So I did already send these scores because I do not have the option to take them again and I figured since they were recommended they should be sent, but can someone let me know if these scores will hurt my application to Princeton and UMich (EA)?
Biology E: 730
Literature: 700
Math Level II: 750
So I know that a 700 on literature is a high percentile because the scores for that test are usually low, but for math, I’m not feeling too great and I know biology is just average. I sent all three anyways. Wondering if these are actually bad scores and will actually hurt my chances? (Considering I got a 630 on math the first time I’m proud lol).
Colleges are not crossreferencing percentiles charts. Send the highest 2. It won’t hurt and may help. But there are many more factors that are considered in the decision.
Certainly not bad scores, probably fairly neutral at both schools.
The list of schools where most applicants score 800 is maybe three schools I can think of, Math 2 only (discounting foreign language tests). And that’s probably only accepted students, not applicants.
Agree, adcoms are not looking at percentiles. I’ve never before seen so many threads referring to percentiles as in this season.
In fact, the Math2 meets a target base for subject tests at P. In contrast, the 700 would be lower.
How all this affects you depends on the rest. Eg, if you want a humanities major, sorry, the 700 is low, in terms of the competition. But as ski points out, there’s so much more they look at.
Honestly, it depends on your major. I plan to major in STEM, so I plan to take 4 subjects SATS (which is a bit too many, but some are easy for me). I am taking Bio, Chem, Phys and Math 1/2. If you are going for humanities, you should have dropped the bio/math sats and take history instead. Or vice-versa, based on ur major.
My intended major is science with minors in the humanities. All my scores have been sent already so no advice needed. I just wanted to see what the consensus was. Given the fact that I did not study at all for any of these I’m pretty happy haha
I’m not sure how percentiles don’t matter as it puts the scores into perspective?
Just like adcoms know a 34-36 is 99th percentile for the ACT, they also know that 800 on Math II is fairly common and only 78th percentile with 10s of thousand of testers getting the maximum score each and every year.
Adcoms get paid to know what each test score range means relative to other applicants scores which is another way of saying “percentile”.
There is a fallacy on CC that anything in the 700s is acceptable but admissions to highly selective college IS a competition among your high star peers taking similar classes and standardized tests like subject tests.
50th percentile or below scores do have meaning and will not help your cause to the most selective colleges.