corey91

Did any of you all feel the need to take subject tests to "prove" that you really have earned your grades?

'rentof2

My son took three of them, but that was more to meet admissions requirements of the colleges he was looking at than to prove anything. My daughter took 5, though, basically to prove herself... or rather to "validate" her homeschool grades. My son had a lot of grades in academic classes he took outside the home though. My daughter had very few.

lolcats4

I took 4 to validate my college coursework, and because Columbia and Pomona required that many.

They're not that difficult and can only help homeschoolers imo.

cpq1xtbu

My son took 3 because some of the schools he applied to required three. If we had it to do over again, I'd recommend he take more.
Some schools use SAT IIs in foreign language, math and even literature for placement.
If he goes to our state flagship, he has to take the Math SAT I for placement. He has to take a foreign language test, such as the SAT II for placement as well.

HighlandMom

HighlandDaughter is taking 5 because her #1 school requires one in History, science, foreign language, math, and lit. The challenge is the SAT dates overlap with other activities, especially in the spring. Wish they offered SAT in the summer, though I'm sure we're unique in that

PlantMom

My son took three SAT II's. He also had seven AP test scores (two more this year), and much outside coursework from virtual schools and the local community college. Our state's flagship specified that homeschoolers must have either SAT II scores or transcripts from accredited institutions to back up their homeschool transcript. If we did it over again, I'd have son add two more--one in a foreign language and another in math.

MwasereWriter

Yes, we definitely thought about validating the grades we had on the transcript. Our daughter took 3 SATs, in foreign language, biology and literature. She also had 5 AP scores to send, as well as a course grade from Cornell Summer College and grades from several on-line courses taken in sophomore, junior and senior year. One unexpected effect was that our daughter, who tends to minimize her own accomplishments, felt validated and encouraged by her good test results--it definitely helped her self-confidence.

bookreader

My children did not take any SAT IIs. My son did take several CLEPs (and passed them) and also several community college classes. He had about 27 college credits when he graduated high school. My daughter graduated high school with 33 community college credits. We went this route to 'validate' their high school work.

I did not want their high school years to be filled with standardized tests and so went this route. They only took the SAT.

No regrets here.

Amystika

In addition to my regular studies I chose to take online AP courses and dual enroll at the local community college. From my perspective, it is much more impressive too complete college level work than to sit for yet another standardized test. People can study for SAT II’s without actually having mastered the subject or perhaps have the knowledge but are one of those kids who get test anxiety and score low. For these reasons, I feel test scores alone are not good indicators of college readiness or necessarily a predictor of a student’s academic success. Before I graduate this June I will have completed a little more than two years of college, which not only should be more impressive to college admissions officers. but also financially prudent, especially in today's economy.

danas

I understand that colleges like to see AP test scores to back up AP coursework. These tests are very much like SAT Subject Tests, only longer, more expensive and with some written work.

cockatiel

My older two kids each took five SAT2's.

Several of the colleges they each applied to required three. We wanted to increase their chances of receiving merit aid by "verifying" their achievements in as many subjects as we could. (They each took five AP's as well.)