When a school recommends two subject tests, but you only scored well on one

Applying to College
1

I received a 790 on the World History SAT subject test, a 690 on the Bio-M one, and a 670 on the French. For Bio and French, those scores are in the ~56th percentile range :frowning: I even retook the French one after an original score of 650. I won’t be here for the December test date and I feel like my parents wouldn’t want to spend any more money on tests, especially after the negligible change in the French score.

My question is, if a school recommends two tests, is it okay to just send one? They’re recommended, not required… I have already sent scores to a few schools, and for the ones that required two, I sent the 790 and the 690. But for the ones that only recommend subject tests, is it fine to just send the 790? Some of them are top schools, and I feel like scores in the 600s would only hurt my application.

2

I am in a similar situation- one college I’m applying to recommends 2 subject tests.
I got a 750 in Math 2, and 670 in Physics. I sent both, and I retook the Physics test this month (November). On the application, I indicated that I took the November test and it will be sent after the application is sent.

3

I struggled with this as well, but I ended up sending bad scores anyway in my application.

Take this with a grain of salt, because I am only just beginning to enter the world of college admissions, but -

I received the Questbridge Scholarship, even though I sent in a 620 from Bio-E. I believe that colleges which “recommend” subject tests are implying your chances will be lower than other applicants if you choose NOT to send any. A vast majority of applicants will send their subject test scores, regardless of whether they are good scores or not.

From what I’ve read, colleges do not really look at percentiles either. Your scores are decent enough to not hurt your application - although they might be lower than some applicants’ scores, colleges will like seeing additional score supplements to better judge you as a potential candidate for admission.

4

Percentiles are not a good indicator of how well you did on subject tests, because the pools are very skewed. Read this article about the pools for each test. Read the following article carefully.

http://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/whats-a-good-sat-subject-test-score/

For example, your 690 in BIo-M is in a pool where students scored around 640 on the reading and math sections of the old SAT.

5

Thank you everyone for your advice. Interesting article, @AroundHere . In the article I inferred that it mentioned comparing your scores to the average subject test scores of the schools you are applying to…

Does anyone know if they publish this information, and where? I’ve seen average SAT I section scores but not ever subject test scores.

6

I think your scores are both fine. And one can certainly imagine a result worse than 690 if none is submitted. I’d send both.