<p>I’m just curious as to why a college would continue to make subject tests a requirement for admission when so many highly qualified students are now taking a large number or AP exams in the same subjects? In D’s case, her subject test results will undoubtedly be worse than her AP exam results, simply because AP does not penalize mistakes. Also, in her particular case, she had no plans to take any (her school doesn’t suggest or push them), because she didn’t know what her college plans were until late September of senior year, and her schedule is overloaded as it is without adding this continuous stream of tests.</p>
<p>This was similar to her brother who made a last minute application to a college that required them. Again, he had to prepare for school mid-term exams at the time, so didn’t have much time for prep. End result was that while he did fairly well in Chemistry (700s) which he was studying at the AP level at the time, he only had low 600s in math, yet received a 5 on his AP Calculus and close to 100 on his final school administered AP-style exam. </p>
<p>The usual reason given is to assure unifirmity of comparisons among applicants. The SAT subject tests are based on courses avaialble at essentially every high school. There are large numbers of high schools that either do not have AP courses or have a very limited set that can be taken (and those are very often courses most likley to be taken senior year for which test results are not available for determining admission). Thus, the SAT subject tests are something all applicants can submit and allow applicants to be evaluated on the same basis. A second reason is also the likelihood that colleges which use subject tests for admission could face criticism that they are favoring the “rich” if they allowed APs ito be used n lieu of subject tests to determine admission because it is the better funded high schools that have the larger number of AP courses. Whether one may consider either of those reasons valid is a matter of varying opinions.</p>
<p>Then allow the AP or SAT to be interchangeable if a score is already to hand, and in terms of assessing the strength of an individual high school’s courses. In the AP student’s case, not only have they met a certain uniform standard if successful at the AP, but they have theoretically gone beyond that standard. Don’t require redundancy in those sorts of situations. I’m not sure there can ever be real “uniformity of comparisons” and the colleges/Universities requiring the Subject tests are the ones that make the most noise about how holistically they evaluate. Also, I wonder if the schools that don’t provide AP courses really encourage students to explore SAT subject tests? I’d imagine its a priority for the high end prep schools? Is it known for sure that the non-AP schools really do offer courses that puts their students on an equal footing with all other potential Subject test takers? Subject tests were completely off our radar, particularly since the schools that required them weren’t under consideration at the appropriate time. How many of the non-AP schools are holding the hands of their students in order to get them into selective Ivies and LACs, and suggesting that they take these exams or try for these institutions?</p>
<p>Drusba, I’m not shooting the messenger - I appreciate you taking the time to explain the thinking. It is just that it all still feels nonsensical to me. Honestly, America is so adamant not to go the exit test route that I experienced growing up in the UK, but for crying out loud, Americans do way more tests than I ever did! Every month! How does that contribute to a student’s educational goals, if they are consistently taking time out to study for these things? </p>
<p>@Poldark2 you’re forgetting that AP might not be the most rigorous option. Some high schools’ honors classes are harder than AP, there’s dual enrollment, IB, etc. Its simply not something everyone has access to and would create a whole slew of problems because you would then have to compare with IB scores too. It just makes the system more complex. I don’t know why you feel that schools that don’t offer APs are somehow inferior (that’s how you’re coming across). There are many different reasons why they may make this decision and quite frankly, many of them are in the best interests of their students. A lot of non-AP schools work hard to get their students into selective schools.</p>
<p>I think you guys are forgetting the most important reason: AP exams are scored on a scale of 1-5</p>
<p>You could get 70% correct answers and you would still probably get a 5. Now obviously there is a difference between a 70% and an 90% but this wouldn’t show up if both people got fives.</p>
<p>Guineagirl, I was addressing drusba’s comment: " A second reason is also the likelihood that colleges which use subject tests for admission could face criticism that they are favoring the “rich” if they allowed APs ito be used in lieu of subject tests to determine admission because it is the better funded high schools that have the larger number of AP courses." I have no way to know if drusba’s statement is correct. And I’m not even trying to wave the AP, Subject, IB or any other flag here. The main problem as I see it is that there are so many different types of testing going on that it can end up being unnecessarily burdensome on the students and doesn’t really add to the quality of their overall education. I’m still not convinced that it needs to be this complex in order to successfully evaluate a candidate. There just seems to be a certain test-madness to the American system, that few seem to question.</p>