My daughter is a junior and will be applying to top colleges (Georgia Tech, Jons Hopkins, Duke, Rice) this fall to study BME. She has relatively good SAT (1540) the only time she took it but not so good subject SAT 770 for all three subjects: math, chemistry and biology.
We wonder if 770 subject SATs are more an assets or will hurt her and we should not even submit them.
Those are 3 great scores and she should submit them…some of those schools will allow her to self-report all test scores, so no need to pay to send official score reports. Check each school’s application requirements page for details.
Only other consideration is that the Math 2 subject test (you didn’t specify which one she took) is preferred for students intending on applying to engineering schools.
When you open your college board account to get your test scores the breakdown shows you the percentile those scores place you in.
If you don’t consider 1540/1600 and 770/800 anything other than excellent life is going to be full of disappointment for you.
While true, a person who knows nothing about Subject Tests might be in for a world of shock when looking at percentiles and needlessly freak out. A 770 in M2 and physics is ~ 77th percentile and chem is ~80th. It is important to understand that for several subjects, the percentiles are depressed because so few colleges request Subject Tests, that the ones that do are the ultra selective ones. As a result, it is the high achieving kids taking the tests. No AO is sitting on the floor cross-referencing scores with percentiles.
Anyway, back to the OP - the 770’s will never hurt except for uber-techy schools like MIT, where an 800 in M2 is the norm, it seems. Congrats to your daughter…
You don’t say which math or which bio. If that’s a score for math 1, it’s fine. If it’s for math 2, she should consider retaking, as apparently that score is only around 67% (worth noting that a perfect 800 is the 79th%). Bio is fine, chem is ok. As far as I know, no schools ask for three tests, except Georgetown. I wouldn’t suggest she retake all three, for sure. They are all good scores and might only be an issue for a school like MIT.
Math 1 96
Chem 80
Bio M 92
Bio E 86
Percentiles from 2018. Good company to be in.
It’s my understanding that AOs are not looking at subject test percentiles, just the scores. Three of the four schools (not Duke) mentioned by the OP allow self reporting of all test scores and it’s highly unlikely any of those AOs are going to cross reference subject test scores with percentiles.
It is Math 2 and Bio E. My daughter told me that 770 Bio is ~78 percentile.
I want to stress that she is applying to top schools with single digit acceptance rate. None of those schools as far as I know formally require subject SAT except MIT which requires at least 3. That’s why I am asking if 770 for any of these subjects (Chem, Bio, Math) will help rather than hurt her admission chances.
She will be retaking math in June and general SAT in end of August. Subject SAT is not offered in July so very last chance to retake any of subject SAT will probably be in early October.
770 math 2 and bio e will not hurt her chances anywhere (likely not even MIT, at least per MIT Chris’ posts). For MIT in particular, read their blog posts.
MIT only requires 2 subject tests (one math, one science). https://mitadmissions.org/apply/firstyear/tests-scores/
At this point, your D should spend more time on other aspects of her application, e.g,. essays, ECs, and spending some summer time doing enjoyable activities. Her current test scores will not be the reason she is denied admission, should that happen.
“Math 1 96
Chem 80
Bio M 92
Bio E 86
Percentiles from 2018. Good company to be in.“
I suspect 80-92 percentile overall means average at Duke, JH, slightly above at GT.
Math 1 really doesn’t hold up at those schools, and 770 is 67% on Math 2, which I suspect was what was taken, likely below average at the top schools listed.
I think the SAT is very good, and Chem and Bio are good enough to meet expectations (but not stand out). Retaking Math 2 would be ideal. Submitting 770 probably won’t have an effect either way.
But I’d also agree that there are better ways to invest time than retaking any of them.