SAT Subject Tests vs SAT Reasoning Test

<p>Here is my dilemma
I received a 2070 on the June SAT (640CR, 710M, 720W 11E)
and a 2190 October SAT (650CR, 750M, 790W 10E)</p>

<p>On November Subject Tests i received
Math II: 800
Physics: 630
Literature: 570</p>

<p>Im confident I can bring my M+ CR to a 1500+ and my physics and lit to above a 750 (possibly 800 given the huge curve for physics) and a 700+, respectively. </p>

<p>Colleges that im applying to: Penn,Gtown, UMich, BC...</p>

<p>I have 1 more test date left (January 28) which some colleges still accept. Should i retake subject tests or reasoning tests?</p>

<p>Your Physics and Lit scores are terrible. You must take them again.
For UPENN,GTOWN,BC SAT2 scores are significant admission factor.</p>

<p>BC doesn’t accept January Testing. Can my physics be made up for the fact that i took 3 years of physics --Honors, AP Physics C: Mech, and AP Physics C: E&M and received a score of 12 on the Physics Olympiad last year (3 pts away from semifinalist status). </p>

<p>Right now im leaning towards retaking SATs to better help me with scholarships and stuff. Also at the same time im thinking if i can get a decent score on SAT Lit that will probably make up for my Critical Reading score, since essentially SAT Lit is much harder than CR. What do you think?</p>

<p>How’d you do on both the AP Physics?</p>

<p>What makes you think that you can raise your Lit score 200 points? That would be an impressive accomplishment adn worth doing, but I doubt it possible in such a short time. All it takes to kill a great score is one mind-numbing poetry passage on something arcane.</p>

<p>Im positive I can at least get a 700 on lit with sufficient practice. My AP Literature class is very intensive. Also, I have more than a month to do it.</p>

<p>In AP Physics C Mech i got a 91 in the class and a 4 (yeah i know its not good given the extremely generous curve) on the exam. Absolute zero prep for the exam however (didn’t even do the prep material from the teacher) </p>

<p>In AP Physics E&M im now pulling better grades than i did last year in Mechanics. The class and concepts are pretty easy, i think.</p>

<p>The CR score is the single most important score in college admissions other than perhaps at tech schools (although MIT and Caltech have some of the highest of any school). Absolutely retake the SATI as the priority. You can have all the great math and science scores in the world, but a CR score in the 600s is highly likely to keep you out of top schools.</p>

<p>Thanks Waverly! Everybody is giving me different answers with most saying retake subject tests. I know SATs matter much more than Subject Tests but won’t these subject test scores keep me out of top schools too? </p>

<p>My line of thinking is that a high score on SAT Lit would make up for a mediocre score on CR and at the same time I can get another high score on physics. Kill two birds with one stone kind of thing. Am i going about this wrong?</p>

<p>Well yes, so I guess the issue is whether you’re applying to the right colleges, but that’s not what you asked…</p>

<p>"The CR score is the single most important score in college admissions other than perhaps at tech schools . . "</p>

<p>Maybe you should retake the SAT reasoning test to get that CR score up. Have you been able to improve it on practice tests?</p>

<p>It would seem to me that the odds of raising your CR 50 points to 700+ is a LOT higher than raising your Lit score 200 points. AP Lit is not the same as ST Lit. Every year on cc, there are more than a few posters that score <600 on ST Lit, but score a 5 on the AP test 5+ months later. (The free response make up a lot of points.</p>

<p>But from a practical standpoint, it may not much matter. Jan 28 scores are getting rather late in the game, many decisions have already been made, and an adcom would have to have a good reason to wait until mid-Feb for your new scores.</p>

<p>Hey,
Currently, I’m in a similar situation as I can’t decide which SAT exam to take in January. Sorry I didn’t start a new thread about it, but doing this seemed redundant as my question is exactly the same as blueblah’s. </p>

<p>I am an international student and my scores so far are:</p>

<p>OCT sat1: 500 cr/ 800 m/ 660 w (7E);
NOV sat2: 760 mat1/ 800 mat1/ 750 ph;
I also took the DEC sat1 test and I expect scores like 600-650 cr/ 800 m/ ~650 w;</p>

<p>Even though my Physics score doesn’t seem so bad, its percentile (76%) is awful. It seems to me that if I take sat2 in January, I will get a perfect score in Physics and I will have enough time to prepare in Chemistry and get a score above 700. Moreover, I am applying with sciences rather than liberal arts.</p>

<p>On the other hand, if I take sat1 in January, I will have a great chance to score 2150+.</p>

<p>I don’t want to waste my time studying for the wrong exam. Thus, I would appreciate every suggestion/advice on the issue.
Thanks in advance! :)</p>

<p>The 500 CR is likely to keep you out of lots of schools, the physics score won’t.</p>

<p>Im waiting to hear from penn before i sign up for sats again. But on practice tests before the october sats i was ranging from 700-780 on CR so the 650 was a real shocker. I ordered the QAS and i realized that 9 or 10 questions out of the 12 that i answered incorrectly were just really easy questions that can be attributed to carelessness/stupidity (Also i got more level 3 questions wrong i do level 4 or 5 for some reason)</p>

<p>Thank you for the reply.</p>

<p>I had studied only for 10 days before the OCT sat and as a result, my CR was awful (as I encountered many of the words given on the test for the first time). </p>

<p>I am certain that I will have an improvement of at least 100 points on the critical reading section on the December exam. Depending on my luck with some questions, that score can increase even further. Thus, I guess my overall sat1 score will be around 2100. Does that make the sat2 option better?</p>

<p>Where are you applying? What country are you from?</p>

<p>I will try some of the top tech universities, of course excluding those at the exact peak where I know my results won’t stand a chance. I am from Bulgaria (which means that my parents can’t support me with much).</p>