I’m interested in an IR major, or gov’t/poli sci. I would also do PPE or Economics.
I was considering French, Literature, and maybe a history. I can think of two tests to take. but I am completely stumped when it comes to colleges that require 3. :-/
Also, French requires a high level prior to taking and I will reach French 4 last semester of senior year. And I think prep material is limited. How hard is Literature? I like Literature but I haven’t taken a Lit class yet, would this be an issue? I’m taking Lit senior year, but English is my strongest subject. Are there decent prep books for Lit?
I’m taking US History Honors I at the moment and I took World History Honors last year, so I suppose I could take both tests. Would I have to wait until US History II to take the test? Or will reading prep books help me do sufficient enough?
I think I could do: English Lit, US History, and World History. I have old AP books for both subjects, will reading through them prep me for the test?
If you want to do English Lit, then go for it. Be aware that it’s one of the more challenging subject tests, but people generally do well as long as they study enough (your average English class doesn’t totally prepare you). There are good prep books available! Especially with subject tests (including lit), the general trend is that Princeton Review provides something pretty close to what you’ll be seeing on test day while Barron’s is more difficult and overprepares you. Whichever style you like best and have time for, either will do you well. I wouldn’t recommend taking both US History and World History unless one of them is beyond the minimum number of subject test requirements (since you’re looking at schools that require three, that would mean your fourth). It would also be good to make yourself seem more well-rounded, so I would recommend taking one of the math subject tests (if you’ve gotten up precalc, then take Math 2 instead of Math 1) or a science one. If you’ve taken an AP science, taking the subject test in that area couldn’t hurt. Let me know if you have any more questions.
@ducktap Hey, you seem to be knowledgable with subject tests. I have a question for you if you do not mind answering it. I need to take a third subject test (I already took math II and chem) and I have no clue what my third test should be, do you have any suggestions? I took a practice test in lit in the college board book and got a 670 in it. Is it possible to raise that score into the high 700s?
@ryanordy88 Sure it is! I got a 680 on my first US History practice test and then got it up to an 800 by test day a few weeks later. I really didn’t do a significant amount of studying; just read through the Princeton Review APUSH book taking notes (I took the May subject test the day after the AP). I also borrowed a PR subject test book from a friend and did the two practice tests out of that. My biggest advice is to get a review book that you feel comfortable with and do a lot of practice tests out of that. Use whatever book you feel comfortable with. I’d recommend either PR or Barron’s, but you really can’t go wrong. Don’t make the mistake of just taking the tests, seeing what you got, and moving on. Take the time to look into each question and ask WHY you got it wrong.
If you think you could do significantly better on physics or bio than a humanities subject test, it should be fine (but look into the schools you’re looking at). It’s definitely preferable though to do a language/English/history one to show that you’re well-rounded. Have you considered US/world history or a language?
@ducktap I considered doing Spanish, but the filling-in-the-blank section really brings down my score. I think I’m going to try and study for us history rather than biology or literature because I feel like I could potentially do the best in that subject. I think if I can just memorize a lot for history, I will do fine. Thank you.