so our school counselor knew nothing about subject tests. S20 is signed up to take the math test; he’s not taken the SAT; only the ACT. He uploaded his PSAT results to Khan Academy to practice; and will start that soon.
just curious on if the two tests are similar; and if the curves are similar. EG: he missed 2 questions out of 48 and got a 680 on the PSAT math section. That seems harsh. Think the Subject tests are like that? thanks for any info you might have!
I believe PSAT math is similar to SAT Math, SAT Math II (subject) has a bit more depth and also covers till pre-cal. Also, PSAT math full score is 760, while SAT math and subject Math full score are both 800.
I would suggest to get the official subject math II booklet (it contains two prior tests) to see how your DS do.
Yes, the Math 2 Subject Test covers topics through PreCalc/Trigonometry. You may see a question or two on vectors, matrices, parametric equations, and polar coordinates. But more advanced algebra and trigonometry problems will be the big difference - none of that is on the PSAT, SAT or Math 1 test.
The scaling from raw score to actual score is more lenient, realizing that many students will not have studied all of the possible topics. Commonly, one can miss 4 or 5 questions and still get an 800. But that means 20% of students get an 800. The goal of the score distribution is very different than PSAT, SAT, ACT.
Sample/previous tests are out there - that’s the best way to understand what’s on the test. They will also have conversion tables from raw score to scaled 800 score.
The SAT Math Level 2 test has 50 questions. One difference between the SAT/PSAT and the SAT Math Level 2 test is that you’re penalized fractions of a point for wrong answers:
https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/sat-subject-tests/scores/how-tests-are-scored
Depending on the test curve, you can score a 43 or 44 out of 50 questions and receive a score of 800.