Question about Subject Tests

Colleges & Universities A-Z Harvard University
1

<p>"•While Harvard honors the College Board's Score Choice program and allows you to submit tests taken as late as January for consideration, we advise Regular Action candidates to complete and submit at least one component of the required tests (SAT or ACT with Writing or two College Board Subject Tests) by the end of November. This will allow us to begin our evaluation process for those submitting applications by December 15. "
Harvard</a> College Admissions § Applying: Freshman Application Process</p>

<p>On the College Board policy, it states,"...Score Choice is a score-reporting feature that gives students the option to choose the SAT scores by test date and SAT Subject Test scores by individual test that they send to colleges..."</p>

<p>Just for clarification, is this affirming that you can take SAT and SAT II Subject Tests as many times as you need to without any pressure?
I've currently taken the Math II twice with the highest score of a 770, and I wanted to check on this fact.</p>

2

<p>^^ At Harvard, yes; you can take the SAT and SAT II Subject tests as many times as you wish and “hide” everything but the top scores. Keep in mind though that for many colleges, including Harvard: </p>

<p>“With the SAT, small differences of 50 or 100 points or more have no significant effect on admissions decisions.” - William Fitzsimmons, Dean of Harvard Admissions. (See: [Guidance</a> Office: Answers From Harvard’s Dean, Part 2 - NYTimes.com](<a href=“http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/11/harvarddean-part2/]Guidance”>Guidance Office: Answers From Harvard's Dean, Part 2 - The New York Times))</p>

<p>Score Choice varies from college to college. Yale, for example, does not participate in Score Choice and wants to see all scores from all test dates.</p>

3

<p>Thank you for the reply, Gibby. :3
As for many other colleges like Yale, about how many times would you suggest taking the SAT II Subject Tests?
I’ve been searching through and reading that 3 times would be the reasonable amount.
What do you think?</p>

4

<p>See: [SAT</a> Fact Sheet - College Board](<a href=“News and Press Releases - Newsroom | College Board”>News and Press Releases - Newsroom | College Board)</p>

<p>“Studies by the College Board indicate: Most students take the SAT once or twice, and the College Board does not recommend that students take the SAT more than twice. There is no evidence to support the idea that taking the SAT more than twice results in significant score gains.”</p>

<p>Independent studies have confirmed that taking the SAT/ACT more than twice does not statistically improve a students numbers, so my suggestion is 3 times is too many. If, after the 2nd time, you feel you still need to improve your score, switch tests. If you’ve been taking the SAT, switch to the ACT or vice-versa.</p>

<p>From Harvard’s website: <a href=“http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/apply/faq.html#12[/url]”>http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/apply/faq.html#12&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Q: Does Harvard consider scores from previous administrations of the SAT, ACT, or SAT Subject Tests?
A: Yes.</p>

<p>Q: If a student takes the required tests more than once, which results does Harvard consider?
A: We consider a student’s best test scores, but it is generally our experience that taking tests more than twice offers diminishing returns.</p>