<p>I want to take the World History, US History, and Literature SAT II tests. I took AP courses in all three and got a 5 on both History AP exams (World sophomore year, US junior year) and a 4 on Literature (junior year). I am wondering, how do the SAT II tests compare to the AP tests? Are there essays, is it harder or easier in your opinion? I am likely going to take US and Literature in October and World in December. How much studying, and of what, should I do?</p>
<p>Also, how are the tests scored? Is it easy to get 700+? I have a strong grasp of both History and English.</p>
<p>SAT subjects have no essays.
I’ve taken both exams for world history (740, 3) and us history (780, 5) and I would advise you to study more specific facts (names, places, eras, etc) for the subject tests as they seem to be more fact based than idea based. I wouldn’t say that either one is easier/more difficult than the other, but many questions on the history subject tests are either “you know it or you don’t”, whereas one can infer on the MC portion of AP exams. </p>
<p>If you’re a strong essay writer, then the Subject Test will be harder, because you don’t have the opportunity to make up for any mistakes. Like you, I took AP US History, and got a 5. I took the subsequent Subject Test and got a 750. You have to remember that ST’s test mastery of high school material, whereas the AP exam naturally tests your mastery of the college level material. So there is plenty of overlap, but I would advise that you get some sort of study book specifically for the ST (I like Barrons and Sparknotes) to make up for the gap.
I felt that the ST had way more political cartoons than the AP exam, but those could vary from year to year. I agree with the above commenter in that the ST questions are harder to make inferences from. Most often, you either know it or you don’t. And there’s also the penalty for guessing that appears on the ST, but not the AP exam. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, I would highly suggest that you look it up. That penalty made me feel more pressure, and it made it really more exhausting than the AP exam, because you have to figure if you really know that answer or not. And study your details! !!! Because it’s all multiple choice, they get really nit-picky with the details.</p>