Hello, I am scheduled to take the Math II and Chemistry subject tests this weekend, however I had some concerns. I will be applying early admissions to Cornell CALS for general biology. I do not believe I have prepared enough for the subject tests, and if I took them, I’m sure it would be a detriment to my application as it wouldn’t really be a “true score” due to a lack of studying as well as a poor one. Cornell CALS has stated that they are making subject tests optional for the incoming applications of 24’, so I wanted to ask: Should I take the tests anyways and submit, or take the subject tests at a later date to score well (and possibly send Cornell the scores in my “continued letter of interest”. If I do not submit any subject tests for early admissions, will this be worse than submitting bad scores? Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you.
On one hand, if you haven’t prepared and don’t feel ready, it doesn’t seem to make sense to take them.
On the other hand - you have already paid for it. Even if you already selected school to receive the scores, I think you can change/delete them. Unless you have a school that strictly requires every score from every test you’ve taken, no one needs to know you’ve taken them. And you might surprise yourself.
Does CB allow you to change a date so you can take it later, at no to minimal cost?
If the tests are optional, I would think that sending none is better than sending poor scores.
CB does allow one to reschedule testing dates, so I believe I will just reschedule my testing date and attempt to send Cornell my scores when they are released if they prove beneficial. Thank you for the help!
One school on my list is Yale, which requires an applicant to report all SAT/ACT scores of whichever test is submitted. However, I am not sure if this applies to subject tests, but I will assume that it is. Although if I am rescheduling, this is probably irrelevant.