<p>My son just took the Spanish with listening test on Saturday. He says it was "pretty tough". He felt like it would be more suited to someone who had been immersed in the language rather than just having taken the language at school. He didn't really study - he said he wasn't sure that would have helped as the knowledge is really cumulative over several years. He is in Spanish 4 currently (block scheduling, so half-way through) at a rigorous prep-school. He has an A- average in the class and was taking honors Spanish (with an A-/B+ grades) up until Spanish 4. He is not planning on really doing anything with the language in college and I just had him sign up for the test to get a feel for what the subject tests are like. Is it true that the language tests are difficult to score well on if you have not been fully immersed in the language? Or could he have studied?</p>
<p>Yes, FL tests are difficult for those that don’t speak the language at home. The local head of the Princeton Review office counsels parents to NOT spend their money on his FL language courses bcos they are too difficulte. He recommends FL courses only for those who speak it at home or are in AP/IB course.</p>
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<p>Extremely poor advice. One should never take a test just to “get a feel” bcos it creates a record that won’t go away. Much better to borrow Collegeboard’s prep book from the library and take a test at home for free.</p>
<p>^^The GC’s at his school say this is not a problem (I actually consulted them first) and since this is a top notch prep school, I trust their advice. He will take several other subject tests and since the schools who request them only generally request two, they can use the two highest.</p>
<p>keylyme:</p>
<p>Sure, a poor score may not hurt, but then we’ll never really know… And, yeah, I’m one of the more cynical posters when it comes to admissions. :)</p>
<p>But in any event, I stand by my advice. Paying CB to take a test “just bcos” is a waste of good money and sleep time on a Saturday morning. It just makes no sense.</p>
<p>^^Well, I sure hope it doesn’t come back to bite him, but many of the gc’s at his schools have worked at Ivies and top LAC’s; the woman who gave a presentation last well was a former adcom from Amherst and says it doesn’t matter. He will be taking MathII in a couple of months then possibly Chem, US History (depending on how he feels about the AP class), so he will have more than he needs (and he might not need any…he is not really even sure of where he is applying!)</p>
<p>You are right about the $$ and sleep though!</p>
<p>My advice is always to only take tests when prepared. This stems from the pre-score choice days, but there are still many top schools that do not accept score choice. For instance, A accepts score choice, while Y doesn’t, here’s an article about how Y looks at scores:</p>
<p>[Yale</a> Daily News - No choice on scores](<a href=“http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/university-news/2009/01/16/no-choice-on-scores/]Yale”>http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/university-news/2009/01/16/no-choice-on-scores/)</p>
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