<p>A lot of topics on here ask for difficulty of some of the tests, but since we all have different strengths, one person's perspective doesn't perfectly apply to another. As such, I thought it would be beneficial if people ranked the SAT IIs they have taken in order of difficulty so as to give other users some perspective on the advice they are getting.</p>
<p>I have only taken on SAT II - Math Level 2 - so I can't really rank, but I will say I thought it was fairly easy.</p>
<p>Just google the mean scores; the lowest ones are the hardest.</p>
<p>That's not entirely true because only certain people take certain tests. The Chinese test would be the easiest by this method, but it's only because you besically have to have lived there to speak it. Also, math 2 might seem way easier than math 1 because a lot of smarter people take the more advanced one. But in general, that method might have some credibility.</p>
<p>You're not understanding the point of this topic. It is not to find out which test is most generous by format (indicated by means cores); it is to find out how useful other people's advice is by using their strengths in specific subject tests.</p>
<p>Well, I'm really good in history (my average in class last year was 100), and I thought World History was hard. I got a 700, and I'm retaking it and studying harder than I did the first time round.</p>
<p>Literature is a killer. I am normally really good at English/Lit in school and got a 800 in CR. I know that CR and Lit are nothing alike but I'm supposed to be good at both. I had to retake Lit twice and I'm still not happy with my score. That's why I'm switching to Math IIC in October. I guess I'm just not meant to think with restraints. ;p</p>
<p>I'd say lit is pretty hard. Fortunately I did well ( by my standards, not CC 800 or nothing standards) : 730</p>
<p>Math IIC: 800
Physics: 800
Lit: 500 (740 on SAT I CR)
Spanish: 470 (!)</p>
<p>What I find difficult about the lit test is that there is so much interpretation to be done in so little time. Also, on the CR test, most of the answers can be deduced fairly easily using logic; not so with the lit test.</p>
<p>Spanish... well I've only had two years. I mainly took the test to see how well I'd do. On the bright side, a good 10% of the test takers did worse! :-) (i'm so evil, i know)</p>
<p>You could definitely say I am a very logic-minded individual. Thus the... let us say sharp contrasts... in my scores are, to some degree, understandable.</p>
<p>I'd have to say chem is pretty easy</p>
<p>no offense personally to the op, but i'm getting tired of "which ___ is the easiest?" and then about each test is named as the hardest.</p>
<p>it really depends where your individual weaknesses and strengths lie. If you have a hard time with science, then chem is not going to be a cakewalk. It also depends on your inidividual level of preparation. Like the poster before me, if you take only 2 years of spanish, you're going to have a tougher time on the spanish test than someone who has studied it for 4+ years. </p>
<p>ok, i'm done ranting... lol</p>
<p>Hmmmm. I didn't think Lit was all that hard...I made a last-minute decision to switch from Physics to Lit, and I ended up with a 790.</p>
<p>Lit ~ 790
Math IIC ~ 790 (I thought it was easier than Math I)
Chinese ~ 790 (really easy if you're a native speaker)
Chem ~ 770 (and I'm supposed to be GOOD at chem!)
French ~ 720
USH ~ 690 (didn't really prep for this one either)</p>
<p>If you go by perentile-for-an-800, Chinese with Listening is the easiest, with an 800 being around 68th percentile. (Most takers are native speakers...)</p>
<p>I personally found Physics very challenging. I got 800's on Math II and USH, but a 710 on Physics, with a small amount of preperation. Level of class related to the subject is probably most important factor in determining difficulty. If you have taken AP USH and standard Chem, USH will probably be easier. Also, personal skill seems to play a big part. I've seen alot of people on these boards with 750+'s in all science and math fields, but very few with top scores in a variety of subjects. For alot of people, Lit and the histories are probably the most difficult, because they are math/science people. Overall, too many factors determine difficulty for there to be a unified ranking; it depends on the person and level of experience with the subject.</p>
<p>For Me so far:</p>
<p>Biology - 750 (only because I took this test in may and started preparing too late and doing too little until april, with a teacher who taught the bare bones of the state curriculum)
Math IIC - 770 (not hard, but that 770 means I got 8 or 9 wrong)
Math IC - 770 (walk in the park)
Chemistry - 790 (VERY EASY if you use barron's book and the kaplan practice tests)</p>
<p>darkrulerII, about the "level of class." I didn't take AP Physics. I didn't take Honors Physics. (as if there were such things at my school) I just took "Physics." I took the class one <em>year</em> before taking the test! yet still scored an 800, with just per few hours a week the month before the test as SAT II-specific prep.</p>
<p>Most of my experience with physics is outside class. I think, I work out problems, and I get wrong answers to just about all of them. There can be no better way to learn physics, in my opinion; and with a solid grasp of the subject, 800s come easily.</p>
<p>Okay. </p>
<p>In my experience, no one in my class who took the SAT II Physics broke 700 except me. For us, a first year class doesn't cover thermodynamics, light, sound, optics or waves at all. While you may have taken the class a year ago, at least you had experience with most of the test's material.</p>
<p>Maybe you did so well because you did a substantial amount of outside preperation, in which case, it isn't all that fair to comment on the difficulty of the test. The USH test is hard, but I had had done an adequate amount of preparation, so it wasn't too bad for me. That doesn't make me say it was an easy test.</p>
<p>I stand by my opinion that level of class matters. A girl at my school took regular Chem, and got a 570. She took AP Chem the next year, and got a 760. I know this is only one example, but I think its reflective of the situation as a whole.</p>
<p>Plus, you might just be some super-science-genius. I know if you told alot of people at my school the SAT II Physics is pretty easy, they'd have to disagree. ;)</p>
<p>If you're good at memorizing tons little details, dates, random trivia, etc, then US History would probably be pretty easy. Even if you're doing poorly in the AP class...it's a lot less conceptual and a LOT more mindless memorization. I skimmed the Kaplan book and used REA to fill in the details the night before, and got an 800. Of course, it helps if you're a history nerd, like me.
8-) <-----nerd glasses</p>