completely screwed with my sat subject scores?

whitecadillac · 10-29-2009, 09:43 AM

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?

Hunt · 10-29-2009, 11:06 AM

No, you aren't. Those are very good scores. The lit score is good--that's a hard test. Why would you retake that rather than history? And why would you take the Spanish test?

whitecadillac · 10-29-2009, 11:31 AM

thank you! well, i took the u.s. history test right after taking the ap u.s. history class and test last year so i figure that's the best i'm going to do on it. i mean, i got a 5 on the ap u.s. history test and right after i get a 710 on the sat ii, so i figure now--months after taking the class--it's unlikely i would do better unless i spent a ton of time restudying (but i was already in the process of studying hard for the ap test when i took the sat ii...) i mean, do you think the 710 looks really bad and maybe i should consider retaking?

as for the spanish, i think i might be able to do good but i'm not sure. i'm gonna try to find some practice tests and see.

and for lit, i know there are probably a lot of people who got 750+ and i think i might be able to if i retake it. :-/

Hunt · 10-29-2009, 11:33 AM

It's really hard to say how you'll do if you take lit again--usually there are diminishing returns. I take your point on history.

whitecadillac · 10-29-2009, 08:52 PM

is there a particular reason that there are often diminishing returns if you take a test more than twice?

and even if i did worse, wouldn't yale still only consider the highest score i got?

Hunt · 10-30-2009, 12:32 PM

Quote:

is there a particular reason that there are often diminishing returns if you take a test more than twice?

I think College Board simply states that this is the typical result--that you might improve, but the improvement tends to be less each time. It might be different if you prep a lot more, I suppose. The question is whether there is something better to do with your time.

whitecadillac · 10-30-2009, 08:42 PM

so they think you are likely to improve but maybe not by much? i still think it's worth it to retake it then. even a 750 looks a lot better than a 730, no?

Collegestress16 · 10-30-2009, 11:58 PM

I think that you are right about not retaking the US History Exam, but I also got a 730 on the Lit subject test which I took in June and although it is not 750 + I think it is good enough. There is really no point if you are going to spend all that time studying for Lit and raising your score by only a little when you could be focusing on the bio test and getting an 800 on it.

fraudulence · 10-31-2009, 12:18 AM

they aren't bad scores, but they won't really help you either.

have you taken the ACT? you can send that instead.

Hunt · 10-31-2009, 09:38 AM

Quote:

even a 750 looks a lot better than a 730, no?

I would say no--it only looks a little better.

whitecadillac · 10-31-2009, 10:26 AM

@ collegestress, i'm not really going to study for the lit retake. there isn't really a good way to study for that test anyway, imo. it seems to stem more from one's inherent ability to interpret literature and not from memorizing facts, so i will definitely be studying more for the bio anyway and will probably just retake the lit to see if i can improve my score at all. maybe this time i'll get ALL passages i understand completely (on the last one, there was one passage i was iffy about and it's probably what cost me.)

@ fraudulence, i took the act and did really poorly on it (27). i'm definitely sending my sat and sat ii's instead. :P

so even if--by some chance--i do WORSE on my lit retake, yale will still only consider the highest i got (730, if it may be), right?

Hunt · 10-31-2009, 10:30 AM

I guess if you have to go take an SAT II anyway, there's no particular harm in taking lit again. It might look a bit odd to some adcoms that you would take that particular test three times.

whitecadillac · 10-31-2009, 10:34 AM

really? :-/ the first time i took it, i didn't finish about half of the questions and so i got a 670. the second time, i luckily got through the whole thing with 5 minutes left over!

but hmmm...if it would look weird...*sigh*

50isthenew40 · 10-31-2009, 02:24 PM

Definitely take a Spanish practice test before you consider taking it. Around here, students have had 5 years of Spanish before they take it, or are native speakers with a couple years of classes to improve their grammar and writing skills.

I think the two scores you have are fine-no need to re-take Lit, just prepare well for Bio.

whitecadillac · 10-31-2009, 02:27 PM

yeah, i heard that people who are in AP spanish literature even thought it was hard, so i'm not taking it after all. :P

and while i won't really study for lit any more (cuz there really isn't a good way to study for lit, is there?), i'll probably retake it just for the hell of it and see if i improve...