<p>I am finding out that most of the people I have talked to who have
taken AP USH in their Junior year and taken the SATII USH in May/June
have done not too well in the SAT II despite getting 5's on their AP.</p>
<p>(not too well = ~670-700) :(</p>
<p>I would have thought that a 5 level person would automatically be a shoo
in for a >730 score on the SAT II.....</p>
<p>both tests have Multiple choices and the AP actually goes above and beyond
with the DBQ and Essay ....so what gives... :confused:</p>
<p>Insights from people who have done both would be helpful :)</p>
<p>im taking AP right now and am planning on taking the SAT II as well, in general ive heard the SAT II just has more difficult questions and that the test is pretty much a beast. 670-700 doesnt seem too bad (id be happy with it).</p>
<p>are you sure? In my school most people who take the APUSH and then the SAT get 750+.</p>
<p>You have to remember that every AP is two parts--multiple choice, and free response. With the curve the way it is, it is possible to dominate one of the sections, and then just do okay on the other, and still get a 5. It was my experience that the US SAT II and AP multiple choice were very similar. The kids that you talked to may have been very good writers who got very high scores on that section, and then just had to do decent (like a 670 level SAT II) on the multiple choice to get a 5. </p>
<p>Personally, though I am a stronger writer in general, I'm also pretty good at the multiple choice. On the AP practice tests, I generally got 65/80, which is pretty good for the APUS multiple choice. I don't know for sure, but I would say that my educated guess would be that I got 78/90 on the US SAT II (I thought it was pretty straightforward)--my score was 780. </p>
<p>My explanation might sound like a stretch to you, but it can absolutely be true. For whatever reason, I am merely okay at Math multiple choice, but excellent at math free response. On my BC practice test, I got something like a 30/45 on the multiple choice (not impressive even for AP curves!) and a 48/54 on the free response--4 of my 6 answers were perfect scores. When everything was scored, I ended up with a lower 5 on the practice test (it was just low-ER--I was 10+ points over the cutoff). I got a 5 on the actual AP BC Calc test, but if there were an SAT II that was all Calculus multiple choice, I would have been one of those kids who didn't do great on it, even though I received a 5 on the AP test.</p>
<p>SAT II just asked much more specific questions. The AP's are focusing on trends and major ideas so u don't have to get caught up in the details about what happened, rather why it happened or what caused it to happen.</p>
<p>The SATII just asked questions like "who painted this?" I had no idea.</p>
<p>I got a 4 on my APUSH exam and a 500 on the satII for USH.</p>
<p>I would agree with the opinion that they're very similar, but that APUSH is a little more conceptually-oriented, whereas SAT II USH focuses a bit more on the who did what and when. That being said, most people I know found the SAT II to be easier than APUSH - I think because AP scoring is in tiers, you can see people getting what would be a "low" 5, which might translate to a not quite as good SAT II score. I also agree that if your strength is in the free response, you may struggle more with the SAT II.</p>
<p>(I got a 5 and a 760, by the way.)</p>
<p>I took a semester of APUSH and got a 740 on the SAT2. I def think it prepares you for it.</p>