SAT II vs. AP

<p>For admission, most colleges seem to want your top three SAT II scores, but what about AP exam scores, are they considered as important as the SAT II tests scores, are they equal to can they be submitted in lieu of?</p>

<p>No, AP scores can't be submitted in lieu of SAT II scores. They test different things.</p>

<p>AP's are becoming increasingly important as more students gain access to them (allowing for further standardization), since they represent college-level classes, thereby hinting at how well you would do in an actual college class (even though the classes themselves aren't the same... but it's a matter of whether you can handle the material, not survive the class).</p>

<p>Thanks.
My son is a freshman taking his first AP Class (Human Geography) exam in May and I wasn't sure if he needed to take the SAT II subject tests too, I guess he does. In what grade do they usually take them? Does it matter what subject, or do the colleges have strong preferences?</p>

<p>Usually, you just take the SAT II in a subject the year after you complete that course.</p>

<p>Technically, it doesn't matter what subjects, but there are some pretty worthless tests out there (i.e. Chinese, which all the Chinese immigrants ace, making something like a 750 a really low percentile). Usually, you'll want to take 3; I'd recommend from different areas. Like if you do well on Math II, Chemistry, and US History, that shows you're a well-rounded student. But if you do well on English, US History, and World History, they might think you're too humanities oriented; likewise Math II, Physics, and Chemistry looks like you focus only on the sciences.</p>

<p>That's just my 2 cents. Other people may disagree though.</p>

<p>No college requires that the AP score report be sent to them. Almost none ask for the AP scores on the application. If you have a string of 5's, that is very impressive and you should write it in the margin or put it in the supplemental section of the online app. The SAT II scores matter alot more. Possibly because the AP courses are taught at different levels depending on the type of high school, the AP scores do not seem to matter much. However, taking the most challenging curriculum avail is the most important thing to do.</p>

<p>Is it necesary for a student to take each AP exam after each AP course or is abstaining from the exam ever a good idea? ALSO, if a student takes (for example) 8 AP exams and only submits only 4 of them because the scores are high, would it be an automatic assumption that he/she did not do well on the others? AND regarding SAT II - if the colleges ask for the top three scores, do you submit just that or does submitting four or five help even more?</p>

<p>Taking the AP exam would be good if you wanted to receive college credit for the course. This can be especially useful for courses outside of your major. For the very few colleges that ask for the AP scores, it might be a weakness not to have taken the exam. Probably most of the "pressure" to take the exams comes from the hs teachers.</p>

<p>You can't selectively submit SAT II scores. There used to something at CB called "score choice" but they dropped it a few years ago. Any CB score report shows all SAT I and SAT II scores that have been taken and graded up to that date.</p>

<p>Colleges will use your top two or three scores. Three SAT II's may no longer be required. Some colleges used to say three because they wanted one of them to be the SAT II Writing test. The SAT II Writing test is no longer being offered since they rolled that into the SAT I. I would check with college to see how many SAT II's are required now.</p>

<p>Yeah, H,Y,P still require three SAT IIs but, given the WR component on the new SAT I, most scools that require SAT IIs now ask for only two. A few places here and there may suggest a particular test (e.g., Stanford suggests that one SAT II be the Math Level 2 test), but the general approach is to let you submit whichever two SAT IIs you want. If you submit more than two, most schools will "count" the two highest scores.</p>