I'm so over my head

marite
Sun, 31 Oct 2004 16:09:55 +0000

Curmudgeon:
Not all colleges ask for SAT-IIs, but enough selective colleges do, so that it is wise to hedge your bets. Since your D is taking Calc AB already, she is a great candidate for taking the SAT-II Math 2c (which covers pre-calc only). She can take it pretty much any time now. The usual advice is to take SAT-II right after the completion of the course, when the materials are still fresh in your mind (the exception is SAT-II Writing, where students benefit from greater experience and maturity but which will be phased out after January). Since she took pre-AP Chemistry last year, I would suggest she look through a SAT-II Chemistry review book and see if her course covered all the topics and if she still remembers enough of the materials to do well on the test. She can use the book to review. She should select another subject to take the SAT-II in more or less the same way. A student can take 3 Sat-IIs in one sitting (they’re one hour each), though most find it quite tiring, and only take 2. This would allow her to retake if she does not like the results, or take another SAT-II in plenty of time for EA/AD next fall. My S took the SAT-II in June after taking the AP in various courses in May; that did not involve any further preparation (SAT-II tend to be easier than APs). Look up the schedule for SAT-II administration; SAT-II are not administered every month, unlike SATs.

Patient:
I suspect that, as long as your Ds are taking French, the later the better. One complicating factor in the AP foreign languages is that many native speakers take the test and score 800. So the curve can be brutal. At Harvard, however, it is possible to place out of the foreign language requirement with an SAT-II score of 600, which should not be too hard to obtain. But other colleges can be more picky!