<p>How hard is the SAT II Spanish test? Is it better to do just the reading part, or should I do listening as well? I read somewhere that doing the listening part with reading is better because it reflects more competency on your part to colleges, and it helps your score.
I am not a native Spanish speaker, and I have taken Spanish all throughout high school and am taking AP Spanish next year as well.
Can anyone in a similar situation who has taken this test tell me how hard it is and what the scoring is like?</p>
<p>The Spanish test is hard for non-native speakers. I took it in May and got a 730 which is okay for a non-native. I think I am going to take it again in Nov. with the listening. </p>
<p>The thing I had trouble with was the time, i started to rush at the end and the end is reading comprehansion. Also, this test does not have a generous curve because mostly native students take it and they get really good scores. </p>
<p>I studied from Princeton Review and Barrons like a week before the test.</p>
<p>For listening, my sister said it was okay. She took it last November and got a 760.</p>
<p>I think a 730 or 760 is great!
So is there a different grading curve for the Spanish with Listening test as opposed to the reading only Spanish test?</p>
<p>the test is really hard. i could translate easily but the comprehension just was not happening. soo as long as you are good in reading long passages and comprehending them in less than an hour you’ll be fine. i took the reading only sooo listening would actually be more beneficial. it usually is… grrr i shouldve listened >.<</p>
<p>I’m still confused–are the different tests graded differently?
And does anyone know any good study websites or books for the SAT II Spanish with Listening test?
Lastly, are you required to report all of your SAT II subject test scores to colleges? I’ve already taken three, so this one would be my fourth, but if I do really bad I don’t want colleges to know…</p>
<p>I was wondering the same thing!</p>
<p>Not to hijack, but how many grammar questions were there?</p>
<p>I’m good at reading, understanding and speaking Spanish, I even read the news in
Spanish sometimes. But atrocious I’m at conjugating and the like.</p>
<p>My memory’s a little fuzzy, but I think that 1/3 (perhaps 20-25 questions) were grammar and vocabulary. If your only concern is grammar, then you’ll do fine. This test doesn’t include many advanced concepts and tends to stick with simple tenses - present, perfect tenses, preterite, imperfect, maybe 2 or 3 subjunctive questions, and very few future and conditional. Study these tenses until you’re familiar with the conjugations (don’t worry about vosotros though).</p>
<p>Keep in mind, you won’t be asked to pick out the right conjugation from 4 variations of the same word. There are 4 different words, each of which is conjugated in a different tense or subject, so you’ll also be able to choose the correct answer by figuring out which word is correct in context since only one word will have the correct meaning. Hopefully this info helps you.</p>
<p>The one thing that I consider a problem with the test (as a non-native speaker myself) is that so many native speakers take the test and score extremely well that even a good score (like a 730, 760 or my 740) - gets a pretty bad percentile score. I didn’t take listening because I’m only any good at reading comp and grammar, and I wouldn’t recommend taking listening just because it’s supposed to be easier but only if you prefer listening to reading comp in your Spanish class.</p>
<p>How good were the Princeton Review and Barron’s books? Which one was better and do you know of any other good review books?
Also, is it widely known that listening is easier or just someone’s personal preference?</p>
<p>Well I think that listening vs. writing is all incredibly subjective (hehe sat subject tests) ahem anyways. It really depends on your strengths. Like in my classes my teacher centers our classes around speaking so listening is easier for me. If writing is more comfortable for you, you will probably do better on writing.</p>
<p>Thanks jablalf, that sounds manageable!</p>