<p>D is taking Latin four years and many students and parents have advised her to avoid the subject tests in all the foreign languages as too difficult. What is your experience as a student and/or parent and why?</p>
<p>The hardest thing about the Latin test is the dearth of prep books. There is really only one out there.
This is true for some of the other languages, as well.
That said, if she has a good foundation in Latin and really studies the (one) book prior, she has a good chance of hitting 700.
There aren’t that many students taking the Latin subject test, so I think that may be viewed favorably by admissions. Someone else can correct me, if that is incorrect.</p>
<p>My D’s did very well on the Spanish SAT subject test but even with scores in the mid to high 700s, their percentile scores weren’t tremendously high. I’ve always heard that is because of the large number of native speakers who take the language tests. I wonder if that’s what people actually mean when they say the language subject tests are difficult. I further wonder if Latin might be an exception since there aren’t a whole lot of native Latin speakers.</p>
<p>Difficulty is all relative. </p>
<p>Inasmcuh as all tests would be difficult for non-natives, some are are a bit more challenging. For instance, tests for French and Spanish are much more difficult than their counterparts in Asian languages. </p>
<p>While the Chinese or Korean would hardly challenge a nativr fourth grader, on the Spanish or French test, you won’t find a question such as </p>
<p>The mouse likes to eat
[cat]
[cow]
[elephant]
[cheese]
[teacher]</p>
<p>This explains the irrational number of perfect scores on certain foreign language tests. Spanish and French are NOT that easy.</p>
<p>^ Thanks to both of you! Which Latin prep book (broetchen) do you suggest?</p>
<p>SAT Subject Test: Latin w/ CD-ROM (REA) - The Best Test Prep for (Test Preps) (Paperback)
by Ronald B. Palma (Author), D. Thomas Benediktson (Author) </p>
<p>available at Amazon.</p>
<p>There is another one, by Rudman?, that is apparently riddled with errors.
From my understanding that is all there is out there, that is specific to the test.</p>
<p>@ xiggi Agreed.
I am always puzzled why native Chinese or Korean speakers even bother to take the test. As I have posted before, anything less than an 800 makes one question the student’s bilinguality, and if one is a native speaker or has grown up in a household that speaks the language, the perfect score is meaningless.</p>
<p>BTW, the German test is not as easy as the Asian language tests. And suffers from the same lack of prep materials as the Latin</p>
<p>^ Thanks a bunch! We’ll make a note of it. BTW, we are still trying to educate the faculty and administration at the high school that still believes the subject tests and the AP tests are one and the same!!! Anyone else with similar problems?</p>
<p>I took 3 different SAt subject tests (US History, Lit, French) and my best score was actually on French, so I don’t know that foreign language exams are necessarily the most difficult. One thing I would say though, for both the SAT subject tests and AP exams, is that a good grasp of grammar is essential for a good score.</p>
<p>^Agreed, broetchen. My family speaks Chinese, but I decided to take French instead b/c I felt like showing colleges I learned a second (third?) language in school would be more impressive that telling them I’m a native speaker of Chinese</p>
<p>^Slacker, I would definitely tell them that you are a native speaker of Chinese. They will take your word for it, no need to prove it by testing, and then, you can show them your third language acquisition.</p>
<p>Which you probably have already done, since you are Whitman-bound, I presume. If so, congratulations and keep us updated on how you like it there.</p>
<p>"I am always puzzled why native Chinese or Korean speakers even bother to take the test. "</p>
<p>One third of all Asians in America live in California and the University of California, a very popular target for them, considers an 800 in somebody’s native Korean or Chinese equivalent to an 800 in English Literature (a notoriously difficult exam) or US History or Latin and superior to a 750 in those subjects. I’m not sure Harvard or Yale will look down upon a Chinese or Korean kid taking the Subject Test in his native language, but I know the UC will not.</p>
<p>I got an 800 in French, but only after a year living with a French family. Mathson took the Latin AP and got a five, but he didn’t try taking the SAT - he considered it, but since he was taking APUSH it seemed more sensible to take the US history AP and assumed he’d get out of the language requirement of any college he was at by doing well on the AP.</p>
<p>It is often more difficult to achieve perfection on a Subject Test than on an AP.</p>
<p>My S scored between #4 and #1 in our state on the Grand Concours for 4 years, and was nationally ranked all years. He received a 5 on the French Langauge AP exam junior year, and was first in the state on the Grand Concours. He got a 780 on the French SATII that same spring. A person from the class before him who had spent her junior year abroad in France also got a 780. Given their performance on the other tests and experience with the language, I would have thought that they both would have a good shot at an 800. Of course a 780 is nothing to sneeze at, and I have no idea what a 780 means in terms of wrong answers–maybe it’s only one or two–but in my view this would tend to support the notion that the French SATII is perhaps on the rigorous side.</p>
<p>My D took the Spanish SAT Subject and got a 350, while getting 680 in Physics and 800 in Math. Her SAT I total was a 2120 (or 2130?). The CW among her peers is that the language tests are very difficult. </p>
<p>I don’t suppose it matters much as she is looking at majoring in math, physics, or engineering, or, perhaps, communications/journalism. I was just taken aback at the low score – she has had three years of Spanish (taking the fourth next year) and has always done very well and her work and grades and test scores in everything else are very good.</p>
<p>The UC system
</p>
<p><strong><em>shakes head</em></strong></p>
<p>My daughter just took the SAT subject test in Latin on the June 7 test date.</p>
<p>She is a homeschooler, so she has taken more subject tests than a normal person. ;)</p>
<p>Her scores are:
US history 790
world history 800
literature 790
math1 700
latin 680</p>
<p>I only post those to show that, while math is definitely not her subject, she tends to test well. She and I were both pleased with her Latin score, though, because she’s only had 3 semesters of Latin by correspondence course. She took it, in spite of not having much course background, because the Latin exam is only offered in June and December. For her purposes Dec. was too late, so she took it in June. She knew she would not score super high, but hoped it would be respectable enough, and that her other scores would balance it out. And it turns out to be more than high enough to satisfy a certain requirement for the college she’ll be applying to.</p>
<p>So if she could get a 680 being self-taught for only 3 semesters, I think a student with as much Latin background as the OP’s daughter could do very well. My daughter used the prep book cited above, and it seemed sufficient for review and to pick up at least a few things she hasn’t yet gotten to in her correspondence course.</p>
<p>There are a couple practice tests in that review book. You could order it from Amazon and use them to get a sense of the difficulty of the test. (My daughter found the actual test a little bit less difficult, but certainly the practice test and the real test were in the same ballpark.) There is also a practice test in the CollegeBoard’s blue book of subject tests. [Amazon.com:</a> The Official Study Guide for All SAT Subject Tests (Real Sats): The College Board: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Official-Study-Guide-Subject-Tests/dp/0874477565/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1215243240&sr=8-1]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Official-Study-Guide-Subject-Tests/dp/0874477565/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1215243240&sr=8-1)</p>
<p>^ 'rentof2 thanks a bunch. I will have D look at that test prep book. She is entering her third year of Latin at public high school. We will probably have her work toward June 09 test.</p>
<p>I like the breadth of your d’s 5 subject tests. That should help her when she applies!</p>
<p>It seems that the FL tests are harder, from some of the above posts. My D had 2280 on SAT I. 730-- Math 1 SAT II; 770-- Eng Lit SAT II; 670-- French w/listening SAT II. I am concerned that these lower scores are due to the high number of native speakers taking these tests and skewing the curves.</p>
<p>I looked into this a while ago and concluded that it will be worth it for D to take the Latin SAT II because there are some schools (at least Dartmouth, there may be others) that use the SAT II regardless of the AP test to determine satisfaction of the language requirement. </p>
<p>[Placement</a> in Latin](<a href=“Home | Department of Classics”>Home | Department of Classics)</p>
<p>"For Latin, the College language requirement can be satisfied only on the basis of the SAT II Latin test or the departmental language test, administered during Orientation. Students who have scored 680 or above on the SAT II Latin Test satisfy the College language requirement … ALL entering first-year students who have studied Latin are strongly urged to take the SAT II Latin test while still in secondary school. "</p>
<p>Also, if you take an AP in May, you wouldn’t know the result by June and Latin is only offered in June and November, so at schools that use either the AP or SAT II for placement or satisfaction of the language requirement, the SAT II provides a second try.</p>