Hey,
So I’m wondering… would it be advisable to submit a 680 on the literature subject test to a school where it’s “recommended” (including top 20 schools).
Not from a particularly high or low income high school - it’s probably right there in the middle.
Already submitted a 730 in biology btw. But TWO subject tests are recommended, so how would colleges respond to only one being sent? ( I have a 1490 SAT btw).
Look at the percentile ranks:
https://secure-media.collegeboard.org/sat/pdf/sat-subject-tests-percentile-ranks.pdf
The 680 is a decent score but it’s the 67th percentile. You bio score is higher (not sure which one you sent).
Whether you decide to send the scores or not depends on the school. For some schools “recommended” is like saying they are required. For others, maybe not so much. My guess is any T20 school would want both scores. Check their websites and admission blogs to see.
They would probably view it as though you had taken more than one Subject Test (because, let’s be real, almost nobody takes just one) and were withholding a score. Which you are.
Personally, I would have gone with 0 or 2. But since you’ve already submitted one, zero is not an option. But if you don;t get in, I really doubt that it was because you scored a 680.
Actually, don’t look at percentiles; nobody else is. 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 AO is sitting on the floor cross-referencing scores with percentiles.”
True, but it’s universally understood that the Literature test doesn’t yield a bunch of 790’s and 800’s the way Math Level 2 does. I expect most adcoms would view a 680 on the Literature test as a good, but not great, score.
I don’t think it hurts but doesn’t strengthen. My baseline for these things. If not required and doesn’t strengthen you leave it off.
However if you think it leaves too big a gap in your story and the logical conclusion is for someone to assume the negative. You can add it.
If it is definately weak don’t add something. It eliminates all doubt for the reader. And perhaps it wouldn’t be noticed or a concern if not included.
These teams are busy.
I wouldn’t submit it if I were you
Okay thank you all for your responses!
I’m going to go with submitting it to a few colleges and then to leave it out to a few others and then see what approach was more succesful (or if there’s any difference at all).
Correlation does not imply causation.