<p>I need to sign my son up for the June Math subject test, but don't have a clue which one he should take. He is currently in Honors Math 3/Trig and last year he had Honors Geom. He will not take AP Calc until next year.</p>
<p>He has a 97% in his current class. Any opinions on whether he should take Math 1 or Math 2? </p>
<p>Also, does anyone know if once he arrives at the test center if he can change his mind and switch to the other math test?</p>
<p>I called SAT and answered the question about switching to a different math level at the test center. The answer is that you can change your mind once you arrive at the center.</p>
<p>has your son tried practice tests from both subjects? I would personally suggest taking the math 2 if your son has a strong background in precalculus. Heck, you dont even need that much of a strong background. the curve is extremely generous for the math 2 and kinda harsh for the math 1. Tell him to try them both out first on practice tests and then take whichever one he feels more comfortable with.</p>
<p>good luck</p>
<p>Thanks Jazzy - I also sent an email to his math teacher.</p>
<p>Just for info: if he is intending to apply to any UCs, they do not take the math 1 and thus he would need to take the math 2 instead if he intends to submit a math. Also, Stanford, which does not actually require SAT IIs but highly recommends them, highly recommends the math 2 if you submit a math.</p>
<p>The curve is extremely harsh for Math 1, 1 wrong is already down to a 790 while you can usually get 5-6 wrong on Math 2 and still have an 800.</p>
<p>i took both… and i thought math 2 had a lot of stuff with sign, cos functions that I wasn’t sure how to manipulate, along with other stuff i found a little difficult. Math 1 pretty much seemed like the math section of the reasoning test.</p>
<p>I got a 730 on the math 1 section, and a 680 on math 2.</p>
<p>Math 2 FOR SURE. I cannot stress this enough.</p>
<p>Three basic reasons:</p>
<p>1) Your son has a great grade in honors trig. Math 2 does not test super hard/deep trig concepts, and it does not test any calculus. If he has a halfway decent teacher he will have learned in school everything he needs to do well. Now, review is definitely necessary and helpful, but don’t worry that he’ll have to learn stuff from scratch.</p>
<p>2) Better curve.</p>
<p>3) Way more highly respected by colleges. A good score on Math I means little to the best colleges–take the UCs as an example. But a good score on Math 2 is much more significant.</p>
<p>Is it worth it to take both Math 1 and Math 2? If you know that you’re getting 800 on both anways? Because some schoosl require 3 SAT 2’s and I currently only have 2, since I don’t want to submit in anything below 780.</p>
<p>^No. Why would you want to suffer through two exams? 
Kidding. But no, colleges usually want to see SATIIs in other areas in addition to math.</p>
<p>@OP: doesn’t your son’s school have precalc? 
Or is Honors Math 3/Trig equivalent of pre-calculus? Because you do not need to actually take the AP Calc course to take the MathII subject test. I took only pre-calc at the time I took the test and did just fine. And like others said, the curve for mathII is much more generous.</p>
<p>xrCalico23 - at son’s school pre calc is only offered to seniors on the lower math track, regular calc for the middle track and AP calc is for the upper track. </p>
<p>I got an email from his teacher today and he said they will be doing series/sequences and probability over the next two months so he should be fine taking math 2.</p>
<p>Preparing for college applications is also a huge learning process for parents! thanks for the help.</p>
<p>What’s a UC?</p>
<p>Take both. Can’t hurt.</p>
<p>^^University of California?</p>
<p>And please don’t take both. If you do, I would only submit one of them.</p>
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<p>Lol, that’s only because you’re one of those parents who actually take the time to help their kids with the application process! 
But on the other hand, I’m sure your son can figure out everything about college applications by himself: which SATIIs to take, how to write the essay, when to take what, etc. In fact, I think it wouldn’ve been better if he had emailed the math teacher himself. (For instance, on a practical note, inquiring about SAT himself shows a certain degree of maturity and initiative that is highly valued - may be useful if he has to ask the math teacher for recommendation later on;)) It’s extremely helpful when parents are supportive, but college admissions should be a discovery journey for the student more than for the parent.</p>
<p>Just to clarify as to IPacman’s post above: there is now only one college, Georgetown, that requires three SAT IIs rather than two (Harvard has just switched from three to two and Princeton did so last year for the upcoming entering class, leaving Georgetown as the only one left that requires three). There are two colleges that do not require SAT IIs but recommend three, Northwestern and Johns Hopkins. And for those that require IIs, they generally require them to be in different subject matters and thus having Math 1 and Math 2 would count as only one SAT II.</p>
<p>The only thing your son might not have learned in Hon Trig would be polar coordinates. I think there was one simple question about them (even if you get it wrong, you’re still going to get the 800).</p>
<p>Take Math Level 2 for sure.</p>
<p>^We learned polar coordinates in Hon Trig/pre-calculus (a year-long class).</p>
<p>Is there a break during SAT II Math test? My D just sign up and they told her to bring snack for break.</p>
<p>I believe there are breaks in between each subject test where you can have a snack if you’re taking more than one subject test.</p>
<p>^^ each subject test is only 1 hour, most students take up to three per sitting, break between tests</p>