When to Take an SAT II Subject Test

The best time to take an SAT II Subject Test is right after you’ve finished a year-long class in that subject. If, for example, you take Biology in eleventh grade, then you should take the SAT II Biology near the end of that year, when the material is still fresh in your mind. (This rule does not apply for the Writing, Literature, and Foreign Language SAT II tests; it’s best to take those after you’ve had as much study in the area as possible.)

Unless the colleges you’re applying to use the SAT II for placement purposes, there is no point in taking any SAT II tests after November of your senior year, since you won’t get your scores back from ETS until after the college application deadline has passed.

ETS usually sets testing dates for SAT II Subject Tests in October, November, December, January, May, and June. However, not every subject test is administered in each of these months. To check when the test you want to take is being offered, visit the College Board Web site at www.collegeboard.com or do some research in your school’s guidance office.

Registering for SAT II Tests

To register for the SAT II test(s) of your choice, you have to fill out some forms and pay a registration fee. We know, we know—it’s ridiculous that you have to pay for a test that colleges require you to take in order to make their jobs easier, but, sadly, there isn’t anything we, or you, can do about it. (It’s acceptable here to grumble about the unfairness of the world.)

After grumbling, however, you still have to register. There are two ways to go about it: online or by mail. To register online, go to www.collegeboard.com. To register by mail, fill out and send in the forms enclosed in the Registration Bulletin, which should be available in your high school’s guidance office. You can also request a copy of the Bulletin by calling the College Board at (609) 771-7600 or writing to:

College Board SAT Program
P.O. Box 6200
Princeton, NJ 08541–6200

You can register to take up to three SAT II tests for any given testing day. Unfortunately, even if you decide to take three tests in one day, you’ll still have to pay a separate registration fee for each.

Which SAT II Subject Tests to Take

There are three types of SAT II test: those you must take, those you should take, and those you shouldn’t take.

• The SAT II tests you must take are those required by the colleges you are interested in.
• The SAT II tests you should take are tests that aren’t required, but that you’ll do well on, thereby impressing the colleges looking at your application.
• The SAT II tests you shouldn’t take are those that aren’t required and cover a subject you don’t feel confident about.

Determining Which SAT II Tests Are Required

You’ll need to do a bit of research to find out if the colleges you’re applying to require that you take a particular SAT II test. Call the schools you’re interested in, look at their web sites, or talk to your guidance counselor. Often, colleges require that you take the following SAT II tests:

• The SAT II Writing test
• One of the two SAT II Math tests (either Math IC or Math IIC)
• Another SAT II in a subject of your choice

The SAT II Biology is not usually required by colleges. But taking it and doing well can show a liberal arts college that you are well-rounded or a science-oriented college that you are serious about science. In general, it is a good idea to take one science-based SAT II, such as Biology, Chemistry, or Physics.

Deciding If You Should Take an SAT II That Isn’t Required

There are two rules of thumb for deciding which additional test to take beyond the Writing and Math tests:

1. Go with what you know. If history is your field, a strong score on the American History test will impress admissions officers far more than a bold but mediocre effort on the Physics test.
2. Try to show breadth. Scoring well on similar subject tests such as Math, Biology, and Chemistry will not be as impressive as good scores in more diverse subjects, such as Math, Writing, World History, and Biology.

Of course, you also have to know what is considered a good score and whether or not you can get that score (or higher).

Below we have included a list of the most commonly taken SAT II tests and the average scaled score on each. If you feel confident that you can get a score that is above the average (50 points or more), taking the test will probably strengthen your college application. Please note that if you are planning to attend an elite school, you might have to score significantly higher than the national average. The following table is just a general guideline. It’s a good idea to call the schools that interest you or talk to a guidance counselor to get a more precise idea of what score you should be shooting for.

Test	Average Score
Writing	590–600
Literature	590–600
American History	580–590
World History	570–580
Math IC	580–590
Math IIC	655–665
Biology E&M	590–600
Chemistry	605–615
Physics	635–645

As you decide which test to take, be realistic with yourself. Don’t just assume you’re going to do great without at least taking a practice test and seeing where you stand.

Scoring the SAT II Subject Tests

There are three different versions of your SAT II score. The “raw score” is a simple score of how you did on the test, like the grade you might receive on a normal test in school. The “percentile score” compares your raw score to all the other raw scores in the country, letting you know how you did on the test in relation to your peers. The “scaled score,” which ranges from 200 to 800, compares your score to the scores received by all students who have ever taken that particular SAT II.

The Raw Score

You will never know your SAT II raw score because it is not included in the score report. But you should understand how the raw score is calculated because this knowledge can affect your strategy for approaching the test.

A student’s raw score is based solely on the number of questions that student got right, wrong, or left blank:

• You earn 1 point for every correct answer
• You lose ¹/ ₄ of a point for each incorrect answer.
• You receive zero points for each question left blank

Calculating the raw score is easy. Count the number of questions answered correctly and the number of questions answered incorrectly. Then multiply the number of wrong answers by ¹/₄, and subtract this value from the number of right answers.

The Percentile Score

A student’s percentile is based on the percentage of the total test takers who received a lower raw score than he or she did. Let’s say, for example, you had a friend named Gregor Mendel, and he received a score that placed him in the 93th percentile. That percentile tells Gregor that he scored better on the SAT II than 92 percent of the other students who took the same test; it also means that 7 percent of the students taking that test scored as well as or better than he did.

The Scaled Score

ETS takes your raw score and uses a formula to turn it into the scaled score of 200 to 800 that you’ve probably heard so much about.

The curve to convert raw scores to scaled scores differs from test to test. For example, a raw score of 33 on the Math IC might scale to a 600, while the same raw score of 33 on the Math IIC will scale to a 700. In fact, the scaled score can even vary between different editions of the same test. A raw score of 33 on the February 2004 Math IIC might scale to a 710, while a 33 in June 2004 might scale to a 690. These differences in scaled scores exist to accommodate varying levels of difficulty and student performance from year to year.

Colleges and the SAT II Subject Tests

We’re guessing you didn’t sign up to take the SAT II just for the sheer pleasure of it. You probably want to get into college and know that the only reason for taking this test is that colleges want or require you to do so.

Colleges care about SAT II Subject Tests for two reasons. First, the tests demonstrate your interest, knowledge, and skill in specific subjects. Second, because SAT II tests are standardized, they show how your knowledge of Biology (or History or Math) measures up to that of high school students nationwide. The grades you get in high school don’t offer such a measurement to colleges: some high schools are more difficult than others, and students of equal ability might receive different grades, even in classes with a relatively similar curriculum.

When it comes down to it, colleges like the SAT IIs because the tests make the colleges’ job easier. SAT II tests allow colleges to easily compare you to other applicants and provide you with an excellent chance to shine. If you got a 93% on your Biology final and a student at another high school across the country got a 91%, colleges don’t know how to compare the two grades. They don’t know whose class was harder or whose teacher was a tougher grader. But if you get a 720 on the SAT II Biology and that other kid gets a 650, colleges will recognize the difference in your scores.

College Placement

Occasionally, colleges use SAT II tests to determine placement. For example, if you do very well on the SAT II Biology, you might be exempted from a basic science class. It’s worth finding out whether the colleges you’re applying to use the SAT II tests for this purpose.

Introduction to the SAT II

The SAT II Subject Tests are created and administered by the College Board and the Educational Testing Service (ETS), the two organizations responsible for producing the dreaded SAT I (which most people call the SAT). The SAT II Subject Tests were created to act as complements to the SAT I. Whereas the SAT I tests your critical thinking skills by asking math and verbal questions, the SAT II Subject Tests examine your knowledge of a particular subject, such as Writing, U.S. History, Physics, or Biology. The SAT I takes three hours; the Subject Tests take only one hour.

In our opinion, the SAT II Subject Tests are better tests than the SAT I because they cover a definitive topic rather than ambiguous critical thinking skills that are difficult to define. However, just because the SAT II Subject Tests do a better job of testing your knowledge of a useful subject doesn’t mean the tests are necessarily easier or demand less studying. A “better” test isn’t necessarily better for you in terms of how easy it will be.

The Good

• Because SAT II Subject Tests cover specific topics such as Grammar, Chemistry, and Biology, you can study for them effectively. If you don’t know the structure of DNA, you can look it up and learn it. The SAT IIs are therefore straightforward tests: if you know your stuff, you’ll do fine.
• Often, the classes you’ve taken in school have already prepared you well for the SAT IIs. If you’ve taken a Biology class, you’ve probably covered most of the topics that are tested on the SAT II Biology test. All you need is some refreshing and refocusing, which this book provides.

The Bad

• Because SAT II Subject Tests quiz you on specific knowledge, it is much harder to “beat” or “outsmart” an SAT II test than it is to outsmart the SAT I. For the SAT I, you can use all sorts of tricks and strategies to figure out an answer. There are far fewer strategies to help you on the SAT II. Don’t get us wrong: having test-taking skills will help you on an SAT II, but knowing the subject will help you much, much more. In other words, to do well on the SAT II, you can’t just rely on your quick thinking and intelligence. You need to study.