<p>She will most likely apply to schools like Vassar and Wesleyan which require SAT subject tests or ACT with writing.</p>
<p>She will take the SAT in January and the ACT in March (or whenever it is offered after January).</p>
<p>She took the US History and Biology subject tests in her sophmore year. I'm not sure but I think she got a 700 in the US History (but she was taking AP US History at the time) and about a 630 on the Biology. </p>
<p>She is currently taking Chemistry and Precalculus.</p>
<p>In order to have a competitive application for Wesleyan etc, which SAT IIs should she consider taking and when?</p>
<p>When S was applying to Wes, the GC urged him to aim for 700+ because of the psychological factor.Unless Wes and Vassar specify, she should take whichever she feels most comfortable taking (whichever will get her past 700). She should take it in May or June, when she has covered most or all of the curriculum. If she opts to take SAT-Math, she should consider taking the Math IIC. She should use the Xiggi method for preparation.</p>
<p>She should probably take the math (Math 2), but practice first, my younger son just isn’t quick at math and ended up with a 610, mostly careless stuff from rushing. If math turns out not to be her thing, she could try Lit, same son got a 700 without studying - he took one practice test and it was clear that he could beat the math score, so that’s what he did. She could also try the chemistry near the end of the year. Again I highly recommend trying a practice test first and seeing how well the test covers the curriculum at YOUR school. S2 took the subject tests in May and then again in June - which we had originally scheduled for another SAT1, until he got that math score.</p>
<p>Schools don’t generally say what scores they need for the SAT2, I’d say for places like V and W anything over 700 is fine, I’d want at least one score over 700 to feel comfortable. Over 650 probably okay, under 650 I wouldn’t send if I could help it unless it was in a language where the scoring gets skewed by native speakers - and there I still would want at least a 600.</p>
<p>Per mathmom, be careful taking the language test. The word on the street is that many native speakers take the tests and so often have a pretty harsh curve. I believe its difficult for non native speakers to do well on them. This may be less true for french than some of the more esoteric ones.</p>
<p>We were also surprised at how much stuff was on physics test that was not covered in DSs honors class. So, some studying is needed for the science ones for sure.</p>
<p>I think your best indicator for a good score on the SAT II (aside from some of the languages) is that you take the corresponding AP course and do very well in it. Obviously, if you take the SAT II in June of the year you took the AP course you won’t know what you scored on the AP exam, but you should have a rough idea as to how well you did.</p>
<p>My daughter found that she scored highest on the SAT II subject tests in which she was able to take the AP. For Bio and Chem she had to do some additional self-study because the Regents curriculum that informed her Honors courses did not cover a lot of the material tested on the SAT II.</p>
<p>Indeed, it is very important to check the curricular coverage vs. the SAT Subject tests’ coverage. Honors Physics is notorious for not covering all topics (and AP-Physics C does not match the SAT-Physics subject test coverage). If your D did not study for the SAT Bio, that is the answer to her score (not a bad one, by the way). Bio is mostly about memorizing.
Review and some practice are necessary to do well.</p>
<p>It is generally recommended to take the subjects tests in May or June, at the end of the year of the related high school course.</p>
<p>Given that your D is taking Pre-Calc, Math Level 2 would make sense. </p>
<p>My S took only USH and Math 2, which I think is a nice combination for a social science major. If your D is considering a science or engineering major, schools often recommend Math plus a Science, in which case it would make sense to take Chemistry.</p>
<p>Unless your D is an exceptional math student I don’t know that I’d recommend taking the Math II subject test unless she is planning to go into a math-based major. The kids who take the math subject tests are generally the cream of the crop math students, and you don’t have to make to many errors to end up with a “mediocre” score.</p>
<p>Your goal should be to submit test scores in the 700+ range, so your daughter should pick subject tests that she is confident she’ll do well on. I do agree that a math/science and humanities/social sciences pairing makes for the strongest package.</p>
<p>That 700 in U.S. History is probably a keeper (unless your daughter needs math and science tests for a science-oriented major) and is consistent with a 4 on the AP test. In my experience, kids who get 4s typically score in the low 700s, while those with 5s tend to get Subject Test scores in the 750+ range. </p>
<p>But your daughter probably wants a second score that is better than that biology score, and self-studying more biology is probably not very appealing. </p>
<p>Can she get some practice tests and see how she does? A lot of the strategy for the SAT Subject Tests depends on how well particular subjects are taught at the student’s school and how closely the curriculum matches what’s called for on the test. I remember that my daughter had one of the highest averages in her class in chemistry, but when she took a sample Chemistry Subject Test, she found that she was unfamiliar with at least one-third of the content and scored in the 600s. Her school’s curriculum simply didn’t match well with the test. She immediately crossed that test off her potential list. </p>
<p>Your daughter’s potential test list could include Math II, Chemistry, French, and Literature. Taking practice tests in all four could give her an idea of which one (or two) might be the best choices for her. I don’t think that she necessarily needs to go with one math/science and one humanities/social sciences. Whatever two fields are strongest for her (as long as they’re not two sciences or two social sciences) should be fine.</p>
<p>I disagree with the conclusion strongly. Math 2 has one of the easier curves – you can miss 7/8 and still score an 800. Math 1 is only Alg & Geom so it has a brutal curve, and many kids forget those pesky Alg 1 rules from middle school. Heck, many kids in Calc score low on Math 1 bcos they forgot the basics.</p>
<p>Be wary of the Languages if not in AP/IB or not spoken at home. A 700 is not that easy to achieve based on a standard 4-year HS curriculum.</p>
<p>Pickup CB’s subject test guides and have your D take a practice test at home. But note that some of the Math material on 2 is yet to come this spring in class.</p>
<p>You can wait to select which subject tests to take up until literally the very last minute - the day you actually take the test.</p>
<p>I would suggest to go ahead and sign up for a May/June test date, and then a couple of months (or less) before the scheduled date, take practice tests for all of the possibilities, and just see how she does on all of them. Pick whichever 1 (or 2) she did the best on, or feels would be easiest to improve, and work on preparing for that subject.</p>