SAT Subject Tests! Eek!

<p>I apologize for this verbose post in advance, but I need your advice. I've gotten practically no guidance on this, since no one at my school has taken any subject tests yet, except one kid who took Chem in May (770). </p>

<p>All right, here's my academic record:
I'm definitely taking Chemistry. I just finished IB SL Chemistry, and I'm pretty sure I got a 6 or a 7 on the exam. Does anyone know how the SAT II compares? I'm buying the Barron's book and I own Zumdahl's. I'll probably use SparkNotes too. This should be sufficient, correct? I am of course shooting for that magical 800. </p>

<p>Now, what else should I take? I've heard that colleges really look down on Math I, and that it covers pretty basic stuff. However, I don't know that basic stuff! My algebra teacher was arrested for being a pedophile, I missed 60+ classes of geometry due to surgery, and my algebra II teacher was from Egypt and wanted the class to be "advanced", so all he taught was precalc. That being said, I have a GREAT understanding of precalc and trig, and even a bit of calculus. If I study really, really, really hard, would taking Math II be an option? I'm willing to do whatever it takes (and I'm assuming that preparing for Math II would help me on the regular SAT math). </p>

<p>Finally, since I've heard that a math/science/humanities combination is best (is this true?), I can't decided which humanities to take. I'm outstanding at Lit, and I'll have finished my AP Lit class (online) by October (I got a 5 on the AP Lang test, and my IB teacher thinks I'm a good candidate for an English 7). However, I've heard Lit is impossible and has an evil curve. </p>

<p>I only got a 4 on the AP World History test (I didn't know anything about Asia). However, with the impossible Lit curve and the fact that I'm only 1 year into a 2 year US History class, I guess I'll have to take World. How can I study for this?</p>

<p>Thank you in advance!</p>

<p>I am no expert on chemistry, but I have several friends who took HL chemistry and there were very mixed results (people in the high 600’s and those who got an 800). I would definitely get an SAT 2 specific prep book. I would definitely recommend US History. I essentially self studied it (and I don’t have any special aptitude for history) and did fairly well (740 in May, waiting for June retake). I would recommend AMSCO, Spark Notes, and Crash Course.</p>

<p>And was your algebra teacher actually arrested for being pedophile? That’s crazy.</p>

<p>Math II is a piece of cake…It’s mostly just common sense math. From what I remember(I took it a year ago), there is some geometry, but you will not have to study “really, really, really hard”. I hadn’t taken a an algebra course since 8th grade and I took the test at the end of my junior year, hadn’t ever really taken a geometry course (there was some geometry integrated into my two algebra courses). I didn’t study, and ended up with an 800. It is a really easy test. </p>

<p>I happened to take Chemistry as well and got an 800. I took an honors chemistry course, and took the AP test, with self-studying the stuff not covered in class from the PR AP chem book. I flipped through my chemistry flash cards for about an hour (I had made flash cards for the AP test) the night before the june SAT II, and ended up getting an 800. so that is what I did, what you are doing sounds like overkill, but if it works for you… (Also, I wasn’t really trying to get an 800, I just wanted to be in the top 25% because then I got an A both semesters in my honors chemistry class=no work, I basically relied on the SAT II all year for that class to get an A because I didn’t do any homework, still got an A- without the homework.), So thats my experience with Chem. </p>

<p>Sorry, I can’t help with History.</p>

<p>CharlieBrown- Yes, he was. He used to keep a picture of particular student as a bookmark… and apparently he’d molested some boy but gotten off on a technicality. Someone reported him and they found a bunch of child porn on his computer. </p>

<p>That’s when the district started fingerprinting.</p>

<p>brahms91, thanks for the reassurance on Math II. I think I’m going to do pretty well on the Chem, but I am a little bit into overkill mode since the SL curriculum left out a lot of material this year (buffers, titrations, pi bonds, tons of stuff).</p>

<p>I’m applying for BU’s Trustee Scholarship, and I just realized they’ll take the ACT with writing instead of the SAT IIs. </p>

<p><em>Whew</em> Now I can spread them out between November and December.</p>

<p>Math II’s a complete joke, so u should definitely take it…</p>

<p>After taking AP Chem , I went in to take Chemistry. When I finished, my ride wasn’t at the test yet, so I decided to take Math IIC as well…I ended up getting higher on Math IIC than Chem…lol</p>