<p>why do we have to take them!!?? I mean, we already take AP tests, why do we have to spend more money on more standardized tests???</p>
<p>and aren't SAT IIs a monopoly on the admissions process as we are forced to pay college board with no other option?</p>
<p>They're to see your achievement level in particular subjects. The AP tests won't serve that purpose because not everyone applying to a college takes them. Grades don't really serve that purpose because grading, not to mention course difficulty level, varies so widely from school to school.</p>
<p>Tyler09, I agree that this makes no sense. Not everyone takes the same SAT IIs either so it really isn't a good way to compare students. APs are every bit as good a way to assess your level of achievement in a subject area.</p>
<p>I actually like the SAT 2s because our school doesnt have too many APs.</p>
<p>It makes no sense, but compared to APs they're easy, and colleges like to see really high scores. So take them if you think you can do really well in a certain subject.</p>
<p>Its only like $100 more total, no one except a penny-snipper would give a darn.</p>
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Tyler09, I agree that this makes no sense. Not everyone takes the same SAT IIs either so it really isn't a good way to compare students. APs are every bit as good a way to assess your level of achievement in a subject area.
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<p>No. You see, colleges can require you to take certain SAT IIs, or pick one within a small number so that there will be many applicants who have taken them to compare - for example, MIT requires you to take a math and a science. APs, on the other hand, are not required for applications, and while I know this may come as a shock to some of you, there are parts of the country where people don't care about or take them. And even a school that offers them isn't likely to offer all of them.</p>
<p>Colleges should accept AP tests in place of SAT II's...if I can get a 5 on an AP test i can clearly get >700 on an SAT II of the same subject...i agree its stupid</p>
<p>I got a 5 on Spanish Lang and a 5 on US History and a 660 and 640 on the two subject tests. I found the AP tests easier I guess (probably has to do with the writing portions of the AP tests)</p>
<p>I <3 SAT 2's. Woo!</p>
<p>700 is not very high for SATIIs (maybe in some subjects). You want to show mastery of a subject and the subject matter covered in them is much wider than APs. This gives people a chance to strut their stuff (your 700 and my 700 may look the same but even though we got around the same number of right answers, we may have missed all the questions in different sections). Even a 780 may have missed quite a few questions. To give you an example: a 710 in Spanish w/listening is a 68 percentile. Your competition is the top people in each subject, otherwise why would you take the test?</p>
<p>They seem easy because you should be a master of the subject, but your high score doesn't mean what you think.
Go to the SATII statistical tables in CB to see what I mean.</p>
<p>Anyway, you want good scores from different angles to show you are no fluke.</p>
<p>SAT Subject Tests are a specific requirement for admission at some colleges. </p>
<p>Some students on College Confidential report that it can be harder to get a score of 700+ on some SAT Subject Tests than to get a score of 5 on the most nearly matching AP test. Some colleges also ask for AP test scores on their applications </p>
<p>so for some colleges you take BOTH kinds of tests to show you are ready to study there.</p>
<p>I understand it's a way to "strut" and show "mastery" but I'm still curious about how this plays a role in the admissions process. Some people seem to believe it means you are better prepared, or that you schools "A" is a deserved "A". Do "top tier" schools want you to have "mastered" calculus or history before you matriculate? Does it predict anything about ability to succeed as a freshman or to graduate? I know the UC's did a study like that 2nd that the writing SAT II was useful. I also know that with the possible exception of UC applicants, it's a pretty selected population of "elite" test takers, and I believe that makes a near perfect score look "sub par" (my favorite "CC" expression !). Is there a source for what scores mean for "Normal" applicants?</p>
<p>If you expect to major in Physics, and you are emphasizing that in your application, you'd better have very good scores in the Physics SATIIs. Same for other subjects. All these little details segregate you within the pool of applicants.</p>
<p>^^Are you saying this from experience? If so, did you need to have "mastery" of Physics to succeed in your major? My interest is this; My D's SAT 1 is much higher, especially percentile wise, and especially in writing, than her SAT II's. She's had no AP's; her school doesn't offer them. So I'm wondering if this means she shouldn't attempt to major in anything she can't get a 700-1 on a SAT II in? That doesn't make sense to me. Could she "master" it, if taught at the right level? Her SAT I seem's to suggest this.</p>
<p>Not true that you need a Physics SAT II just because you are applying for physics and you should not assume it will necessarily give you a leg up on other applicants. Colleges that require IIs view them as another tool in the process to see how overall qualified the candidate is. Like the other tools they use it is not that great but it is what they have (it is definitely better than recommendation letters) I know there have been reports or studies which indicate that APs and IIs are better indicators of potential success than the SAT. Some even use IIs for placement. No college requires APs -- they can't because many high schools have few or no AP courses; APs require significant expenditures by the high schools (which many cannot afford) to provide the separate AP courses, SAT IIs do not.</p>
<p>The College Board does have a monopoly on the IIs (and on APs for that matter). It is not a business that another could easily enter or would necessarily want to even if it could -- minority of colleges require them and thus minority of students take them, there has been no growth in years in the total number of colleges requiring them , the CB's II business has essentially been cut by almost a third in the last two years because most colleges that require them went from requiring 3 to requiring only 2 after the new SAT was adopted, and the CB constantly lives in fear that the UCs (which are the only public uiniversities to require IIs and which generate about 25% of CB's IIs business) may decide to no longer require them (that is actually something currently being considered by the UCs).</p>
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Its only like $100 more total, no one except a penny-snipper would give a darn.
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Dude. Not everyone has enough money to consider $100 small money...someone has been a bit sequestered in their middle class life :(</p>
<p>When you apply to highly selective schools every little bit counts. I didn't mean to imply that you have to take the SATII of your planned major, only that if you do take it you should get a high score, otherwise it doesn't look good. If your hook is that you are very good at Physics you need to back it up. It's like one part of your application says you are completely bilingual in French and you score a 580 in the French SATII. It doesn't add up. Like drusba says, it's just another tool the colleges use to check your qualifications.</p>