Senior needs advice regarding SAT and Sat Math 2

Applying to College
1

<p>I'm a senior applying this year to colleges. Here's my question:</p>

<p>I'm signed up to take the SAT Math 2 in November and the SAT in December (my last chance to take the SAT and improve my okay-but-not-good-enough score for places like CAL and UCLA-1960). </p>

<p>The reason I'm taking the SAT Math 2 was to show that I am mathematically competent (I got a 550 on SAT math). I also got A's and a 5 in AP Calc AB last year, and am currently taking AP Calc BC and have an A (and will probably get a 5 again). </p>

<p>However, I'm starting to think that I should drop the SAT 2 Math test so that I can focus more on getting a top SAT score (I've got 4.0+ GPA and good essays, so its the ONE thing holding me back). I'm applying undeclared to all colleges, so the Math 2 isn't required for me. But again, I initially signed up because I wanted to compensate for a low Sat math score. But now, I'm signed up for both, and it's really hard to divide my attention. I want to choose the SAT reasoning test, but am I loosing a lot of advantage? Even though I have good AP calc grades/scores? If I push REALLY REALLY hard I could do good on both tests, but NOT as well as I could do on one alone. And I have a feeling the SAT reasoning is more important.</p>

<p>Simply put- Since I have good AP calc grades and scores, should I forget about the Math 2 and just work hella hard on my SAT score? Or should I pursue both tests? I have two weeks till Math 2 and I've studied for a while now, but I'm still not ready and it takes away a lot og effort I could be putting forth for the SAT.</p>

<p>Advice???</p>

2

<p>If the schools you are applying to do not require SAT II tests, then you will be better off improving your SAT math score. 550 math seems a little low for someone who took AP Calc AB.</p>

<p>

Compensate by improving the score, not by trying to do something else. Since you can get a 5 on AP tests, you don’t have a testing problem and need to prove proficiency some other way.</p>

3

<p>Or see if you can do better on the ACT than the SAT…</p>

4

<p>Yeah, a 550 on math is quite low if you’ve scored 5 on Calculus AB (and possibly BC).</p>

<p>Also, Math II and SAT Math aren’t really that different, other than some pre-calculus topics which you should already know since you’re in calculus. Maybe it’s other topics that don’t appear in AP Calculus curriculum (matrices/determinant, complex numbers, as well as counting/combinatorics/probability problems) that you may want to review.</p>

<p>UCLA’s 25th-75th percentiles for SAT math are [610, 740], so you definitely want to get your scores up.</p>