<p>Wishful thinking. I don’t mean to say they do fine parsing of the percentile ranks, but if they see an 800 in Chinese from a native Chinese speaker they’re not going to be that impressed because those are a dime a dozen. And unless it’s a STEM program, a 750-800 score on SAT II Lit is going to count for more than a score in that range on SAT II Math 2 because fewer than 7,000 people in the entire country score in that range on Lit, whereas nearly 47,000 score in that range on Math 2. Not that a high score in Math 2 will hurt you; but it just won’t stand out as much because the most selective schools will see many comparable Math 2 scores, while they see far fewer high Lit scores, even though the numbers of people who take the two tests are not that different–176,000 for Math 2 versus 120,000 for Lit. A 750-800 score puts you in the top 6 percent for Lit but only the top 27 percent for Math 2.</p>
<p>You know that for a fact? And how do you know it count more? What proof do you have? My daughter got nearly 800 in SAT 2 Lit and SAT2 Bio and it counted squad for her in college admissions.</p>
<p>"it counted squad for her in college admissions. "
and how do you know that? No one is saying hi subject test scores will GUARANTEE an acceptance, especially at highly selective colleges. </p>
<p>Post #23. Nobody knows. But from 30 college admission books that I’ve read, no books have mentioned percentiles. If you look at the CDS, it only keeps track of SAT I scores and rank/GPA. Let’s not drive more high school students crazy by saying you get 800 in Physics or Math but it’s only 89% percentiles. If you are going to major in engineering or/and science, you have to take these subject tests, humanities subject tests don’t really count. If you get 800 that is the top score. You can’t control what percentiles.
EDIt, I finally look at the link that was posted, no where in there that it states SAT subject tests were important, let alone percentiles. Am I missing something?
so that confirms that SAT subject tests are not that important, let alone percentiles. I know I repeat myself.</p>
<p>"the College Board’s annual survey of colleges and universities does ask them to rank admissions criteria. No surprise: high school academic record is consistently rated “very important,” as are standardized test scores (Harvard contends they’re only “important”). '</p>
<p>subject test scores, SAT scores and ACT scores are ALL "standardized test scores’</p>
<p>"If you are going to major in engineering or/and science, you have to take these subject tests, humanities subject tests don’t really count. "</p>
<p>You are making an assumption that is not proven, especially since admissions officers know that almost 50 % of accepted students eventually switch majors. So, with the possible exception of some STEM focused colleges, they look for students that have shown strength and ability in many subjects, especially the most selective schools. And subject test scores serve to verify that ability .</p>
<p>menloparkmom, I know you are in the fighting spirit. I can sense through your posts. I’m not making any assumption. I have checked some of the colleges for engineering and it specifically states one Math subject test whether it’s 1 or 2 and one science. I would suggest people to check the college website. I’m writing from experience researching colleges for my daughter. Some requires none, some requires specifically math and science for engineering, and some are in between. I put or/and because I don’t cover all of the colleges.</p>
<p>"Academic record also means rigorous courseload, GPA, class rank, and SAT 1 tests</p>
<p>wrong… </p>
<p>“Academic record” does NOT include standardized test scores. NOT to the admissions committees. The academic records is solely what is provided by the HS . SAT scores, Subject test scores and ACT scores are the STANDARDIZED TEST scores the survey refers to and are provided to the colleges by the Collegeboard.</p>
<p>So what if you have a kid who has only done above 700 on each Math…level1 and 2…and not so great on History or Eng…at the end of the day…do you just send the two math scores…or will they want the lower 'humanities" score…?</p>
<p>“I have checked some of the colleges for engineering and it specifically states one Math subject test whether it’s 1 or 2 and one science.” </p>
<p>Lots of students are accepted at colleges that do offer engineering and many other majors and many of those students change majors because they find engineering too hard. Admissions officers know that. That may not apply to you DD.
I too have lots of experience researching colleges.</p>
<p>But not on the college websites of several schools I checked. Yes, college students do change major but when you apply to engineering( for UCLA and MIT), your science/math subject tests are considered particularly UCLA. I believe from memory, they add up the SAT subject tests from Science and Math scores.</p>
<p>"as are standardized test scores . "
what part of this phrase do you not understand? It means that standardized tests scores are not part of the high school academic record.
duh…</p>
<p>…and you can count on your hands and toes the college that require SATII scores…and you can count on one hand the engineering schools that require SATIIs.</p>
I’m not making any assumption. I have checked some of the colleges for engineering and it specifically states one Math subject test whether it’s 1 or 2 and one science. I would suggest people to check the college website. I’m writing from experience researching colleges for my daughter. Some requires none, some requires specifically math and science for engineering, and some are in between. I put or/and because I don’t cover all of the colleges.</p>