<p>Question. For a candidate looking to enter a top liberal arts college or top university but intending to major in humanities/languages (i.e. not math or science), is it more helpful re admissions to do well in SAT II Math I (say score 750 or higher) than to show a lower score (say 700 ish) in the harder SAT II Math II? Opinions welcome!</p>
<p>When dealing with top colleges you really should take math II rather than math I. But if you’re just plain bad at math and it doesn’t matter for your prospective major, then don’t take either. It sounds to me like you might want to focus on taking the subject tests in U.S. or World History, literature, or one of the languages (Spanish, Chinese, etc) – You really don’t need more than 2. And ~700 on math II in my opinion is definitely more impressive than 750+ on math I. If you can score 700+ on math II then that’d be the ideal choice, and it has a generous curve btw</p>
<p>hey guys, in your opinion (or from your experience),</p>
<p>is it possible to self study for one of the history tests without taking the respective course? (in my case, I am thinking about taking SAT II US History)?</p>
<p>Have you completed at least precalculus and trigonometry? That is the additional content on Math Level 2.</p>
<p>[Math</a> 2 - SAT Subject Test Math Level 2 Practice Questions](<a href=“What were SAT Subject Tests? - College Board Blog”>What were SAT Subject Tests? - College Board Blog) says (emphasis added):</p>
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<p>I’m sure it depends on the LAC, but at most of the ones we visited, D was told to opt for Math II, even though she has no intention of majoring in math or engineering. Some top LACs don’t care what subject tests you take, but the ones that want a math score generally want Math II.</p>
<p>I don’t really know about people going into liberal arts, but I’d imagine you just want the best score possible.</p>
<p>For most really smart people I know, they received lower scores on the Math I than the Math II because they were careless. If you look online, only about 5% of students who take Math I will score an 800 whereas 15% of those taking Math II can get the 800.</p>
<p>I guess it depends on how comfortable you are with the material of Math II, but like CollegeBoard says, if you’re qualified to take Math II, do it. It’ll be worth it in the end.</p>
<p>If you’re qualified to apply to a top liberal arts college, you’re most likely also qualified to take Math II. I may be biased, but I personally didn’t find it as difficult as its status as the ~<em>~</em>highest-level-math-SAT-available<em>~</em>~ would imply.
I’d also argue that the lower (but still respectable) 700 on Math II would look better than a higher score on Math I.</p>
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<p>Would it surprise you that it is actually harder to get a high score in Math I than in MathII? Fwiw, the Math II tends to rely on a much better curve and amply reward the students who are able to operate a graphic calculator. </p>
<p>There is a reason why the Math II test is the test of … choice for many applicants.</p>
<p>At least for me, I got a 680 on Math I and a 770 on Math II. I took them a little over a year apart, Math I after completing algebra II/geometry/trig and Math II after completing AP Calc. Also I got a 720 on the SAT I math about in the middle of the two subject tests. I found Math II the easiest out of the three tests because the problems were more things I could get just from knowing the information well, as opposed to thinking more conceptually about math. Also the Math II curve is pretty sweet.</p>