<p>When applying to colleges, do colleges care more about the percentile of your score or the actual number? cuz i got like 750 on the chinese w/ listening but thats like a low percentile (41) lol</p>
<p>percentiles is very important. If you're not chinese and you got 750 on chinese, its not bad.</p>
<p>I second the above post, percentile is much more important than the actual score becasue it shows how you did in comparision to others. Also, if your not Chinese, then a 750 is not a bad score.</p>
<p>im asian. ugh.
so how about a 780 on the math 2? cuz i know a lot of people get 800's. will a 780 look bad??</p>
<p>but then like i got a really low score (212) on my psat but it is till 99 percentile in my state</p>
<p>No 780 is good, but I don't know about the Chinese SAT... but if the score was just looked at, 750 is great...</p>
<p>Sorry to go against the grain, but...get some perspective!!! If you are Chinese, but you have lived here all of your life and your first language is not Chinese, I still think that 750 is a good score. If it is your first language, then I would be a little more disappointed, but it's not terrible, or anything. </p>
<p>I vehemently disagree with the person above me...did you really mean to say that 780 is never a good score? Because...no...780 is a good score on ANY test. I know people are crazy obsessive here about Math II and yes, a lot of people do get 800's, but for us losers who didn't get an 800 (770...AP BC Calc: 5, A- in my college Multivariable Calc course--I think that I am still good at math!) high 700's is not a low percentile or a bad score. My 770 Math II was an 84th percentile...not amazing, admittedly, but the group of people who take Math II (and Chinese, etc.) are very self-selected AND--it's still not a bad percentile. A 780 is ALWAYS a good score. Always. </p>
<p>Plus, think of it this way: you would look totally insane if you retook a 780 to get an 800. It would not help your chances. Be happy with a good score!</p>
<p>how would colleges know that chinese was not my first language?
btw. i like ur perspective advantagious thanks!</p>
<p>Your percentile compares you with the other students who took the same test on the same day.</p>
<p>Your score compares you with the students who took a different form of the test in that subject on another day.</p>
<p>Colleges will look more heavily at the score, because they have a history of how students earning, say, a 750 in Chinese perform in Chinese if they are admitted as students, whereas knowing that a student is in the 84%ile of a specific test-taking group can't be compared to anything else.</p>
<p>In the long run, the colleges are admitting students, not test scores, so they are going to look at whatever information they have in as many ways as they can to get the best total picture of each applicant.</p>
<p>junglebum (thanks, first of all...don't beat yourself up over great scores!!)-- all applications that I have completed (probably all apps, period, but I make no promises) they ask you what your first language is. It's usually an optional question, but it really only has upside--usually, if English is not your first language, you really want them to know that. In your case, you would definitely like for them to know that Chinese is not your first language. Of course, you probably have an advantage (if you are Chinese) in the language over, say, me, if I just started taking it 4 years ago, but your score will be viewed in the proper context. </p>
<p>Percentiles are really more meaningful on the SAT I, because the testing pool is very large and not as skewed (much wider variety of testers). The SAT II's are a small and self-selected pool--a good score is still a good score, even with a wacky percentile.</p>
<p>When they ask for "first language" do they mean the language that you actually learned first or your strongest language? Technically, Chinese would be my "first language" as I was born in China, but I moved at a young age and, in all seriousness, I doubt I can read a quarter of a Chinese newspaper.</p>
<p>^^I would probably still say that first really means first. I can't speak for ALL apps, but I just looked at the common application and it has two questions:
1. First Language, if not English
2. Language spoken at home</p>
<p>In addition, apps often ask you where you were born. So, if you put down that you were born in China, as a reader of the application I would expect that you would fill in Chinese as your first language. You might still put down that English is the language spoken at home (if it is, of course). If that is your situation (first language Chinese, born in China, but speaking English at home) I would not expect your Chinese to be fantastic, necessarily. It's not like you moved here two years ago. Hope that clarifies (if you are really concerned about it, you can always ask an admissions person at an info session or something down the road).</p>
<p>ok so if i have a chinese/math2/biom 750/780/780 on subject tests, are they good enough for say.... stanford, berkeley, usc, uchicago, cornell, brown, penn,gtown?</p>
<p>^^I would say yes, absolutely those are great scores, and you should apply.</p>
<p>yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes</p>
<p>There is no difference between a 780 and an 800.</p>