Hi,
I am a rising senior, who is looking at very selective colleges (including the ivies potentially, but don’t know exactly which ones yet). The rest of my academic profile is pretty good (4.0 GPA in IB program, all 5’s on 4 AP exams, 35.5 ACT (36 35 35 36). The one part that I hadn’t given much thought to till now was the sat subject tests, and I am not quite sure what to do about them. The IB program doesn’t appear to have prepared me especially well for any of them tbh. My HOTA HL class only covered (during junior year) US history 1830-1900, and was also absurdly easy, so I don’t feel ready (based on a practice test) for the US history one (I supposed I could just try and brute force memorize some prep book, but that prospect is depressing in such a short time, knowing what I do about how hard APUSH is. Math was never really my strong suit, and while I think I could probably get 700+ on math 2(based on practice tests I took) I don’t see how on a percentile basis that will help my case at say Brown (both compared to others and to the rest of my own academic profile). I took IB earth environmental systems and societies, and theyres no subject test for that, so science is out (I took chemistry and Bio as a freshmen, but have mostly forgotten all of them, and my schools Spanish education is really weak ( I definetly don’t think I should take the Spanish subject test). the only one I might feel confident on would be world history (I took AP world and got a five on it last year). I took the sat world history subject test while studying for the AP test and got a 760 on that (but don’t know how much ive forgotten since than). I also took the literature subject test (though I never took AP lit) and got a 730 (one passage went completely over my head), but I don’t know how to study for that (there’s only one official practice test, and I already took it). Another problem is scheduling- the next test date is the August one, and I really don’t want to take it than (its the same date as my state’s chess state championsip, which is a big deal for me, i’ll miss it if I have to, but I would really rather not). I know some of the schools let you use the ACT in place of subject tests, which is great. For the others that recommend (but don’t require them), how much would it hurt my chances to just not have them, given ill be sutitting only the ACT and my score is very high? If anyone has any experience/ advice to offer me about subject tests, I would really appreciate it.
1/ Paragraphs are your friend. It will help users digest your material better.
2/ You already have 2 subject tests. There really is no reason to take another one unless you want to improve on the 730, but tbh, I don’t see the 730 as making/breaking your application, and there is certainly no reason to retake a 760.
3/ If you choose to take add’l tests, you don’t need to take in August, if it’s an issue with your chess thing. Even if you apply somewhere EA or ED, the October date is fine.
4/ Colleges will not be looking at percentiles.
Yeah, good point on the paragraph thing. Also, there seems to be a misunderstanding- those were practice tests I took at home, I have not yet actually taken a subject test. the not looking at percentiles seems like a reason to not take the literature test than I guess…
Download the “Compass Guide to College Admissions Testing” – Google it, the link isn’t allowed.
Read the chapter on subject tests. Either pick from the schools that are not on the “subject tests required” list, or you’ll need to take the tests, in the number and subject areas listed in the guide or on the school’s admissions website.
Do not worry too much about percentiles on these tests, as the pools are skewed from the normal applicant pool. Just try to get scores that start with a 7 if you can.
I think ACT is rounded…if you have a 35.5, it’s then just a 36…