If I left ten questions blank on the SAT Math Level 2 Subject Test, and made approximately 2–4 mistakes, should I cancel my score?
Help!! I have until this Thursday to make my final decision. I am currently aiming for Ivy League/top-tier schools. I personally want to cancel my score because the highest possible raw score I can now get is a 40/50 (assuming I didn’t get a single question wrong), which isn’t that great. Plus, I just learned that some schools want you to send in ALL of your SAT Subject Test scores (like Georgetown). I am definitely taking the Math Level 2 Subject Test again in August. Also, I am currently a sophomore, and am going to be a junior this fall, so I have a good amount of time before I apply to colleges.
Should I cancel this score, or keep it? Either way, I am retaking in August.
Well, a 40/50 could still be high, even around 770, depending on the scaling/curve, which would be fine for most schools, including Georgetown. How do you think the rest of the test went? Have you taken pre-calc yet?
If you are certain you are taking it again, certain you are applying to at least one school that requires all tests, and/or think you missed a lot of questions beyond the 10 you didn’t answer, then there is no harm in cancelling it. The risk is you throw away a 700+ test result.
I am taking pre-calc now, so I initially thought that by taking the Math Level 2 Test right at the end of the school year all the topics would be fresh in my mind, but apparently there was a good amount of material, particularly trig, that I hadn’t studied enough (hence the ten unanswered questions). Besides from those ten, I think I did fairly well, I only guessed on one or two, and the rest I felt pretty good with, unless I made some silly mistakes.
Thank you so much for the input. I agree that there is no harm in canceling it since I will be taking it again in August, and I should be able to get another 700+ score on that one since I now know what to expect on the test.
I don;t think it will make a difference in admissions decisions, but be aware that Georgetown requires you to send in all SAT Subject Test scores, including retakes on the same subject.
The one downside is that the options to canceling your score are a bit tedious. After some thought, I am now leaning towards just keeping the score. I will definitely retake in August. Do you know by any chance if colleges prefer to see that big jump? (i.e. going from a low 700s to an 800?)
In the 10 minutes that they take to read your application, they are not going to analyze improvement in Subject Test scores. Upward trend on SAT/ACT or GPA, yes, but not Subject Tests. They only care about the number. And Subject Tests are one small portion of the application.
And again, for every other college other than Georgetown, you can pick and choose which Subject Tests to send. I doubt many students are sending multiple scores from the same Subject Test.
I would only send your best score to the colleges that do not require all of them. Those that do require all of them will use your highest score in their decision making process.
@superbooper I agree with @Mwfan1921 It would be best if you just send your best scores to each college. As a college admissions officer only spends like max 20 to 30 minutes on each application. So you want him/her to see the best scores right away, especially because you are aiming for top tier schools. Good grades along with great extracurriculars are what they want to see.