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Replies to: SAT subject tests are NOT truly optional for middle/upper middle class applicants at elite colleges!
My students that apply to MIT all have strong STEM involvement, but in this recent app cycle, it was actually my student who lacked a lot of advanced work and STEM-related activities that was selected over two others who had many more STEM achievements...but I can easily guess why this student got in, and I know this student will do an amazing job at MIT.
Thanks!
But not always automatically. Mine sort of skimmed through Algebra II and Geometry, while almost skipping probability. She did fine in her Trig and Calculus classes, but neither in SAT Math nor Math II, until this Summer when she took a Stat course and put a big effort in reviewing a Sat Math II prep book. This was part of my long term education plan. I focused most of her early math learning on deductive reasoning, and thought all standard math subjects will catch up as they are needed.
Now, I think comparing recommended and considered, or wording of "not disadvantage" are all silly in competitive college admission. If SAT Subject tests are only considered and you are not disadvantaged for not taking them, but your otherwise similar peers took them and are advantaged because it was "considered," then you will have a less chance to get accepted as a result of not doing all you could. It doesn't matter how they are called. It is a zero sum game. If someone is advantaged and you are not, then you are disadvantaged.
You can prep for SAT Math & Math II together, while working on SAT Reading & Literature together, and you got two SAT Subject tests covered. And you can take a science SAT Subject test right after taking an AP Science test, or just completing a science course's final for that subject.
Maybe yes, maybe no. It really depends on the kid and the precalculus class she took. A familiarity with basic functions and trigonometrics especially will of course be very useful for calculus, but some typical precalculus topics like matrices, conics, combinatorics and probability, complex numbers, and even vectors are either not encountered in most beginning single variable calculus classes or will have been treated so cursorily in precalc as to be useless.
The takeaway imo is that kids should take the math level 2 subject test as soon as possible after studying precalc; they shouldn't rely on the idea that AP Calc will have kept their aptitude for most of the precalc topics likely to be encountered on the subject test.
The other takeaway IMO is that there are few examples of "in lieu of;" if a college wants a Subject Test and does not offer an in lieu of, then is wants a Subject Test, not an A in Multivariable Calculus (which is still great, but not what they asked for.
For the non-native cohort (which probably includes a non-trivial percentage of natives and heritage speakers tbh), the percentiles are of course very different. Whether this distinction is appreciated by AOs is another matter. I tend to think that at the schools that care about STs, the AOs will have some appreciation for the student’s language background.
If you were able to actually look at non-natives who just studied the language at a US high school, I would wager that the percentage of 800 scores is among the lowest of all Subject Tests.
That said, I'm of the opinion that while AOs are aware of the percentiles directionally, they are not cross-referencing percentile charts.
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.