I am hearing a lot of comments about whether to submit SAT II language tests to Ivy Leagues like Harvard. Question: If I am, say, an American-born Chinese that speaks the language at home - but not a native speaker- and take the SAT II Chinese test and score a 780 (could have been higher if not for all the native Chinese that take the test too and set the curve up way high) because of my hours at Chinese sunday schools and real study of the language, am I okay to submit that score as one of the two subject tests? I’ve heard some things about “if you speak the language at home, then dont take the test and dont submit it”. Please let me know guys, thanks
It’s up to you, but my advice is to take it in another language that you have no relation to, or take another Subject Test.
Thanks, can I ask what your logic on this is?
As far as whether the test can count as one of your two needed SAT subject tests, the answer is yes. As far as value given to it, both Harvard and Yale admisisons personnel have mentioned in the past that they are not impressed by a 800 language test score submitted by someone who is a native speaker. You say you are not a native speaker but you are narrowly defining native speaker to exclude any US born person who grew up speaking the language at home, and that is not really a valid exclusion.
@drusba “Native speaker” is someone who considers the language to be their first and primary language. E.g. A person with a german background who was born in germany would likely consider German to be their “native language”, no? My parents were immigrants to the US. I grew up speaking English as my “native” language, and I have learned to speak my parent’s language through hours of practice, schooling, and writing. Is it not a valid exclusion? How can you completely rule out someone’s score on a language test they spent hours studying and essentially a life of preparation for just because you think a lot of 2nd generation asian students are native speaker in their family’s language? Sorry. I dont consider myself a native speaker, and I’ll definitely make sure the schools I apply to know that. I didn’t know a developed talent could so easily become a downfall for someone like me.
I think more because of your ethnicity and how common your feat is.
You’re an American born Chinese who knows how to speak Chinese. That’s not that uncommon.
But, if you’re a black-american who speaks Chinese, now that’s worth putting as very few black people actually know how to read/write/speak Mandarin for example.
They don’t recommend it because sooo many American Born Chinese people know how to speak Chinese as their parents taught them or they went to Chinese school.
It’s a great feat that you have been able to learn Chinese, it’s just that many people like you (including me) have done the exact same thing so it’s not as special.
We’re just stating the facts. You can choose to submit it, it’s ultimately your choice, but we’re just reiterating what the Colleges said.
But Good Job though! 780 on a subject test with that curve is really impressive.
Just saying, I’m in a similar situation as you OP (Parents speak Chinese at home, grew up abroad) and I’m definitely not taking the SAT Chinese subject test. Instead, I’m taking the Japanese subject test instead. As previous posters have said, that doesn’t even mean anything and submitting it will have no effect whatsoever on your admission results. Is it fair to second generation immigrants like us? Probably not, but that’s just how things work these days- colleges are hard to impress.
No, you should not submit your Chinese Language test as one of your two subject tests. If you look at score distributions fully 50 percent of students taking this test score 800. Data is on the College Board website. Second, it doesn’t prove mastery of a mainstream academic subject, it proves your Chinese. It’s fine to submit this test along with Math 2 or Math 1 and say US a History or another humanities or science test. Harvard has some of the most talented students in the world applying and your challenge is to stand out from this crowd
In the past, Harvard would not count native (or likely a native) language SAT2 as one of the two required SAT2 scores but it may be counted as additional SAT2 score. You should still submit it as the score is not bad. Now that SAT2 is recommended but not required at Harvard, so it may not be an issue after all.
If you are a native or heritage speaker of a language (i.e. grew up speaking it at home from toddler age), it is better to use the subject test and/or AP test in that language as an additional test beyond those ordinarily recommended or required. So if a school wants to see two subject tests, it is better if your native or heritage language is the third one.