As an international applicant, I found preparing for the subject tests quite tricky. I got a lot of information from College Confidential and I wanted to give back in some way (this is my first post!). As someone who did a lot of self-studying for the subject tests (the curriculum here in the UK does not align at all!), I thought this could be an area where I’d be potentially of use.
Math Level II:
There was a lot of content I had never covered in school, e.g. conic sections, matrices, but I managed to get an 800 in this test just through the use of the Barron’s book. For self-studying, it’s really important to figure out what material actually comes up. If you’ve never encountered conic sections before, there is so much to learn, such as the equations of all the different types in all the different orientations, the coordinates of the foci/vertices, stuff about major and minor axes etc. it’s a nightmare! However there is usually only 1 question (sometimes none!) on the test, so in the end I just gave up on them. Remember with a relatively lenient curve (I think you can usually get around 4-5 questions wrong in Math Level II), it’s much more efficient to just sacrifice a question. Similarly matrices don’t feature prominently at all, so if you are struggling with them it’s also a thing which might be advantageous to just skip out. Do lots of practice tests to get a sense of what actually comes up. To be honest most of the questions don’t require much knowledge; they just require some thinking.
I think it’s also worth noting I had never used a graphing calculator before, and did not want to splurge on a graphing calculator just for this test, so a scientific calculator is definitely enough! And I did not find the test particularly time-pressured - I had time to spare to check around half the questions. So if you’re reluctant to invest in a graphing calculator and figure out how to use it (it looks so complicated!), that’s definitely okay.
I personally did not find this an enormous step up from the general SAT Math Sections, and people often say it’s the easiest to get 800 on.
French (just reading):
I went from around 600 in my first practice test to 800 in the real thing! I think it’s relatively easy to improve since it’s simply a matter of knowing the vocabulary and grammar rules.
With grammar, be very clear on everything, but in particular the use and formation of the subjunctive, preceding direct object and the use of different types of pronouns.
With vocab, there’s not much more than memorising lists of vocab. This can be found in any prep book really, but I found the old Barron’s book (How to Prepare for the SAT II French, 2003) particularly comprehensive, especially with idioms (very important!). (Beware the practice tests are much easier than the actual test.) I used practice tests to build up vocabulary too, as it exposes you to so many words and often they use words that come up time and time again.
This is quite a straightforward test - it’s just a matter of memorisation. Do it if you’re good with memorising lists of vocab, and also are good at grammar. The curve is quite forgiving too, which is a plus.
Physics:
There is so much content on this test; it’s crazy. Not only are there a very wide range of topics covered, e.g. optics, waves, mechanics, modern physics, electricity, magnetism etc. there are a lot of formulae to be memorised (they don’t give you a list, unlike in UK exams). Oftentimes, however, the exact formula is not required to answer the question, but just a general understanding of what happens when you change one variable (increase? decrease? factor of 2? factor of ½?). So don’t spend too much time learning every single one, but know the rough gist, i.e. is it an inverse square law, is there a directly proportional relationship? I personally used the Princeton Review book and got 800 in this test, so I found it very useful. It’s an enormous book but don’t feel like you need to know every detail inside it! It’s got lots of very useful explanations, but as test day got closer I was running out of time and just skipped out the derivations and proofs and just memorised the outcomes. Again there are some topics that hardly ever come up, so just do a lot of practice tests to familiarise yourself with the content.
I would say I spent the longest preparing for the Physics SAT II and found it the hardest to self-study. Do a diagnostic test and see what you get though - the curve is very generous so you might be better than you think you are. But if it did not go particularly well, it’s really quite hard to improve.
(Additional note for UK students: much of the content is in the A2 course but not AS. I’m applying Early Action so I wanted to get the testing done by the end of the Lower Sixth, but if you’re applying Regular Decision, waiting to do it in the October/November/December/January test date in the Upper Sixth will make this test much easier.)
English Literature:
I did not actually end up doing this test, but this is definitely a test which does not require much work if you’re good at this sort of thing. It’s basically a much harder version of the Critical Reading section in the general SAT. The curve is mean though - you can only get around 2 wrong for an 800. Personally for me I was getting way more wrong in practice tests and since it’s not something you can just cram for, I thought I’d be unlikely to improve and ended up not sitting this test.
In general, I think looking at the curves for each subject test is also very important in deciding which one to sit. It has such a massive effect on your score, which is ultimately the most important thing. If you get most questions right in World History and most questions right in English Literature, your scores will be very different - probably 800 for World History and 700 for English Literature… (I made that up but I hope it illustrates the point I’m trying to make!).
Hope this helps! Feel free to ask me more stuff if you’d like!
