<p>I am new to the board and have a question. What is considered an "OK" score for subject tests? My son took Math II (680) and Physics (600) and wasn't at all happy about his score. In the Physics test, he missed 22 questions because the material hadn't been covered in class! With the Math II, he didn't pace himself well and ran out of time. He's taking Math II again tomorrow and has finished several practice tests in order to learn to pace himself. He replaced Physics with French (he's had 3 years of French). I'm just feeling anxious that the scores won't be "good enough" even though his regular SAT was a very high score. Should I be worried? All the schools he is thinking of applying to require two subject tests. So many hoops to jump through :-(</p>
<p>It really depends on the college. But for selective colleges I usually consider 700+ as foot in the door level and 750+ as great. My feeling is that once an applicant hits this level, the admission decision is going to be made on a combination of factors, not just a Subject test score.</p>
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<p>This is a fairly common situation --and not just for physics.</p>
<p>High school courses are not necessarily designed to prepare students for the SAT Subject Tests. They may be designed to prepare students for state tests or meet state or local requirements for what material must be covered. The people who make the decisions may not even think about the Subject Tests because so few students take them.</p>
<p>It is useful to try to find out what courses at your child’s school are good matches for the material covered on particular Subject Tests. Teachers are often willing to discuss this with students. Some will even suggest extra material that students could work on to prepare for a Subject Test if the curriculum doesn’t cover some necessary topics.</p>
<p>This is why for the subject tests it really pays to do the practice tests in the real blue book and see how good a fit the test is for what you have learned. My older son did choose to take the physics test, but had to review some topics that weren’t covered in the physics course he was currently taking (AP Physics C) - luckily he’d seen them in a physics course he’d taken as a freshman. My other son ended up dropping the math subject when he realized he wasn’t scoring well and took Literature instead.</p>
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<p>Depends on the test, and on what schools the student is aiming for. Keep in mind that relatively few people take these tests; the most popular is Math II, taken by about 175,000 students, or just over a tenth of the 1.5 million who take the SAT Reasoning Test (SAT I) annually, and generally these are mostly high scorers on the SAT I because the main reason people take SAT Subject Tests is that they’re applying to the smallish number of elite colleges that require them.</p>
<p>I’d say a 700 on any Subject Test is going to look pretty good to any college except perhaps HYPSM-level schools which are going to be looking for scores more in the 750+ range. A lot of people do pretty well on Math II, so a 680 is around the 56th percentile for those taking that test, which given who takes it is not bad, but a 700+ score on re-take would be better. A 600 on Physics is not as strong, around the 28th percentile for that test; I’d say your S should be aiming for at least a 700 on that one as well to be competitive at the most selective schools.</p>
<p>I told my Ds any Subject Test score over 700 is a winner and they’re done. D1 nailed a 790 on Literature, which put her at the 99th percentile, and I believe a 750 on US History, 89th percentile–good enough to get her into her top choice LAC ED. D2 takes them tomorrow; we’re keeping our fingers crossed. </p>
<p>Scores of 750+ are rarest for Literature (only 6% score 750+) and Biology-E (10% 750+), and most common for Chinese (75% score 750+) and Korean (81% score 750+), probably because most people who take the Chinese and Korean tests are native speakers. That’s something I’d watch out for on any language test; you’re not only competing against other non-native speakers, but there may be some unknown number of native speakers in the mix who can throw off the curve.</p>
<p>swimsupstream, he can always retake the physics in the fall. If he decides to major in a science or engineering and applies to a school that requires subject tests, they prefer/require a math and a science for admission.</p>
<p>I agree with bclintonk. A 700 is considered great with 750+ being awesome. For language tests most people who take it, as mentioned, are native speakers, so its curved harshly. Any 700+ is pretty good for a non-native. Your son should be aiming for a 700 on those two tests, if he’s applying to selective schools. Definitely definitely definitely buy the College Board’s big blue SAT Subject Test book. He can take previously administered tests to gauge his readiness and what he needs to work on.</p>
<p>It really depends on where a student is applying and if the college “needs” SAT subject tests. If they are not needed there’s no reason to retake and you can choose to send them or not send them, but read the fine print on the college websites - some colleges want the ACT is lieu of the SAT subject tests and a few colleges require SAT subject tests.</p>
<p>I am no college counselor, but I have heard the same…for the elite selective schools aim for 700 or above; however, I personally don’t think one should decide NOT to apply to a school soley based on a lower-than 700 score on an SATII (or SAT) for that matter. I’ve seen on Naviance a whole bunch of examples where kids are getting accepted with less/much less than “stellar” scores AND GPS’s. You just never know…Tell your child to do his best and then “go for it!” when it comes to a couple of “reaches” (you never want to hear about it when he’s 40–“Mom/Dad it’s because of you i never even TRIED to apply to…”</p>
<p>oops, I meant GPA’s, not GPS’s…(that would be a point off, if I was taking a test!) :)</p>
<p>[SAT</a> Data Tables](<a href=“http://professionals.collegeboard.com/data-reports-research/sat/data-tables]SAT”>SAT Suite of Assessments - College Board Research)</p>
<p>See the link above for College Board information on percentiles for each test and some additional statistical info. Scroll to the bottom for the subject test links.</p>
<p>OP, the College Board’s websites details what’s covered on each of the Subject Tests. He should review what he needs to know before taking the test and fill in the gaps on his own if there’s material that wasn’t covered in class.</p>
<p>This was just discussed in detail in this thread. Read the posts from about 13947-967
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/931514-colleges-jewish-b-student-350.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/931514-colleges-jewish-b-student-350.html</a></p>
<p>Also, just to reiterate a good score really depends on the college. I’ve seen plenty of kids get accepted at top 50 colleges with scores in the mid to high 600s on at least one test. I do think it helped my B+ student a lot that he had two scores over 700 and one 790 on the subject tests.</p>
<p>My kid took the Physics subject test last night and she did not score so hot. It seems very common that most physics teacher(s) are just awful. A lot of topics were not covered. She decided not to take the test tomorrow. I think if there is less chance of scoring 700+ than it’s best not to take it.</p>
<p>My son avoided sending his subject sat scores to about 2/3 of his colleges because they accepted the ACT in lieu of subject tests. Since ACT score was more impressive than his subject test scores, so it worked to his advantage in those cases.
Something to consider…</p>
<p>Mine took advantage of the 4 free scores and sent to all the ones that track interest. In fact, one of those colleges already sent an email for a quick application.</p>
<p>750+ is a very good score - but it really depends on where one is applying. There are many schools where a 650 is fine.</p>
<p>A Princeton, Harvard or Yale is not going to be happy with anything below a 700 on the SAT Subject Tests. My guess is that this is particularly true of the more technical tests. A lot of students score a perfect in physics and math II. An 800 in physics only you put you in the 89th percentile in 2011!</p>
<p>I don’t think colleges look at percentiles.</p>