I’m advising DS19 not to answer a question if he has no clue on physics test. It seems that his Physics 1 has a lot of holes as expected. We are slogging through th prep books. sigh.
On Subject tests:
Yes, there is guessing penalty.
Yes, there are five answer choices.
The revised SAT has four answer choices and no guessing penalty. So if you run out of time, just fill in all Bs or Cs as fast as you can.
The AP tests are slowly changing one by one. They removed guessing penalty.
The AP Calc this year had five answer choices. It will have four answer choices next year.
My D is taking Chem and USH on Saturday, her first time tackling these. And yeah, the Subject tests still have the guessing penalty - ugh. Not only that, but there’s very little in the way of prior actual test material to prep with. Pfffbt! Big ol’ raspberry from me to CB for that.
It’s making me suspect they’ve been recycling the same fairly small batch of questions since I was in HS (though I think we called them “Achievement Tests” back then? One of those painful memories I’ve tried to block…)
Thanks for the info. After being sick all last week, dd couldn’t even think about the subject test. She took the math 1 practice yesterday and missed 3. (She didn’t score it b/c she was only using it as a practice.) She took the 2 today and without the guessing penalty she thought she had made a 770, but with it she made a 750.
She absolutely does not need the math 2, but as a homeschooler she needs a math subject test.
As a foreign language/IR/IS major, any insight as to which one she should take? Do you think a 750ish score on the 2 is better for a non-STEM kid or a higher score on the 1?
I was a slacker in HS and didn’t take any AP classes or tests. I still made it into a college. I am so glad that I am not in HS having to deal with all of this competition and testing like our kids have to. Good luck to all of those kids finishing up HS and studying for the bevy of upcoming tests.
D is taking the SAT with writing on Saturday just to get a confirming score for National Merit. Unless all hell breaks loose in our low scoring state, she should qualify with her PSAT score. I consider it a waste of a Saturday morning, but she’d rather get it done now instead of waiting until the fall. Oh well, hopefully, this will be the last test if her subject test scores from May were adequate. I’m still very annoyed that CB hasn’t released those scores yet!
@itsgettingreal17 She needs to have subject tests across subjects. She has taken or will take other area tests, but she needs to take the math as well. Since she does not have any outsourced classes other than French and Russian, subject tests “validate” her homeschool transcript.
ETA: I have done a few google searches and I still have no idea which one she should take. It seems like only the “big” tech schools really want the 2.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek, the Math 2 test is probably the way to go. It basically tests through precalc. S took it after his precalc class last year. He did study some of the earlier math, especially geometry.
Thanks @mtrosemom. Yeah, she was supposed to take it last yr, but that was when she became incredibly ill and was diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder. All testing was totally ignored. The good thing is that all the tutoring she has been doing has meant that most of the concepts she has been teaching to her students.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek – CB has a math only subject test review book which contains two sample Math I & two sample Math II tests. One of each is the same as the one that appears in the ‘all subject test’ review book published by CB. If you don’t have it, might be worth hitting Amazon tonight for Thursday delivery.
And I agree that Math II ‘looks’ better than Math I. I have no idea what the ‘curve’ is these days. Six years ago, I recall hearing that students could score an 800 even after having six incorrect but I do not know how anyone knows how many he answered incorrectly.
And, yes @thermom, subject tests are the Achievement Tests of our day. I registered to take three on a cold December morning, but left after two as I didn’t think they were going particularly well. Had to wander around outside for an hour waiting for my ride in those pre-cell phone days. (Or perhaps I didn’t want to let on that I had skipped out on the third test.) I don’t even know if they were required or if I just took them because my friends were taking them.
Math 2 has either big curve or lot of students are becoming good @ math (or Asian parents influence ). 19% of the test takers are getting 800, more than any other SAT II. Sciences usually have around 90-93% percentile for 800.
When S took the Math 2 test last year, he scored an 800 (I don’t remember how many he answered incorrectly, maybe 3?) and his percentile was 81%. So about 20% of the kids must have scored an 800 on the test that day.
I am aware of the huge curve on the math 2. That is why I am not sure which she should take. Her score will most likely be higher on the math 1 b/c she finished it with time to spare and only missed 3. But, I don’t know if a 750-770 score on the math 2 is considered decent for a non-STEM major (b/c the %ile score is low.)
@mtrosemom – how do you know how many he scored incorrectly? Maybe I am just really daft, but I have never been able to see that info on the SAT II score report. My son also scored an 800 on Math II last year, but I have no idea of the # incorrect.
I have the subject test percentile rank charts saved as PDFs going back to 2012. I will have to pull them up later tonight to quote the Math II 800%. I agree that the figure has ticked up a bit each year while most of the others have remained much more stable.
I believe that the Math 2 scores are so high because of the kids who take it. Not many kids take any subject tests at all. The kids who take the Math 2 test tend to be very good at math. If not, you likely are taking Math 1 (if you take a math subject test at all).
My son took 4 subject tests (chem, physics, math 2 and world history). My daughter doesn’t plan to take any because schools to which she is applying do not require them.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek I think a 750-770 would still be considered quite good for a non-STEM major - I think all the schools are aware that the curve is “blown” for Math 2 because pretty much every STEM kid has to take that one test, whereas the sciences are more split up between Chem/Physics/Bio.
That’s the reason my D isn’t taking Math 2 this go 'round actually - she’s well brushed up on ACT math, but there are a couple of things on the Math 2 subject test she hasn’t looked at in a while and she feels under the gun to get an 800 (as a STEM kid) on it, so she’s going to review some over the summer and take in September. For Chem, though, she’d be happy enough with anything 750+. This whole testing thing feels like it’s all out of whack.
@CT1417 Yep, I had a miserable time with the Achievement Tests - my undoing was the English with essay which was before they added writing to the SAT. For whatever reason, I drew a total blank at essay time and just wrote what I’m sure is a bunch of gibberish. Ugh.
You never can tell with standardized tests… My son took the Math II in January and he came out so bummed. He said the last 10 questions were very tough and he ran out of time. He thought he might have missed around 5 - 7 questions and with other possible errors he wanted to cancel the test (the college board gives u that choice right after tests). Anyhoo - I persuaded him not to cancel so he could see how he did and come score release day - he got an 800!
The challenge with the Math II is that they either have to memorize formulas or program them into their calculators (which is legal). My son memorized.
