completely screwed with my sat subject scores?

whitecadillac · 10-29-2009, 09:54 AM

i've heard they expect you to get 750+ on each.

so mine are:

u.s. history -- 710
literature -- (670 originally), 730 retaken

taking biology and retaking lit in december. not sure how well i'll do on bio; i'm gonna study but i haven't taken bio since fall of last year. and maybe trying to add spanish but i'm not even done with my second year yet. :-/

but as they stand, does it look like i'm completely screwed?

charles14 · 10-29-2009, 11:08 AM

hey mine was pretty good!!
Math 2 - 800
Physics- 770
Bio (M)- 800

whitecadillac · 10-29-2009, 11:32 AM

yeah, those are great. congrats!

but any advice to me?? haha.

charles14 · 10-29-2009, 11:53 AM

if you take Bio, study the princeton book! its great. be sure to cover every page. math 2 do barron's. its harder than the actual test so it'll prepare you well

Imitation · 10-31-2009, 09:08 AM

Hijacking another thread isn't the most graceful thing, charles. Anyhow, cadillac, in general, upper-tier schools know the nature of the SAT tests and can understand if you had a bad day or something, so don't worry if you didn't get *perfect* score, as long as you are within range (700+ perfectly acceptable), I wouldn't have sleepless nights over it.

compmom · 10-31-2009, 09:21 AM

Your scores are fine. Relax. Harvard admissions is "holistic" and it isn't as if they will admit someone else instead of you over a 30 point difference in scores. I wouldn't retake anything.

whitecadillac · 10-31-2009, 10:36 AM

but would they admit someone over me if they had like an 800 in u.s. history, 800 in lit, 800 in bio? :P i'm guessing "yes!"

Breuer2014 · 10-31-2009, 02:14 PM

Depends on the whole of the applicant. Big deal, someone circled the right bubble a few more times than you did. Now, if you were expecting your subject test scores to carry your application, that's a different story, but otherwise they're fine.

And for what it's worth, i'm in the same area, 730-710-700

Sirensong · 10-31-2009, 02:19 PM

Honestly, I think that having 700+ on each will get you past the academic part of the admissions process.

whitecadillac · 10-31-2009, 02:30 PM

@ breuer, thanks and good luck to you too! i'm not expecting my sat ii's to carry my application, but i already have a few things i'm worried about (2130 sat [but i AM retaking it at least once more, maybe twice], 3.8 unweighted gpa, 5 out of 10 ap classes offered, and no national awards.) so that, combined with average sat ii's...i'm just really worried. :-/ i do think i have some really good ec's that are unique and show long-term passion, i'm pretty sure my recs will be good, and i'm sincerely hoping my essays will be strong, but...

@ sirensong, so do they really compare applicants based on sat scores or do they just group all who get 700+ together and then make decisions based on essays, ec's, etc?

Sirensong · 11-01-2009, 08:02 AM

My guess is that they look at each individual part separately, and if you've passed all of the checkpoints then they make the decision holistically, so I guess perfect test scores may help you a bit in the last step, but I doubt they will get you there single-handed.

Slt10T · 11-07-2009, 01:27 AM

Harvard Freshman here:
740 on bio-M
730 on lit
730 on US history

Assuming you do as well on your third as you did on your first two, you should be at a pretty good place. If it really worries you, you might want to try and bring up your US one. Don't stress about it too much, though. Those scores are around average here, and they are certainly not going to disqualify you. Word to the wise: so long as your scores are stable (which they look like) focus on your essay the most.