I am a junior from an upper-middle-class family. I have already taken the bio SAT II and got a 740, and I’m considering taking the lit and math II tests. I’m unsure if it’s worth it to take those tests. I’m fairly new to searching for colleges, but the ones I like so far (Brown, Vanderbilt, Northeastern, Tufts) all don’t recommend the subject tests. I haven’t taken the SAT yet. I got a 1510 on a khan academy practice test, so I would probably score around there. I am confident that I can do well on the math II test because math is my strongest subject. I’m less sure about lit. I’m taking AP Lang and BC calc right now. Is it worth it to take the test, or should I focus on other parts of my application?
It might be worth taking a sample Math2 and see how much you remember. Ideally, it is taken after pre-Calc/trig - see how much of that material you remember.
If you regularly get 780+, it might be worth having as next year schools may not be as test optional and you might identify schools where they are considered. But I wouldn’t put a lot of effort into it - the value is relatively small at the schools that do request/consider them.
I guess Lit would be similar - I have no experience with it.
@RichInPitt Thanks for the response! I was planning on taking the Bio and Math 2 SAT IIs right after taking AP bio and precalc last year, but covid had the testing dates canceled (I took the bio one in October with little preparation).
I’m pretty strong at taking math standardized tests (I got a perfect score for the PSAT 10, and one wrong question for the practice SAT I did on Khan Academy). Are there any online practice Math II tests you would recommend that have a similar difficulty level to the actual test?
Update: I emailed my Brown admissions counselor, and found out that a strong subject test score can help demonstrate a student’s proficiency in a subject. However, if the tests aren’t submitted, it won’t make a big difference. I’m going to take the math II exam because I’m sure I can do well without much studying. I may retake the bio exam, but I’m not sure if I should. A 740 is pretty good, but I feel like I could do better, but this will require some studying. I’m not going to take the lit exam. It’s too much unnecessary effort.
