<p>I'm going to be insanely busy the next few months, so I'm not sure if I could study for Math 2. If I take Math 1, will it ruin my chances to go to top schools? Like do top schools look down at students who take Math 1 instead of math 2?</p>
<p>I know math 2 is all precalc and whatnot, but I just finished a practice test and I bombed it. So I don't know if it can improve in like 2 months.</p>
<p>It depends on what your major is. If you want to do math/science/engineering, they want you to take Math 2. Otherwise, you MAY get by with Math 1 though on most of top schools’ websites, they advise that you take Math 2.</p>
<p>Top schools expect you to have mastered everything through algebra and precalculus. The Math 2 test demonstrates this mastery of material. Math 1 is simpler and less of a useful indicator to top schools.</p>
<p>It’s really not that big a deal. This seems to be my general response lately to people freaking out on CC. The math subject test is such a small part of any app, even if it’s required, that it’s not worth panicking over.
As for top schools preferring math II, I don’t think that’s necessarily true. Take MIT, a very math-y school: they say they don’t care which math you take and I completely believe them! I took both, but somehow ended up doing significantly better on Math I (read: more than 10 percentile better) even though people usually get higher scores on math II. Obviously I don’t know what admission officers were thinking when they looked at my app, but doing math I definitely doesn’t seem to have hurt me at all! If you’re more comfortable taking math I, I say go for it!</p>
<p>Yeah, keep in mind schools like MIT and Caltech specifically require Math II. It’s better to take Math II anyway (as opposed to Math I)…it seems like Math II is only a tad harder. You can definitely get your score to the 750-800 range with effective practice.</p>
<p>Well the scho I’m looking into requires 2 subject test (one in math and one in either physics or chem). It said it doesn’t matter what math you take</p>
<p>Yeah, the subject test you took might’ve been very difficult if it came from Barron’s, so don’t get discouraged. Math II has a much nicer curve than math I, and getting an 800 on math II is 88th percentile, versus 99+ percentile for math I. So it’s easier, and it actually is mostly algebra, not precalc. There’s only basic precalc. </p>
<p>And if you’re going into something science-related, definitely take math.</p>