language test scores!!

arl803 · July 10

so i really really love georgetown and am planning to apply to the SFS!! and i was hoping my french studies would be a strong part of my application- i won a top award in a national competition and got a 5 on the AP, plus i’m VP/co-founder of my school’s french club and will be a TA for my french teacher next year. i took the SAT II in french this june and scored a 740- lower than i’d hoped, though i’m not sure what a good score for georgetown ought to be. is it high enough? should i plan to retake in november even though i’ll be 6 months out of a formal french class? or submit it anyways and pray that i’ll score highly on 3 other SAT IIs and that they’ll look to my AP score to show my passion for the language?? thank you in advance to anyone who can advise!!!

masquerade98 · July 11

You can check to see what the median SAT score is for the SAT French to give you a better idea of how most people do, but a 740 seems to be pretty good, especially if you're able to highlight your prev. experience in French in your essays. Language is especially sought-after for SFS admissions, so it's definitely helpful that you have that.

arl803 · July 12

thank you!!!! i’m not sure what the median score on french subject tests is for students accepted to georgetown, but a 740 is i think 73 percentile of all test takers- which isn’t bad, but, of course, georgetown is such a selective institution i can’t help but worry.

i know gtown doesn’t have score choice, so if i were to take, say, 4 subject tests total, would all 4 scores be considered or just the 3 highest? also, i’ve been seeing people on other threads mention that they’ll be accepting 3 ap scores in lieu of sat IIs- can anyone offer more details? if you submit both ap and sat II, will they consider both or just whichever scores are better?
thank you so much again!!! sorry i’m so panicked lol georgetown is my top choice and i’m very nervous

mamaedefamilia · July 12

@arl803. Given that you have a 5 on the AP French exam, I really wouldn't worry about the 740, which is a very good score. Also don't sweat the percentiles - admissions officers will not be cross-checking percentiles and numerical scores. Finally there are native speakers who take the language tests and that affects the score distribution (though probably less so for French than say, Spanish or Chinese).

General rule of thumb - 750+ don't retake, great! 700-750 - won't hurt you, might help you. Below 700, don't send if you have that option (I know Georgetown wants all scores). Only exception is Math II for STEM-oriented students, where ideally you'd want a 780-800.

If it were my kid, I would advise not retesting and moving on to other aspects of the application. Best of luck to you.

skieurope · July 12

i’ve been seeing people on other threads mention that they’ll be accepting 3 ap scores in lieu of sat IIs- can anyone offer more details?

No, because nothing has been confirmed. What you hear are just guesses.

Finally there are native speakers who take the language tests and that affects the score distribution

The CB lists a non-native percentile as well, but yeah, it's less important for French, where about a third are native or heritage speakers than it is for Spanish or Italian (~50% native) or Chinese/Japanese/Korean/Hebrew (75%+ native)

Bottom line, I would not sweat a 740; it's fine. Nice job.

arl803 · July 14

thank y'all for your help! i don't think i'll retake the test, i'll try just to stop worrying and focus on my SAT and other subject tests! y'all's advice has been very reassuring for me, thanks again!

language test scores!!

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