SAT II Spanish Curve

pimpin88 · 03-29-2005, 01:36 AM

Does ANYONE know ANYWAY i can find out what the SAT II: Spanish curve for January was? Because I thought i did GREAT (Expected atleast 750), but i only got a 720. And im taking it again in May, but was curious what the curve was so i can estimate the amount of questions i got wrong. Can anyone help?

Variance2004 · 03-29-2005, 01:38 AM

Spanish native speakers are usually incompetent in their own language so theres a good curve..
unlike chinese... which is hardly curved..

the curve should be around 3-7 points..

pimpin88 · 03-29-2005, 01:43 AM

LoL.. im a native speaker, and i dont feel TOO competent

. soo.. by 3-7 points.. what does that mean?

Variance2004 · 03-29-2005, 01:53 AM

u omit 7 and u still have an 800

its ok for native speaker to make several errors.. many english students dont kno every single rule in their language either...

but making basic mistakes such as using present tense instead of past tense is just embarassing for a native speaker

i believe that spanish native speakers should get at least a 700

mekrob · 03-29-2005, 03:23 AM

In the 22 Reals, you could only miss 3 and get an 800. The other languages were much nicer, those that don't have native speakers.

pimpin88 · 03-30-2005, 04:19 PM

So.. does anyone know how to find the REAL curve?

JyankeesSS2 · 03-30-2005, 07:56 PM

the real curve varies from test to test

m_c · 03-30-2005, 10:07 PM

The real curve varies, but it probably shouldn't vary by too much. I have the REAL SATII SUBJECT TEST book from collegeboard, and for the real spanish SAT they provided in the book, the curve was two points -- that is, the max number of questions you could get wrong and still have an 800 was 2. Hope that helps!

xiggi · 03-30-2005, 11:26 PM

"Spanish native speakers are usually incompetent in their own language so theres a good curve..
unlike chinese... which is hardly curved.."

The reason for the difference in percentile has less to do with the competence of the students than it has to do with the difficulty of the tests. While one does attempt to test a High School achievement, the other is content to test a level slightly above kindergarten. The SAT-II for asian languages are nothing but a joke, except in California.

mekrob · 03-31-2005, 05:28 AM

I don't have my Real SAT II's with me, but I think that your score goes down 10 points for every 2 or so that you lose in your raw score.

DiabolicTripod · 04-01-2005, 06:43 AM

I'm not a native speaker, but I am a junior in high school in a college Spanish class (roughly equivalent to AP Spanish) and getting an A right now. I know that you don't know what my class is like, but should someone who is in AP Spanish (or eq.) be able to score fairly high on the SAT II Spanish, or is it aimed at native speakers?

JyankeesSS2 · 04-01-2005, 12:12 PM

No test is aimed at native speakers...The taking of language tests by native speakers is disliked by all involved, students and college admissions workers alike. Get an SAT II Spanish book, look over what you need to know, and prepare...I'm planning on taking the SAT II Spanish next year as well. It really is a shame that the test results are so clouded by native speakers, when taking the test actually in no way benefits them, and can actually be detrimental. Anyway, if you prepare for the test, you should do fine.

m_c · 04-01-2005, 08:36 PM

Hey DiabolicTripod, I'm in a similar situation as yours. My teacher told my parents at parent-teacher conferences that I should be able to do well on both the AP exam and the SATII so I assume you will be fine. Try talking to other people in your school who've taken the Spanish SAT. They should be able to give you good advice.

mekrob · 04-02-2005, 05:16 AM

The SAT II was designed for a student who has had more than 4 years of study or 2 intensive years of study in Spanish. Since AP Spanish, and its equivilents, are the step after the 4th year, then you will be fine. Just make sure you know all the verbs tenses and have a good bit of vocab and know the grammar rules. Spend the next 5 weeks going over your notes and pick up a magazine and newspaper everday, since one of the reading sections is an ad. The reading sections can also be overcome by reading plenty, and you don't have to be able to read Don Quixote to understand the passages. The passages and questions are so simple, but they used synonims between the two, so a good vocab and understanding of passages will make that go by smootly. The only section I had trouble with was paragraph completion. Sometimes, it is hard to understand what it is about, so I alwasy did those last, although they are the second section. I used Barron's for review. It is much much harder than the real test. I was getting 450-550 on those tests, but did pretty well on teh real test (680). I omitted 5, and suspect I missed between 10-15 others. Retaking in May, btw.

sabina.sood · 05-06-2008, 08:11 PM

has anyone used the Princeton Review for SAT II?