Should I send SAT II 750 for Harvard EA?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
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<p>Hi everyone,</p>

<p>I'm applying Early Action to Harvard.</p>

<p>I took the SAT subject tests in June this year, and received scores of:
Literature: 780
Math Level 2: 750
Chemistry: 750</p>

<p>The percentiles for Math 2 and Chemistry are pretty bad. (I.e. 750 in Math 2 is 62nd percentile and 750 in Chemistry is 72nd percentile) Therefore, I'm retaking Math 2 in November. (I expect to get 800)</p>

<p>Okay, so my question is:
Since Harvard only asks for 2 SAT subject tests, should I still send the Chemistry 750? Let's just say that I do get 800 in Math 2, and I send the 800 in Math 2 and 780 in Literature, will sending a 750 in Chemistry hurt or help my application? (I.e. does it help to demonstrate breadth?)</p>

<p>Thank you! I appreciate your help. :)</p>

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<p>Not to steal from your post, but I’m in the same boat. I got 740 in Math 2 (also 62nd percentile) and applying to Stanford. </p>

<p>Can anybody give us ideas?</p>

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<p>You should send them - it’s only a small part of your application, it presents a more complete picture of your abilities, and 750/740 are excellent scores. If you don’t get accepted, I think it is highly unlikely it will be because you submitted a 740 or 750 on an SAT II that you could have withheld.</p>

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<p>a 750 on math II is very good. that’s what i got :)</p>

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<p>Thanks for the advice @BldrDad :slight_smile: Much appreciated.</p>

<p>Does anyone else have any ideas?</p>

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<p>Admissions DOES NOT look at SAT Subject Test scores and their percentiles; they just use your top two scores to calculate your academic index: <a href=“http://www.collegeconfidential.com/academic_index”>http://www.collegeconfidential.com/academic_index&lt;/a&gt;. Therefore, any SAT Subject Test score above 700 is considered a good score (regardless of percentiles) and you should not fear sending all your scores in, as it’s helpful for Admissions to have a lot of data-points.</p>

<p>FWIW: Both my kids attended a high school that required students not taking AP classes to take the SAT Subject Test in that course at the end of the year. Consequently, my son and daughter applied to colleges with six SAT Subject Test scores each all between 740 and 780 and were admitted to HYP and other top colleges. Admissions spends less than 10 seconds looking at your test scores, so you are way over thinking this.</p>

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<p>

As you already have a 750 in Math 2, it’s a complete waste of your time and your parents money to retake the test, as getting an 800 on the test will not get you any closer to the brass ring. Please watch this video from the College Board: <a href=“How College Admission Tests Affect Your Application - BigFuture”>https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/get-in/testing/the-real-role-of-tests-in-your-college-application&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Based upon the above quote and your current SAT Subject Test scores, you would be better off spending time outside of the classroom with your recommendation writers (coffee/lunch), so they can get to know you better and not describe you in their letter as an obsessed test taker.</p>

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@gibby So what I’m understanding is if you get 700+ on any subject test you shouldn’t retake. Now, I just took the Math II test today and omitted 8 and got 3 wrong for sure which will place me at a raw score of 38, which will probably be between 730-750… Now, I’m generally the best in school in math… I have over 100% in Precal and our class is tiny, but we don’t take precal honors, so will it look bad that I didn’t score so high? since I’m at the top of my class in terms of math…

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MODERATOR’S NOTE:
While @gibby is still active, this thread is 2 years old. Additionally, it’s never good form to hijack a thread. Better to start a new discussion, but really, wait until you have an actual score. @YoohooAddict Closing.