Currently studying in Portugal but planning to study in Economics as an undergraduate student United States.
I’m a high school student and i’m going to finish 12º grade in the next year and i plan to apply after that so i still have some time.
The problem that i’m having is that the universities that i’m looking for (Harvard for example) require students to take two SAT Subject Tests, or at least recommend students to take them. I’m planning to take Math Level 2 as one of them, but in all of the others (except Math Level 1) i don’t feel that i would have a good grade since since the subjects aren’t closer to what i study in classes.
I choose the area of Economics here in Portugal as a high school student, this were the classes that i took:
Economics, A Math, English, Portuguese, B History (B History is more linked to economics history of the world since the 17 century), Philosophy and Physical Education.
That means that none of the SAT Subjects Tests are anywhere closer to what i’ve study: didn’t study any more languages; literature seems to difficult for what i’ve study in english classes; didn’t study any cience subject; world history and US history are much different from what i’ve study in history classes.
It’s important to note that i’m planning to take 5 AP Exams (Macroeconomics, Microeconomics, Calculus AB, Calculus BC and Statistics) to give universities more informations about my academic capacity.
As i refered before, i’m taking Math Level 2 SAT Subject Test but i really want to take one more SAT Subject Test to fulfill the requirements.
Considering my background, what do you guys think that will be the easiest SAT Subject Test for me to take?
If you want to start college the year after your senior year, you have to apply to colleges by at least the regular decision deadline (for most schools, January 1), if not earlier. So, really, you don’t have that much time.
As for the easiest subject test, I have heard that both Lit and US History are easy to prep for- you can just study out of a prep book. Spanish is similar to Portuguese, so maybe you could fare well with the Spanish SAT II.
Given the fact that i’m going to complete my senior year next year this gives about a year and a half to prepare my application.
Spanish is similar to portuguese yes… but not that similar that you could score 700+ at least in a SAT Subject Test without classes or some study in the language.
I scored 16 out of 20 in Portugal Nacional Exam of History which is not bad, but the topics were from the seventeen century to nowadays, both SAT Subject Exams in history have subjects that i didn’t study.
Maybe Lit?.. It seems that it could be the easiest one for me given the fact that my grade in 2 years of english was 18 out of 20. What are the the preparation books or websites that you guys think that can help me study for this test?
About the ACT, the test contains subjects in science. Since that, in high shool, i don’t have classes in science subjects the ACT can be difficult for me.
Another question, is it better to take SAT Subject Test in Math 1 and Math 2 if my classes didn’t covered any of the other subjects? I just want to fulfill the requirements that Harvard, for example, suggests (2 SAT Subject Tests).
Your Portuguese grades mean nothing to most readers (to them 17 or 18 look very, very average. To American readers: those are high A’s with national distinction.) Don’t use them here -say “top 1% nationally”
I’d advise you to take the May or june 2017 tests in English and American history. more time to prepare and those should be closest to your topics.
To clarify @MYOS1634 's comment, most readers on this site will not understand the Portuguese grading system, but all colleges are well versed on the topic.
@MYOS1634
Thanks for the advice. Maybe i should take 3 SAT Subject Tests (Math 2, English and American History) and then choose to send either English or American History scores, depending on the score of course.
Are you saying that you didn’t take any science classes in high school? Most colleges that I’ve looked at require a certain number of years of high school science.
I didn’t because the study area that i choose was Economics (i could have chosen Humanities, Science or Art).
Classes that i took: Economics, A Math (highest level math discipline), B History (more linked to Economics history from the seventeenth century to nowadays), English (as a second language), Portuguese and PE.
And yes, many colleges require that (MIT for example), but many don’t.
Most colleges, when they post their suggested HS preparation, are targeting the majority of applicants, i.e. US HS students. Other countries have different educational systems and no college will expect an international applicant to conform to the US curriculum.
^ American colleges know that foreign curricula can be more restrictive than the American system (for example, British students only study three subjects for ALevels.)
@ pedrofandre : yes, I meant those two on top of math 2.
7#: yes that’s exactly what I meant.