Anyone’s kid taking this test this year? How different would you say it is from the AP US History test, especially give that the AP test has changed its content this year? Is prepping for the AP test, or being in an AP US class, enough prep for the SAT Subject Test?
Thanks!
I would expect having a good high school US history course (AP or otherwise) to be sufficient preparation for the SAT subject test, which covers high school level US history material.
Practice questions can be found at https://sat.collegeboard.org/practice/sat-subject-test-preparation/us-history
Last year my D got a 5 on the APUSH test. A few weeks later she took the US History SAT test and got a 770.
Good luck!
Not necessarily.
For example, some schools teach a relatively small number of topics in depth in their high school US history courses. This could provide an excellent educational experience, but it would not be appropriate preparation for the SAT Subject Test.
Sometimes, a high school will explicitly tell you that the curriculum they teach is or is not a good match for the Subject Test. If not, it may be a good idea to ask.
FWIW my S got a 5 last year on the APUSH test and only a 690 on the SAT II test - I think it’s worth preparing for the specific test (i.e go through a review book just to familiarize oneself with the types of questions, etc.). My D also got a 5 on the APUSH and only 700 on the SAT II. Not bad scores but not really good enough to help much for SAT IIs.
It’s worth investing in a test prep book. Your kid will be able to tell what topics his/her class covered well and what topics need more prep. My D took the AP last May, got a 5, and scored a 750 on the subject test. She had a prep book and she felt her AP class covered the content thoroughly. In her case the AP class prepared her very well.
I guess our high school’s AP class must have covered more of the dates/facts stuff. Perhaps because they also had to cover whatever was going to be on the NYS Regents Test. Scores were 790/800 with 5’s on the AP for both of them.
With my kids, if they just took the regular (and even in some cases the Honors) high school course and then took the SAT Subject test, they did not do all that well.
My Daughter: after 3 years of Honors Latin 490
After Honors Biology 650
My Son: After regular Chemistry 500
After regular Physics 490
After regular US History 650
Only my daughter did well after taking our AP USH course and got a 770
It was eight years ago, so outdated information, but my son took the AP USH exam and the USH SAT II about 10 days apart, and he reported that there was substantial overlap in the actual questions. Something like half the questions or more were either word-for-word identical or very slight modifications testing exactly the same substantive knowledge. In his experience, it was the only AP-SAT II pair with any overlap at all. He was very surprised by it.
^I took it last year and that was still pretty true (4 on AP Test, 740 on SATII)
The APUSH exam tests at a college level; the SAT Subject Test tests at a high school level. How well prepared one will be for the subject test will depend upon the quality of instruction in the class. That said, many schools do not teach US History with the goal of “teaching to the test” be it AP, SAT II, regents, etc. That is when a prep book can come in handy.
Oh, and BTW, one of the biggest fallacies on College Confidential seems to be that the AP class is needed for SAT subject test preparation. It is not, as per my first sentence.
My daughter who took the test last year says there are always differences. The same goes for the regents. Some teachers prepare for both, some don’t. Likewise, some teachers prepare you better than others. My daughter generally buys a prep book or two for each AP in the fall, so she has them when she needs them.
From my Amazon history, APUSH books were “Barron’s AP United States History” and “The Insider’s Complete Guide to AP US History: The Essential Content”. I don’t believe she used either book heavily as her teacher was great. The entire course was based on original documents. The practice exams are great for finding weaknesses and differences. When they include detailed answers, they are a good way to study.
I know you didn’t ask, but for AP European History she used, “AP European History Crash Course (Advanced Placement (AP) Crash Course)”. She used it in lieu of the assigned text! She thought it was great and it saved her lots of time. She felt she needed extra help and formed a study group.
She earned perfect scores on both APs and the history subject test.
“How well prepared one will be for the subject test will depend upon the quality of instruction in the class”
Exactly. However, in our high school this quality exists only in the AP classes and that is how the fallacy is created. Our students out of the honors classes have very average sat subject results while our students out of the AP classes have excellent results.
It goes without saying that for both the AP and the SAT you should look at the official study guides/practice tests and make sure you cover whatever your school hasn’t covered.
In theory, yes. In practice, not exactly.
Until the recent revision of the AP US History course (and I have no idea of its impact), the multiple choice section of the AP test was remarkably similar to the SAT Subject Test. The difference between the two tests was that the AP test also included other sections that were not included in the Subject Test.
Looks like someone needs to ask some questions about your high school’s quality of instruction (assuming that your kids were A students in those courses).
Decades ago, I attended a high school that (at the time) sent about a third of its graduates to four year schools (mostly state schools). But I did not find the achievement tests (as SAT subject tests were called then) to be difficult. For example, one year of regular high school physics (A grade) and no additional preparation yielded a mid-700s score on the physics achievement test.
The University of California suggests that, for the purpose of meeting base level frosh admission requirements, two years of high school foreign language is equivalent to an SAT subject test score of 470-540, depending on the language (530 for Latin):
http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/counselors/freshman/minimum-requirements/subject-requirement/index.html#lang
Maybe.
But it’s also possible that the people who design the curriculum emphasize other priorities, such as passing state exams, over the SAT Subject Tests. Relatively few students take the Subject Tests. Everyone has to take the state exams. If there’s a topic that’s on the Subject Test but not the state exam, it’s going to receive little or no attention in the course.
The take-home lesson from this thread: Never assume, without evidence, that your school’s curriculum is a good match for the SAT Subject Test. It may not be. Ask questions. Have your student ask questions. Have your student do some practice tests. You may be surprised by what you learn.
There is lots of good info on this forum: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-subject-tests-preparation/
My D got a 5 on the APUSH exam and a 770 on the subject test. She used the Insider’s Complete Guide to AP US History: The Essential Content. It purports to prep you for both the AP exam and the subject test. The book specifically breaks down how both tests are organized and has a strategic approach to what you need to study for each. She took the AP exam in May and then the subject test in June, so after the AP exam she really focused specifically on the subject test. (Also she was taking the Chemistry and Math 2 subject tests in May and didn’t want to take 3 at once.) I’m not sure how changes in the AP test affect this, though.
AP and SAT subject tests are very different.
Both, my husband and I, have STEM Ph.D. Both of us could easily answer all AP questions in our fields. However, many SAT subject test questions were difficult for both of us.
IMHO, SAT subject tests test lots of information. AP tests check general understanding.
My D got a 5 on the AP World History exam and somewhere in the low 600s on the SAT II.