<p>I was just wondering how difficult this test is. I'm going to try to teach myself Latin over the next 7 months and then take the test in December. Is doing this completely impossible?</p>
<p>…do you already know some latin? This test is very doable after about 4 years of very good, college-prep latin in HS. You need to know grammar like the back of your hand, read prose fluently, and analyze poetry consistently well.</p>
<p>Unless you are already at Latin 3 or 4, I would seriously recommend you to reconsider taking the Latin SAT. Or unless you’re a native speaker :P</p>
<p>I’ll only take it if I know that I can do it. If I can’t get a 650+ on the practice test, I won’t take it.</p>
<p>LOL? are you kidding? learning a whole new language just for a subject test? is it b/c you think latin is easy? dude…you gotta be kidding me. There is this latin freaks that i met in governor’s honors programs and they barely got near 700. Thats like saying, someone will learn English in 7monthes and take SAT subject on Literature and get 650. Impossible and…stupid.</p>
<p>Ha thats the kind of response I figured I’d get. Still going to try though.</p>
<p>Just curious, what textbook are you planning to teach yourself with?</p>
<p>I’m going to use an online study thing I found to start off with. If it seems like I’m getting the hang of it then I’ll look for a textbook. I’ve heard all the SAT/AP Prep guides are crappy though.</p>
<p>If you’re learning from scratch, you definitely don’t want to use any of the SAT prep guides. They assume you have prior knowledge of the subject.</p>
<p>After you have a base are the SAT prep guides useful?</p>
<p>hmmm if you ever want some help with latin, feel free to pm me…
BUT I still don’t like what you’re doing to be honest…:(</p>
<p>REA is like the only choice. I wish there’s another book. Is there?</p>
<p>I only know of REA, but I’m sure there is something else. I would also get the Official Study Guide for all SAT Subject Tests for the practice test.</p>
<p>Ya, this idea to take a subject test on a language you never took is insane. I am currently a level II student in Latin and am doing great but the more years you have of Latin the wider your vocabulary base will be. I jsut wanted to ask any other latin students if they use the Ecce Romani books and if so then college board probably uses a lot of vocab from those books. So an actual latin student would have a bigger advantage So I would suggest taking a subject test on as subject youve acyually studies in school</p>
<p>Yeah I already plan on taking three other subject tests (Math II, Physics, US History) which fulfills the requirement for all schools in the country. I’m just considering this as something that would set me apart.</p>
<p>dude… three subject tests won’t get you into those schools that require them (harvard, yale princeton). I know no one who got into those school just by taking only three. If they got in with only three, you need like ten 5s in AP by the time you apply. Those who i know got into those school at least took like 4-5 and got 750+. so you might wanna take a bit more if you wanna get into big 3.</p>
<p>Really? Ok, I was thinking about taking the Spanish one, I’m just not sure how prepared I am for it. I’ll be in AP Spanish next year, but I don’t know how much of a good job my teacher has done. </p>
<p>What ones would be the easiest to self-study?</p>
<p>ok if ur going to take spanish ap you should study for the sat 2 over the summer and take the spanish sat 2 instead, and just because colleges see that yout ook an sat 2 without the course and did poorly wont really impress them and which colleges do youplan on applying to</p>
<p>Well I don’t plan on taking it unless I know I do well. </p>
<p>I plan on applying to some Ivies and Stanford/MIT. But as far as schools that are less of a reach, I’ll be applying to Chicago and Carnegie Mellon.</p>
<p>I’m actually self-studying Latin right now and it’s been going well so far. I find high school classes to be a bit slow-paced (and I just don’t have time for an extra class of homework) so I’m working through Latin textbooks at my own set pace. I usually spend an hour to two each day (sometimes none when I have too much homework…which happens a lot; and three hours during weekends) studying Latin. I’m sure that if you really work hard you can definitely self-study Latin. However, 7 months does seem like an awfully short amount of time. Maybe if you cram every single day? I know some top math olympians spend four hours everyday practicing, so I guess one could do the same with a language. Pick a book up and try learning it. I know a lot of people underestimate Latin, so check it out and see if it seems doable, then make your decision. It doesn’t hurt to try; just make sure you’re absolutely dedicated to “mastering” the language.
By the way, I’m a freshman and I started self-studying somewhere around the middle of the school year. I’ve caught up to my peers who take regular Latin classes at my school; I find Latin to be almost “familiar” with the knowledge of both English and four years of Spanish. Key word: ALMOST “familiar”. It’s still a lot of work and memorization, but not insanely impossible. Now, if you were aspiring to learn Mandarin Chinese or Russian in 7 months, THEN I would call you crazy. No language is easy to learn, but there are definitely some that are easier than others. Good luck! I hope this helps :)</p>
<p>Thanks. That restores a bit of confidence. I think the fact that I’m in a very advanced level of spanish (going into AP) will help because some of the words will be familiar and I will also be familiar with the concept of learning a language. I’m definitely aware that this will take up a lot of my time, but I’m willing to try.</p>