Hello!
I register for SAT Math level 2 and Physics at Nov. 2. I’m in college now, but I want to take them for transfer. Since my major is mathematics, I think math is ok, but I only take mechanics in the college. I bought fundamental physics by Halliday and the Princeton review book, but people say that Halliday’s book is a way beyond what test want. May I ask for an advice for it?
What colleges that you want to transfer to want SAT subject tests?
The SAT subject test covers a broad range of physics topics at the high school level. A typical first semester college physics course will cover some of the topics at a more in-depth level, but not the other topics.
I’m preparing for Cambridge and Princeton. Cambridge said that SAT subject test will strengthen your app and Princeton “requires” them for every transfer applicants.
Whoa, Halliday is way overkill!
The physics test is not a deep dive at all - very basic but covers a wide scope of topics. My kid took the test after some limited physics class work so had to learn about 60% of the topics on their own. They used the Princeton Review test prep book, which you already have, and did all the available official tests - the two in the official college board physics subject test book, and the one in the bigger college board book for all subjects. It took about 10 hours at most, including the 5 hours spent taking practice tests.
It is not a hard test for a math major - read the review book and do the official tests and you’ll be fine. You can get up to 13-15 questions wrong or omitted and still get an 800.
Also, math 2 is not particularly difficult either, but be sure to do a practice test or two just to get familiar with the topics. You can get up to 5-8 wrong or omitted and (usually) still get an 800.
For Math 2, you should probably pick up something like Barron’s and review. The topics certainly aren’t hard for a college math major, but are likely topics you haven’t seen in a while. I know that by the time I had finished DiffEqs and Number Theory, remembering “the norm of a vector” wasn’t at the tip of my tongue as it was after HS pre-calc.
I find it bizarre asking a college student to take a test my D took as a HS Freshman in order to transfer.