & ACT. D. needed to take SAT II's senior year because UC system mandates them; however, due to her high GPA it didn't really matter how she scored on the tests -- basically anything would do. She couldn't sign up for a language because there is no Russian SAT II offered. She was taking US history senior year, about 2 months into the course at the time of the exams. So she signed up for lit and US History because there were NO SAT IIs given in subjects that she actually had, other than chem or math which were obvious weak points. We figured that she couldn't do worse than the bio score. (UC would take the best 2 of 3). We were right; she didn't do worse - she did the same. She did pretty good on the lit. (She took the AP US history exam in the spring, got a 4, & has AP credit at her college.... so much for the long-term impact of a bad test score)</p>
<p>The bottom line is that sometimes kids end up having to take tests they are unprepared for simply because they are required. It's a case of the test not matching the curriculum that has been completed as of the time of the test. More study & prep would help, but at least in my daughter's case, the messed up score didn't impact her life in any way whatsoever. Given all of the stress that senior year in high school entails, I'm glad looking back that she didn't lose any sleep worrying about that test.</p>