I go to the second best school in the best high school district in California. I’ve done pretty well in school, but I’ve always had trouble with standardized testing in math. This is especially troubling since I’d like to major in biomedical engineering. Since my AP scores are pretty good (I got a 4 on AP Calc AB as a junior) I’m wondering if I should bother sending my SAT II scores. Here are my stats:
SAT I (probably not sending) 1940
Critical Reading: 620
Math: 600
Writing: 720
ACT (sending): 30
English: 33
Math: 27
Reading: 31
Science: 29
Grades (AP Scores)
Freshman Year:
English 1 A/A
World History and Geography A+/A+ (Won an award from my teacher, each teacher is only allowed to give the award to one student that they teach out of all their classes)
French 1 A-/A
Geometry A-/A
PE 9 A-/A
Biology A/A
Concert Band B/A
Sophomore Year (My grandmother was dying which affected my second semester grades)
English 2 A-/B+
AP Euro A/A- (4)
French 3 A-/B+
Honors Algebra 2 Trig B/B
PE 10 A/A-
Chemistry A/A-
Symphonic Band A/A
Junior Year:
Honors English 3 B/B (Took the AP Composition Test got a 3)
US History A/A
Honors French 4 B/B+
AP Calc AB A-/A- (4)
AP Chemistry (3)
Wind Ensemble A/A
Senior Year so far:
AP English 4 B+
Economics (will be gov next semsester) A
AP French 5 A-
AP Calc BC A-
Physics A
Wind Ensemble B+ (I’m confused about this one…)
EC’s (not too great)
Teen Board at my Newspaper 1 year
NASA Inpsire OLC 1 year
Medicine Club (secretary) 2 years
Swimming (been on my rec team since I was 5) on JV for 3 years (people on varsity go to the olympic trials so I’m not even close)
Piano since I was 4
Peer Tutor about 200 hours (essay topic)
Volunteer at my cancer research center 100 hours
CSF every semester since freshman year
2 years in the advanced audition only band at my school
I participated in Sally Ride Science’s Toychallenge for 3 years (essay topic)
My SAT II Scores:
Lit: 630
Chem: 600
Math: 620
Sorry that this is so long!
I forgot to say which schools I’m applying to.
UCLA
UCSD
UCI
UCD
Cal Poly SLO
(San Jose State Mechanical Engineering)
University of Wisconsin
University of Michigan
Univeristy of Washington
Northwestern
Send EVERYTHING. If you can better your scores for the higher reach schools, then go for it. If not, any SATs individual scores around the 600 ish is not bad. Send it in, it’ll do more good than bad. FYI, your SAT II scores are great…most schools don’t even require them, so the fact that you tried and got scores above 600’s will look more in your favor.
This may just be a rumor going around my school, but a lot of people are saying that any score above a 700 on SAT subject tests are considered good by colleges. Granted, I don’t what’s considered a “good” score for the colleges that you are applying to, but I would think about re-taking some SAT IIs in subjects that you feel really good about. I’m not saying that your scores bad or anything, but getting better scores than the ones you have now can only help you.
Although, I have to agree with greenisnewpink in that sending in your scores won’t make the college admission officers think less of you. If your scores aren’t as good as other applicants, they simply won’t look at them and they will look at other parts of your application instead, becase SAT IIs are REALLLYYY not that important compared to pretty much everything else.
Hey @coolbeans, that’s definitely a rumor…I think. When I applied, 600 and over on SAT II’s are good enough, especially since not evryone takes them. It’s just to show the schools that you don’t just have the necessary skills of reading, math, and writing, but that you can also retain and integrate what you’ve learned in other subjects. They’re not looking for a minimum scores on SAT II’s, just something to show that you’re competent in that area.
I did 2 of them: Biology and History. i got a 620 in Biology and a 630 in History, and I ended up going to a top tier school.
I would advise against taking it again because 1.) it’s a waste of money 2.) you won’t be heavily judged on it 3.) it will make you look bad if it goes down.
I went through this process a few years back but considering how scales for scores haven’t changed for the subject are, I’m pretty sure the over 700 rumors are just people at your school trying to psych each other out. Lol we had a ton of that when I was applying. Good luck!