I’m interested in community opinion here. My sons go to two different HSs and I’ve heard from both schools (from GC at one and a teacher at the other) that students should consider taking SAT II in a subject where they’ve completed an Honors level course. My opinion is that that’s poor advice for most students for the following reasons:
- only the most selective colleges / universities require those tests at all, and never more than 2 or 3 scores are required
- students who make a reasonable application to colleges that selective will very likely also take AP course before senior year
- students who apply to those colleges score extremely well, so the score distribution is such that you have to do extremely well to achieve a percentile rank that looks competent
This is information I’ve gleaned from reading this space and elsewhere on the internet, as well as by helping and observing my daughter as she applied to a range of both respectable and elite colleges.
So am I off base here? What do colleges do with (say) a 600 score on Biology SAT obtained by a 9th grader enrolled in honors biology, when the curve is set by 11th grade AP students?
Is there some reason why guidance professionals would encourage a 9th grader to take the test?
Thanks for all feedback.
Depends on the test. If I had known better, I would have had my daughter take Math II before she started taking calculus, because the material would have been fresh in her mind. That would have been end of sophomore year. For foreign language, I’d recommend waiting as long as possible for maximum content, maybe end of junior or very beginning of senior year.
If your child is taking AP course, for example US history, taking the SAT II concurrently with the AP test in that subject would make sense.
If your kid is STEM bound, then Math II plus a hard science is what schools that still require SAT II tests typically like to see.
Don’t worry about the percentiles. According to what I have read here, anything above a 700 is a respectable score; 750+ is what tippy top places like to see.
Some of the SAT II tests are not offered at every seating (World History and some languages) so check the schedule well in advance.
“Is there some reason why guidance professionals would encourage a 9th grader to take the test?”
In many US high schools, subjects such as honors Biology or Chemistry are only taken once, usually either freshman or sophomore year. That way, the kid is taking the SAT Subject test when he has the most general knowledge of the subject and can then supplement that knowledge with the specific content of the SAT Subject test syllabus. My nephew tool SAT Bio in May of his freshman year, got a 760 and then took two more SAT subject tests in I think Junior year (some schools like Georgetown still require 3.) I think that was the last Bio class he ever took as he went on to get a PHD in History! My daughter took the SAT Literature test her sophomore year and did similarly well. To each his own I guess!!
Percentiles aren’t set by the people taking them, college board decides on them depending on hard they think the test is so it doesn’t matter if a freshman takes it after Bio H or a junior after AP Bio. That goes for the regular SAT and AP tests too.
Anything above a 700 is good. I would also check with potential colleges since only the very selective require subject tests (usually those that correlate with your major). If you plan on state schools, most will not even consider SAT IIs.
Most people take it the June after they take the honors course so the material is fresh in your brain. AP isn’t required because usually, SAT II tests correlate more with Honors curriculums. The AP test is very different and teaches material that isn’t really helpful to the SAT II test so you are not at a disadvantage if you haven’t taken AP.