<p>I've got some questions about SAT II tests, if anyone's willing to help out.</p>
<p>1) Anyone have a sense of how tough the grading is for the English Lit SAT II?</p>
<p>D1 was planning on taking the English SAT II in June. She's taking AP English Language this year, so taking the English SAT II seems to make sense. But friends of hers at a local private school, well known as a feeder to elite colleges, said their college counselors all tell them to avoid the English SAT II. Word from them was that it's a tough test, and students don't score well on it. Can anyone confirm or deny this?</p>
<p>2) Is there any downside to retaking a subject test?</p>
<p>D1 took the Math II last fall, and did so-so relative to her expectations, something in the 720-740 range. She was planning on taking the US History and English SAT IIs in June, but is now spooked about the English test. She's mentioned perhaps retaking the Math test. Any thoughts on if this is a good or bad idea? She is in Calc AB this year, so she will need to review for the math test. Another possibility is taking the Chem test; she's taking AP this year, but is really struggling in it, and isn't convinced she could do well on the SAT II in June. She is not applying to any schools that require 3 subject tests, and is not applying to any tech schools, but will need two for some schools, including University of CA (instate).</p>
<p>In my opinion, the best way to choose the SAT II’s is to take the released, real exams (available in book form, one per subject) about 6 weeks ahead of taking the SAT II. It’s best not to look at them ahead of that, so that you get a realistic appraisal of likely performance. Your daughter could try out English Literature, US History, Chemistry, maybe Math II if she hasn’t taken the released exam before. Then see how they come out. </p>
<p>Although students pre-register for specific SAT II’s, they can change their minds on exam day, and take any of them. (I think the only limitation is that a student cannot increase the number of SAT II exams above the registration, if they signed up for 1 or 2–check the CB site.) </p>
<p>The English Literature score depends a lot on how much your daughter reads and how sensitive she is to literature. Classes at school can help to develop the skills needed to do well; sometimes they don’t (as in the case of the local private school, apparently). A number of students at my school (a long time ago) reported disappointing scores on the US History SAT II–might have been curricular mis-match, might have been the students who took it . . . hard to say. But the experiences of people at a different school probably aren’t too relevant.</p>
<p>I don’t see a downside to retaking an SAT II, particularly if it’s limited to one of them.</p>
<p>Addendum: The percentile corresponding to an 800 is much lower for Math II than for English Literature. I think that it’s about 85%ile for math, and about 99%ile for Eng Lit–it’s been a while since I looked, though, so it might have changed. I imagine admissions people take the difference in %iles of a given scaled score into account (except perhaps for University of California schools–not sure about that).</p>
<p>The thing about the Literature SAT II is that it’s difficult to study for. Exams like Chem, Bio, Math II, US Hist. are all very fact-based and it’s easy to prep for them; to do well on Lit you almost have to have a natural aptitude for the subject, or at least very good preparation through English classes. It is one of the harder exams, not least because it’s so subjective. The kids I know who took it (including me) did well, but we all agreed that it was difficult. Lit was the one exam that I walked out of unsure of how I’d done.</p>
<p>The curve on Lit is also pretty tough.</p>
<p>What is she struggling on with Chem? My recollection is that the harder topics in AP Chem don’t appear on the SAT II at all.</p>
<p>My son was disappointed in his Math Sat2 score and was looking for an SAT subject test he could take without studying. He took one practice test, determined he should do okay. He got a 700, with no studying. (He’s a B+ student in honors English, an A+ this year now that he’s not in honors.)</p>
<p>I’d recommend getting the blue book with sample subject tests from the college board, and trying out a few likely suspects.</p>
<p>Regarding the English Lit SAT II, it’s somewhat tough, but definitely not impossible. I am a senior now; I took it last year in May with basically no prep, and I didn’t take any AP English classes or anything. That said, I do attend a very rigorous, well-known private school - something like the feeders you described, and I wouldn’t say we’re discourage from taking the Lit SAT II. It has similarities to the CR test, but it’s not quite the same. However, I would assume that if she’s had the AP English class, she should be reasonably well prepared.
For what it’s worth, I scored an 800 on the CR section and a 740 on the Lit SAT II. Lit was my lowest score among SAT IIs (I took Spanish and Math II as well), and given my CR score, I tend to do decently on English standardized tests. However, that’s only one anecdote - personally, I was fine with my 740. </p>
<p>Regarding the Math SAT II, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with retaking, but the only thing I would point out is that I found the Math SAT II to be heavily pre-calc based. Yes, there are some things that you could do with calculus instead, but I found that you needed the BC Calc material to use calc, if that makes sense. Therefore, being in Calc AB, I would think a good review of some of the pre-calc only stuff would definitely be necessary. The further beyond pre-calc you are, the harder that test gets, IMO. Her score is pretty good, but a retake wouldn’t necessarily hurt, as long as she feels prepared.</p>
<p>ST: If you read thru the testing threads, you’ll see where most kids say the Lit test is like CR but on steroids. There are plenty of kids who score a 5 on the AP Lit exam but sub-600 on the subject test. What makes Lit particularly difficult is some obscure poem that you get or you don’t. </p>
<p>In general, Lit has the hardest “curve”.</p>
<p>Prior to taking a flyer, I strongly recommend a practice test at home from CB’s official test book. Two 700’s, and a 550 just won’t ‘look’ very good, even if a college claims that they only consider the highest two tests.</p>
<p>btw: a low 700 is fine for the UCs which don’t weight tests too heavily. But note that ALL scores will be visible to the UC application reader – not just the top two.</p>
<p>And yes, perfectly acceptable to retake a test.</p>
<p>Re the SAT Lit - we’re struggling over this one too. Five years ago D took it cold, coming from a totally different educational system, and scored 740. This was her first multiple choice test (she took it in her GCSE year, ie equivalent to 10th grade) and was so clueless we had to have her practice ‘bubbling in.’ But now my son, in the American school system, is thinking of taking it and I’ve been doing the Kaplan diagnostic test with him (available online as an ebook) and it’s pitiful. I have an honours degree in English from Harvard and Oxford, have worked in the field and am getting 9 out of 14 questions wrong. Talk about sad. My son has very high CR scores which is why the GC thought Lit would be fine for him to take. Our school recommends students take it after the AP Lit class which is a 12th grade course here - he’s taking AP Language & Comp as a junior but we are finding that the Lit subject test is definitely CR on steroids. I think the problem is S & I are overthinking it - D, taking it without prep, responded intuitively, hence her score. Oh, and Slithy Tove, thanks for the class of 2011 thread where I’m a lurker…</p>
<p>My daughter chose SAT II Lit mainly because it requires no special prep. She took it at the end of sophomore year, got a good score, and did not find it to be difficult.</p>
<p>I’ve heard SAT II Lit described as “SAT CR on steroids”—essentially the same skills, but much harder texts, including some from different time periods and so encompassing language and styles of expression that are somewhat archaic today. DD, who reads and speaks Elizabethan English fluently—having read most of Shakespeare’s canon, having studied much of it carefully, and having performed a good bit of it onstage—breezed through the SAT II Lit and scored a 790. But that may have been partly the luck of the draw on which particular texts appeared on the test she took, and how they matched up with her own literary strengths. </p>
<p>Overall SAT II Lit has a much tougher curve at the high end than most of the other tests. According to the College Board, only 6% of 2009 college-bound seniors who took the Lit Subject Test scored 750 or higher, in contrast to 11% for U.S. History, 11% for World History, 25% for Math 2, 18% for Biology-M, 21% for Chemistry, 24% for Physics, and a whopping 78% for Chinese (many of them native Mandarin speakers, no doubt).</p>
<p>At the 700+ level it’s more or less the same story: only 18% in that range for Lit, as opposed to 24% for U.S. History, 23% for World History, 37% for Math 2, 36% for Biology-M, 36% for Chemistry, 41% for Physics, and an overwhelming 88% for Chinese.</p>
<p>The good news for high scorers on the SAT Lit Subject Test is that these percentile ranks may work in their favor with adcoms at some schools, insofar as a high score on the Lit subject test is a rarer achievement than a similar numerical score on other subject tests.</p>
<p>D1 took a look through the SAT II sample tests book, and thinks she’ll do OK with the English. She’s now thinking about doing three: US History, English, and a retake of math 2. I may pay for three, and give her the option of leaving after two if she feels she’s done.</p>