Sympathy

I have seen almost every college I am planning to apply to require at least 2 years of foreign language. Will a 800 on a SAt language test exempt me from that requirement?

Thank you!

bluebayou

most likely, yes, but it depends on the school -- so dig deep into their web sites. Some may require that you take their placement test during orientation.

dufus3709

It won't automatically exempt you. Generally with FL's, you can take a placement exam in order to decide what level you should start at. Obviously if you took French 5 in high school, you can probably start with second year French in college. However, I can not imagine that they would ever use the SAT II score, but rather the results of the placement exam that they give you.

The idea of totally skipping a language in college because you placed out of the requirement on their placement test is new to me. Typically the placement exam is just intended to skip you forward, but not totally out of. You should check with the school.

tkb6

Actually, using SATII scores is fairly common. I know Dartmouth gives credit for anything above a 690 on the French, and I think you can test out of the requirement with anything above a 630.

dufus3709

I'll stand corrected. I think that some schools are using either their own placement test or the SAT II score.

I still have a question about what a 690 on French would pass you out of. The average score on SAT II test typically vary between 600 and 700 depending on the test (although some of the average scores are above 700). If you had a 690 on the French SAT II, does they mean you can skip one semester or one year? It would also depend on the college, of course.

Sympathy

oh I am more perturbed by the fact that admission to the college requires classes in a foreign language. As long as my SAt score can exempt this requirement, I am happy. So does anyone know if I didn't take the required 2-4 years of foreign language, will I be rejected or will my SAt score save me?

Thank you

dufus3709

I see. You are bilingual and don't want to take another language in high school. The answer to the question probably comes from the way that the college applications are structured, but I'm not sure what the answer is. In one box, they will have all of your courses and the fact that the FL's are missing will be noticed. In another area, your SAT II scores will be listed. It will take a mental effort for adcoms to notice that the FL's are missing there, but a SAT II score is present to make up for it. I don't know. Why not take another language in high school, and then when people are impressed that you are fluent in two languages, you can mention that you also speak some ____? You could also take some comm colleges courses in your second language and then have the comm college send the transcript to the colleges that you apply to.

Does your hs require FL credits in order for you to graduate?

Sympathy

Nope it does not.

I really do want to learn Spanish but I was kind of too lazy before and now I am already half way through year 12....talk about burning bridges...

cawaiigirl

I asked most college representatives (harvard, mit...etc) and they all said that if you are already fluent in another language(assume that it's your 1st language) then it's not necessary to take fl classes at high school unless it's your high school graduate reqirement or something like that. But they also said that you have to make it abvious that english is your second language like taking toefl. I finished my 10th grade in Taiwan so they will probably notice that on my transcript.
but however, i already have 3 years of fl (japanese) :P
i'm thinking about not to take it for the 4th year since the japanese teacher at my high school is not even fluent in japanese (she asked native speakers in my class to grade the journal and things like that)

dufus3709

If English is your first language and you did not take a FL in high school but you are fluent in a second language, I think you are okay, but you should make the fluency in the second language stand out in the app some way. You could even ask your GC to mention it in his/her rec.

Faline2

Each college is different. You have to look at the Reqs at each college. Usually that score exempts at least one semester or puts you in the upper level region of the courses of the language and then you could end up only needing one semester of language. Every school is different. My S regrets not taking the SATII in his language. Many colleges will administer it for placement purposes only however.