<p>does anyone know if my son (chinese but american born) takes the SAT Chinese Subject test in middle school and hypothetically does really good. Will this have a positive or negative effect on his college app? He has been going to a chinese school since 5yrs old and i think should be ready. I want to get as many things outta the way in high school. Does anybody have any experience with this?</p>
<p>You may be getting ahead of yourself here. Your son has lots of time to figure out his path in high school. For strong students, the SAT Subject test requirement (two subject tests at many schools) is fairly easy to max out (score at or near “800”) for the sake of college applications. FYI, a student can take as many as 3 subject tests on a given test date.</p>
<p>More importantly, is your son being challenged in middle school? Is he having fun? If he’s exceptionally bright, you might consider having him take the SAT or ACT in order to qualify for the summer programs sponsored by the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth program or the Duke Talent Identification Program.</p>
<p>Colleges generally do not use tests for admission taken before freshman year in high school. Also, not sure of his status but some top colleges have mentioned (Harvard and Yale included) that they are not impressed by 800s on a foreign language SAT subject test taken by a native speaker. If he is not a native speaker and will be a freshman in high school in October (the next test date), he should likely take it. Even if a native speaker, he should consider taking it anyway because not all colleges that use subject tests may think the same as others.</p>
<p>@drusba:
happypeasinapod’s son is ABC. He’s not a native Chinese speaker, but his mom has been sending him to Saturday Chinese school since he was 5. That’s not too atypical. Harvard is awash with ABCs who speak Chinese at home, take the Chinese subject test, and then decide to take Mandarin level I for an easy “A.” (Don’t ask me how I know.) You’re right that top-tier colleges really won’t be impressed with a student who scored an “800” on the subject test under those circumstances. They will, however, be impressed with a kid that develops proficiency/fluency in a language that is not spoken at home or by his/her parents.</p>