<p>My S is taking SAT II’s in May. Our school is out May 28 (I think), and so he just didn’t think he’d want to have a June test - he’d rather have that “school, books, studying is DONE!” feeling the last day of school. He may only take one SAT II (Physics) since he’s already done math. He’s thinking about taking either Lit or Spanish also, but I don’t think he’ll decide until right before the test. I don’t really see any point in taking a third test since most schools just want two. i guess we should look at the colleges he thinks he’s interested in and see if having a subject test in Spanish helps satisfy any foreign language requirements. He’d rather not take any more in college.</p>
<p>Hi everyone (new here). My D 12 is our oldest of three, so I’m new to this process. I’m thinking of having her take the SAT IIs in May as well, although I’m not sure at this point that she will apply to any schools that need them.</p>
<p>She will be taking 4 AP exams. Should she take 2 or 3 SAT IIs? I had thought she would take Spanish, US History and Math (taking the following AP tests - Psych, USH, Lang, and Spanish Lang). Any advice?</p>
<p>PN - have you found that SAT2 spanish allows a kid to test out of a college language? DS is taking Spanish 4, but won’t continue next year. If the SAT2 Spanish test gives him test out options, maybe he should take that too. Never heard about that though.</p>
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<p>mathiokc’s DD is now having an easier time than most of our kids, good for her, and congratulations!</p>
<p>With both ACT and SAT in her bag, I wonder if one test is really different from the other in some way. I’d guess the scores are similar.</p>
<p>^ DS has a friend who took the ACT and scored a 34. He’s done. He will take APs and not worry about any other tests. Makes me re-think DD13 tests. Maybe we should just focus on the ACT prep and go from there.</p>
<p>welcome pamayawaa! If your D wants to take SAT II’s, most schools that require them only need 2 tests scores (I’ve heard people say Georgetown is the only one that requires 3). Once your D figures out her school list, I would recommend checking each college’s website to see for sure what they want. </p>
<p>As far as which tests she would want to take, it depends on what she thinks her strengths are. If she is going into a math/science major, she’d probably want to take those tests. Otherwise, pick what she wants. if she takes math, most people recommend Math II over Math I. Math I goes through Algebra II, and Math Ii goes through Pre-Calc (although my son did say Calc helped on a few questions). Math II has a more forgiving curve, so if a student has completed Pre Cal, it’s usually the recommended test to take. </p>
<p>My older son took AP US history and only got a 2 or 3 on the AP test, but still managed a 650-680 (can’t remember) on the SAT II history test, so if she’s doing well in APUSH, that might be a good test to take.</p>
<p>geogirl - I don’t know if any schools give credit or placement for SAT II’s. I have a vague memory of someone saying that their college did, so I think it’s worth looking at the schools on his list to see if that’s true anywhere.</p>
<p>S takes the ACT tomorrow. His prep has consisted of going to bed at 10:30 last night and tonight so he’s well rested and requesting biscuits and gravy with orange juice for breakfast tomorrow.</p>
<p>PN - Good Luck on your son’s ACT tomorrow. pamayawaa, welcome on board.</p>
<p>lake42ks wrote:
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With both ACT and SAT in her bag, I wonder if one test is really different from the other in some way. I’d guess the scores are similar. </p>
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<p>Yes, the ACT and SAT are different. The ACT is slightly shorter and the writing section is optional. The ACT has fewer subtests than the SAT, but that makes the subtests longer than the SAT subtests. </p>
<p>My daughter scored well on both of them, but she really shines more on the ACT. However, for National Merit I think you need a qualifying SAT score (don’t think an ACT will work).</p>
<p>My daughter’s current high school requires the kids to do both, so she really didn’t have an option to not do the SAT.</p>
<p>Just a note for all the people trying to decide on SAT IIs – </p>
<p>I know it’s better to take the exams in May or June, when the content is fresh, but my daughter has taken them in the fall twice and it’s been okay. She needed to bone-up on the material again, but it hasn’t taken just a ton of studying to get back to the appropriate level.</p>
<p>If you don’t need the fall SAT dates for the SAT I, then at least this is an option.</p>
<p>D will be taking the ACT for the 2nd time in June. She didn’t score well on the PSAT so she may take the SAT once to see how it goes. S10 took the SAT once and was satisfied with his score and he was done.<br>
Pinot Noir, I would love biscuits and gravy, too! 
Your S sounds very relaxed, good luck to him on the ACT today.</p>
<p>Mathinokc, I think D will be better off taking the SAT II in the fall (we still have to see if it’s needed). Thanks for the tip.</p>
<p>I don’t understand the fuss about taking the SAT early. Kids can take it late in junior year (May or June), and if they’re not happy with their score they can retake in October of senior year. I haven’t heard of any colleges that won’t accept an October score, even for ED/EA. </p>
<p>Am I missing something?</p>
<p>Mihcal, in my D’s case, I would rather see her take the SAT or ACT in June because she will have already taken her AP’s and hopefully she’ll still be mentally up for it. Your idea of taking it in May or June and maybe again in the fall is a good one. My S10 took SAT in June and was one and done.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the info. It’s nice to know the different options. I guess I need to sit down with D and come up with a shorter list of schools. She doesn’t know what she wants to study and with the post PSAT e-mails is now interested in more schools. </p>
<p>I know there is no hurry, but it would be nice to have all the testing out of the way! Congrats to those of you whose children are done with SAT/ACT.</p>
<p>"glido - SAT during a vacation? Tiger Mom? "</p>
<p>yeah, I know. I have been getting that a lot at home lately, but it is February Junior year and DD is finished with SAT and SAT2s. I told her at the beginning of H.S. that this was all about time management and if she worked hard freshman and sophmore year, the pay-off would be a lot more free time spring of junior year and senior year. I am not sayng that she took it without a grimace, but she is smiling now. Besides what else is there to do on a plane for five hours, watch the movie? Review a little history, fill in a few ovals and the time just flies by. ;)</p>
<p>And you should have seen the smile on her face yesterday afternoon when she picked up ALL her SAT books and dumped in her brother’s (S’14) room!</p>
<p>Ha ha, I can imagine the smile. Sweet!</p>
<p>It is not a clear cut for my D. Her scores are good enough but not sky high. Whether she retakes it or not, I would like it better if she is done by June. That way she will know where she stands before application starts.</p>
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<p>LOL - Love the visual!</p>
<p>mihcal1 - It may be partly due to personality type as well. I’m the kind that likes to get the work done up front and then feel relaxed (and no - I don’t always do it, I do procrastinate…a lot. But I do like it better when stuff is done early and there’s nothing hanging over your head.) When we go camping, I want to get out of the car and set up the tent, the bedding, the cooking stuff, the chairs around the fire, etc. and THEN relax. My husband likes to get there and start relaxing, which inevitably ends up with us putting the tents up in the dark once we’re already tired and it’s getting cold.</p>
<p>So, when it comes to SAT’s, I figure my S will probably take it twice (I was hoping for once but he didn’t like his CR score in Nov), and I’d like him to be done by the end of junior year for two reasons - one is just to have it behind him, and the other is that I don’t want him to end up in a situation where he HAS to count on the October test and there’s stress associated with it. Like maybe he’s sick, or maybe there’s a conflict with something else he’d really like to do. </p>
<p>My older son did it this way, and since he had one school he wanted to EA to, he did all his apps at the same time and was completely done by Nov 1. It was great!</p>
<p>re: early SATs. I have a competition kid, and I can’t imagine having to think about SATs now, in the middle of the academic competition season. I’m <em>so</em> glad D got it out of the way in October.</p>
<p>She’s also counting on synergy from the AP exams to carry her into the SAT II in literature. Since that’s a third SAT II (to show she’s not a total math/science geek) I’m not particularly concerned. </p>
<p>We’re trying to decide if she has to take the ACT at all. The question is whether our state flagship uses only ACT scores for merit money. If she takes it, it’ll be in June after school is out. I suspect the ACT will be worse for her than the SAT because of the time constraints, but I may be underselling her.</p>
<p>IJustDrive - how are the time constraints different for SAT and ACT?</p>
<p>PN: My understanding (and don’t take this as gospel) is that the ACT is much more time pressured, particularly for the math portion, than the SAT. So for the slower, but mathy student, the SAT is better. OTOH, the ACT has trig, and the SAT doesn’t. YMMV?</p>
<p>Every child’s needs for SAT scheduling will vary depending on motivation, schedules (e.g, spring competitions dates), relation to other tests (APs) and whether SAT IIs need to be worked in. Not all SAT IIs are offered every SAT date (D’s Latin SAT II is offered in June and December). </p>
<p>We ran across one college on our list that takes langauge SAT IIs for placement and credit. Most colleges on Ds list (for a chem major) prefer math and science SATIIs and some require very specific ones. Glad I checked the websites — </p>
<p>Umass
<a href=“http://www.umass.edu/newstudent/uploads/listWidget/7761/SAT%20II%20Subject%20Tests%20with%20Logo.pdf[/url]”>http://www.umass.edu/newstudent/uploads/listWidget/7761/SAT%20II%20Subject%20Tests%20with%20Logo.pdf</a></p>
<p>About maturation …I think children gain ALOT cognitively between October and May/June, largely from the challenge of classwork. I suspect the gain from June to October is much smaller UNLESS there is test prep, significant academic work/challenge or a ton of varied and sophisticated reading in the summer (NYT, non-fiction, and classics --not just vampire novels).</p>