BigWeight

I'm debating whether I should take this test in December or not. I just got the book yesterday, and scored a 670 on the first practice test..so a few questions...

1) What is a good score for a nonnative speaker in the French exam?
2) Are Princeton Review tests pretty accurate?
3) Do you guys think I can improve in 3 weeks?

Thanks a whole lot. The last time I took French was 2 years ago, but I know Spanish fluently (I'm also taking SAT II Spanish for the 800) and French is pretty similar to Spanish....so input? Thanks a lot

Alone

Well, I mean depends on where you apply... And if you score 650+ it's pretty good, especially since you had less time to prepare )

BigWeight

^^^Thank you for the quick response..Well, I'm applying to Harvard, Yale, Duke, JHU, and Dartmouth.. i'm just wondering because I hear schools like Harvard do not like you to take tests in your native language.

Alone

Well, that doesn't apply for you, so you are fine.

tan2007

Hmmm... I used the Princeton Review a while back and then the Barron's Review before the test, and I've got to say that PR didn't necessarily prepare me that well. The tests were... a little bit off from what the real test is like, so I wouldn't invest too much meaning into the grade from your practice test.

Try a test from the Barron's book, though. It's pretty old and I don't think they've released a new edition, but if you can find it at the library I do highly suggest leafing through it. It's pretty accurate in how the actual test is, so that would be a better test of your abilities.

And if you can't get it, uhm... a 670 isn't horrible, but I'm not going to comment on whether it's good enough because I honestly have no idea. You never know what kinds of scores highly selective colleges are looking for, and the most obvious thing to say would be to aim for 700+, but since this is a subject test it's kind of murky...

I do, however, know about your last question--cramming a language in 3 weeks is difficult and ineffective for those who haven't had much contact with the language, but since you've studied Spanish before I don't think it would be impossible. They're pretty similar, so if you could really study up on vocab. (I recommend flashcards! ) and a little bit more of the advanced grammar (french.about.com is the best), I highly suggest it.

But... for Reading, it could go either way. Reading requires A LOT of knowledge in order to answer the questions and guess the meanings of more obscure words. But, as I said, if you're pretty good with Spanish and you can get the gist of what most passages are saying, you should be fine.