Just got my SAT Subject scores today. Scored 800 on the Math II and a 770 on the physics test. I checked my percentile and both were 80%… how is that possible??? i feel like 770 is higher than that and 800 should be like 99th… but whatever. I’m an asian boy with high gpa, 2160 sat, 34 act so i’m a bit weaker on the standardized tests. However, is that a big deal bc i have a ton of leadership and Extracurricular activities…and i’m really not the stereotypical asian at all as i think the AO will be able to tell through my essays…With the whole Affirmative action bs going on would i even be able to get into UC Berkeley with my stats??? Thanks!
Percentiles are irrelevant to subject tests. Colleges that want subject tests are looking for high proficiency in a subject and anything above 700 demonstrates that. The reason percentiles are so skewed for subject tests is the group that takes them. Subject tests are typically required or recommended only by high ranked colleges. Most who apply to those colleges, and thus most who take the subject tests, are your higher ranked students with high GPA’s and high SAT or ACT scores. The result is that you end up with a large percentage of the test-takers who score very high on the subject tests, with the additional result that you often get, for example, that an 800 on the math 2 test,is only the 80th percentile.
Thank you so much! I was just wondering my school really inflates gpa so wouldn’t it be unfair for colleges to decide based on gpa? Or do they care about sat act more? Also what about privates? i completely forgot that uc dont do AA since they are public. Thanks! @drusba@skieurope
The HS will send a school profile which will contain, among other things, a breakdown of the class’s GPA, avg. SAT, school policies, etc. If the college sees that 40% of the class has UW GPA’s of 3.9+, rest assured, they will think grade inflation exists at that HS.