I got my subject scores back- 750 world history, 740 literature, 730 math2. I am applying to Princeton EA, although I know it’s A long shot. The rest of the academic part of my profile is pretty solid (36/35/35/36 ACT, 4.0 in IB program, 5’s on 4 AP exams). I’ve honestly found these subject tests incredibly annoying to deal with, but since “recommended” means “required” (or so I’m told) I figure I have to do as well as I can.
I’m thinking I might try and study for the US history test, I took honors US history Freshmen year, but relearning that much material won’t be easy or quick. My best Score (world history) isn’t offered in October, so I can’t retake that. I tend to do better on literature/history tests than Math/Science ones, I was wondering if hyper-selective colleges look down on having two non-Stem subject tests? I Also, if I do retake should I send the scores directly to colleges for the October one? That should ensure they get them on time, but if I do worse (and I really think I might) will they be held against me (since I can’t stop them).
Another general problem is the lack of official practice materials. The usual way I’ve done well on standardized tests is by repeatedly studying and taking practice tests, than evaluating my mistakes, than repeating, and I’ve always preferred official practice tests, because they closely simulate the real test. I’ve run out of official tests for all these subjects, does anyone have any advice about good prep books or anything? I know I might be coming off as obsessive about this stuff, but I’ve worked really hard on all the academic parts of my application, and really don’t want this last one to become A problem. If anyone has any advice I would really appreciate it.
I would very much recommend you retake the Math 2. This is because a score of 730 is just the 55th percentile and certainly won’t help your Princeton application very much. I would recommend that you use Barron’s SAT 2 Math 2 book to study for it as it helped me greatly. I improved from a 700 (my first practice test) to an 800 (my last practice test) and ended up getting an 800 on the exam.
The 740 literature is actually a pretty good score. It is one of the hardest tests to score a 750+ The world history at 750 is also very respectable.
I agree that it wouldn’t hurt to try Math 2 one more time as there are more practice materials available, even if they aren’t official College Board ones.
Good luck!
Those are good scores. No need to retake. The only one in question is 730 if you are going for a STEM major. That’s the only one I’d focus on and/or take a Science SAT2. But it doesn’t look like you are gonig for STEM. Remember these are self-selected to a higher level group of test takers. I sat in Princeton’s admission session - they said they want the scores to indicate the student can do the work and any scores in 700’s are fine.
I would certainly not take USH. Your WH is your best score, and I see no validity to sending in 2 histories.
As I said the last time you asked the question, I do not think that that a 730/740 is a make or break. A 740 in literature is more than fine.
No, as long as the 2 are in different subjects. WH and Lit is fine.
Percentiles don’t matter; scores matter. 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.
No need to retake any of those. They are all fabulous scores. Work on making the rest of your application shine.
Ignore the first response. Percentiles mean little on the subject tests due to the self-selecting pools, and the math 2 pool is the most skewed of all. Kids taking math 2 typically already scored 700 or more on the regular SAT math. Being in the 55th percentile of the top math test takers is nothing to be ashamed of.
Ok, thanks for all the help. I did retake, and got 800 on math 2, but only 690 on my lit retake. Which of my other ones should I submit? The 750 world or 740 lit? Or should I retake world and try us history? I’m worried about submitting a slightly subpar English/ history score, as I’m much more interested in those as majors than math!
Either, or, or both. They’re fine, and one vs. another will make no difference.
Same answer as I said before. You’re done. Move on. Work on your essays, where you’ll get more credit than another 10-20 points on a Subject Test.