Subject Test for Native Language?

<p>My parents speak mostly German/Polish at home, so I'm a native speaker of German. I'm enrolled in German III and will take the AP next year. The class is mostly a breeze for me, excepting certain grammar/spelling issues, and I could easily get an 800 on the subject test. But would it look bad to take a test for a language I speak fluently? Would they look at my (German) last name and my dad's Swiss nationality and just ignore the score? I mean, it's not like I just completely skated through German class. I had to learn mechanical stuff that I didn't know before. </p>

<p>I've already taken World Hist. (800) and I really want another 800 to go with it. I'm signed up to take U.S. Hist., Chem, and German (with listening) this Saturday, and I should do well on U.S. and Chem (especially Chem), but I don't think it'll be 800 territory. Will schools think well of an 800 in German, or should I just skip the test and enjoy the rest of my Saturday?</p>

<p>Don’t skip it (another 800 never hurts), but don’t think that all colleges are necessarily going to care that you did well. If you mark your native language as German on their application, competitive colleges will not use the subject test for any form of foreign language credit- they expect actual “foreign” languages (not student’s native language) to be used for foreign language credits.</p>

<p>In your situation I would think it much more convincing if you take the German AP and score a 5 than the SAT 2 and score an 800.</p>

<p>There is no particular reason for college admissions to think that you’re a native speaker unless you were born in Germany or German Switzerland and you note that on your application.</p>

<p>Yeah, the thing is I WAS born in German-speaking Switzerland. We moved here when I was three, but I am definitely a native speaker of both German and English. Should I just put down my native language as English on applications? My English is “cleaner” than my German in that I rarely, if ever, make spelling mistakes or use informal grammar in English, whereas I do that in German more often because I mostly speak informally and listen to it rather than write it.</p>

<p>Guten Tag!! this is only word I can remember since I study German for 2 years. I really hard language in the world.</p>

<p>I think you can take this test.</p>

<p>Just be sure to double-check the admission requirements for all colleges on your list to be sure they do not prohibit use of your native language test for one of the two required subject tests, e.g., </p>

<p>“Candidates whose first language is not English should ordinarily not use a Subject Test in their first language to meet the two Subject Tests requirement.”</p>

<p>Of course, you can still submit German as a third + test.</p>

<p>It doesn’t sound like German is his first language, though.</p>