Look, if you want a college that values critical thinking, you can’t sleepwalk through any of this. You do need to discern what is absolute and what’s “adcom speak.”
Very few kids need strength in their family language for their proposed majors. And if you’re a heritage speaker, they can wonder why you chose to submit that S2 test, especially if you haven’t also shown scores in the usual humanities and math/sci. (The exception being schools that ask for specific tests.) It can look like you took an easy way out. You don’t want adcoms stopping to wonder why? Or just how seriously you thought all this through.
Same goes for LoRs. Make them relevant. Make your whole app relevant. You are not qualified to second guess them, so don’t assume.
Kids can easily figure their standing in theor own high schools. It’s much more difficult to understand how much competition you face for a tippy top ot top college. Be wise.