Which sat 2s to take

To prepare, students should focus on material covered in college-prep-level history courses. Extracurricular reading about important U. Each time period constituted roughly a quarter of the content. A few of the test questions asked you to interpret primary source material, such as an old text. These interpretation questions usually added up to about 7 of the 95 test questions. Both the U. To do well, you would take college-prep-level history courses and do significant supplemental reading.

History courses would prepare students well. The tests were arranged in a similar way, with questions about vocabulary, structure grammar , and reading comprehension each forming roughly a third of the 60 total questions.

Some world language tests could be taken in one of two varieties—Listening and Without Listening. Spanish, French, and German fall into this category. This listening test required students to answer prerecorded questions from an audio track. The choice between taking the listening and non-listening variants was a matter of student preference. Chinese, Japanese, and Korean Subject Tests had a mandatory listening component, while Italian, Latin, and Modern Hebrew didn't feature listening at all.

The language you chose would depend on your coursework. College Planning. Close Site Navigation. Standardized tests are the great equalizer.

The tests include: Literature, U. Not all schools require them, so you should check the universities requirements before registering for any SAT II tests. This way the subject matter will still be fresh in your mind.

Some exceptions would be if you plan to take the test in Writing, Foreign Language, or Literature. Of course, there is no point in taking SAT II tests after November of your senior year, everything should be into the college admissions way before then. Get familiar with the format of the tests. Take old exams for practice if you can.

Then the Literature test is likely for you. Do you immerse yourself in understanding the natural world and have taken at least one year of Biology in high school? Then you should direct yourself toward the Biology Subject Test.

Within these subjects, there may be variations of tests among which to choose. For example, there are two versions of the Biology Subject Test , one with an ecological focus and another with a molecular focus. For a more detailed explanation of the various formats of the Subject Tests, check out this article.

So once you have your subject chosen, you may have to decide where your knowledge is most specialized. Are you more interested in populations and energy flow or cellular division and photosynthesis?

Are you confident with trigonometry and pre-calculus or do you prefer to leave those subjects off the test, as in Level 1 Math? Are your listening skills extremely strong in your understanding of another language? By understanding where your knowledge is specialized, you'll be able to narrow down your choice to the right subject and the right format. Finally, if you have taken and feel you excelled in several subjects, then you should ask yourself which subjects you felt most connected to and interested in.

Like with the rest of your college application, your choice of Subject Tests communicates something about you to admissions officers. It indicates your own unique interests, interests that you might pursue further in college. So if you're having trouble narrowing down your choices, consider which subjects you like the most and want to highlight in your applications.

You may have taken several classes in the subjects covered by the Subject Tests. Which ones are most fresh in your mind? The best time to take a Subject Test is often at the end of a school year in which you have been studying that subject.

May and June are popular dates, and it can help to schedule your Subject Test close to a final or AP exam so you're fully immersed in studying that subject. Since the Subject Tests are about content readiness, you don't have to wait until junior year to take them. You might be prepared to take Biology at the end of freshman year for example, or perhaps you're ready for Math Level 1 or Level 2 by the end of sophomore year.

If you familiarize yourself with the tests and plan ahead, then you might be able to get these tests over and done with before the busy spring and fall of junior and senior year. Most colleges should take your highest scores, so you can always retake a Subject Test if you're not totally satisfied with your score.

If you have a sense of what you would like to study in college or what professional field you want to pursue, then you might want to take a Subject Test related to that area. If you'd like to study engineering, for example, then the Math and Physics Subject Tests could demonstrate your relevant interest and talent. If you're gearing up for pre-med, then the Biology Subject Test is a good bet. As mentioned above, liberal arts schools, especially the selective ones, often like to see diversity in your choice of tests, one from the humanities and another from math or sciences.

So make sure you ask for advice from the school as to what scores and tests will most impress them in your application. If you are fluent in a language other than English, then the SAT Subject Test in that language could be a fantastic way to showcase your multilingualism. You still need to prepare and familiarize yourself with the test, to make sure you know what to expect. Since the majority of students tend to score highly on many of the language tests, you will have to achieve a high score to compare favorably with the other test-takers.

As long as you make time for test prep and have strong language skills, then you should be able to get a great score and highlight this additional asset on your applications. If you're not very confident in your language abilities or have only studied the language in the classroom without much exposure to or development of your speaking and listening skills, then the language tests may not be the best choice for you. Since native and fluent speakers will be taking the test, you may end up in a low percentile even with what seems like a relatively high score in the upper s or even s.

College Board recommends at least two years of study of a language. If you'd like to take a language test but aren't sure if your language skills are sufficient, definitely read over the content and try some practice questions. If you're still not sure, then a different Subject Test is probably your best bet for achieving a high score.