<p>Well, if a college requires SAT Subject Tests for admission, then there isn’t much choice except study well for them and take at least the minimum number required. If the school does not require them, your student’s AP scores will either be on their high school transcript, or else you can self-report those scores. I suppose you could even go so far as to have the official score sent from the College Board along with all your other application materials. What colleges will do with that information is up to them… but then it always is anyway just like any other element of your application.</p>
<p>If you want to know whether a college will accept AP scores in lieu of SAT Subject tests, or give them more weight in admission deliberations for a student whose AP scores are higher than their SAT scores, then you’d have to ask the individual colleges directly. Only they can give you an accurate answer to that question.</p>
<p>There is a bias in the way you posed the question though – “show us what you know” rather than “multiple guess”. There are many, many students who do well on the SAT tests not because they are guessing, but because they’ve retained a lot of information, can analyse the questions effectively, and just know what the right answer is.</p>
<p>If your kid can do that well on an AP test (which also has a multiple choice component), he/she can do the same with the SAT Subject Tests. Mostly it’s just a matter of taking practice tests and getting the hang of the style of the test. Not really any different than preparing for the APs, in my opinion, although the styles of the two tests are different. In the AP classes my son took, the teachers had those kids practice the tests over and over and over - both essays and multiple choice. You get a feel that way for how the test works, how to pace yourself, and what kind of information is likely to be covered.</p>