SAT II Scores

URMtop5
Sun, 08 Apr 2012 03:37:34 +0000

Assuming a student takes numerous SAT II tests and numerous AP tests throughout 9th, 10th, and 11th grade… is the student required to submit all SAT II scores and all AP scores when applying to Universities? I.e. Do they all get reported or is a student allowed to pick and choose which AP and/or SAT II scores to report to the colleges they apply to?

I ask simply to be able to help my child plan ahead. I.e. If my child thinks she’ll only do “ok” on Bio SAT II test next month as a freshman, wouldn’t it make more sense not to take it?

Many uiniversities want to see 2 or 3 SAT II scores, so if she knows she will do much better on SAT II tests in 10th and 11th grade (simply because of her interest in other subjects versus Biology) wouldn’t it make since to pass on the Bio SAT II test? Or does she not have to report it, or do they not really care if a student has a few SAT II scores in the 700s and then one in the high 500s or low 600s?

Similar question regarding AP classes. If History is not a strong suit, is it worth passing AP World Historynext year simply to not have to worry about having to report a 3 etc. I recognize that if her options are AP World History or regular World History, Universities would prefer she take the most rigorous courses, not to mention the increased GPA. However, if AP World History takes up soooo much time and she ends up getting a B in the class, I think she would be better off simply taking regular World History, where hopefully she would easily get an A and have a lot more time to focus on making sure she gets A’s in all her other classes. She has 6 Honors(or AP) classes set for next year. Does it make sense to lower the History class to regular instead of AP, simply to have more time for all the others, give herself a chance to get A’s in all the other classes, and ultimately it’s not a hit on her GPA for not taking AP World History… assuming she gets an A in regular World History and would have gotten a B in AP World History. Plus, if she thinks she would struggle to get a 4 or higher on the World History AP test… does this idea make sense? Or is one not required to report a low AP score to colleges?

By the way… I’m not really concerned with the idea of “not” placing out of college courses. I.e. I don’t really care if she has a zillion credits entering college or not. My concern is making sure she is not completely overloaded and that she has the time to do as well as she can in all of her classes as opposed to taking “all” honors classes and then many of her grades slip because 1 class takes up so much time.

Just trying to help plan ahead.

Thanks