Why does it mean when you study for SAT II's?

Physics08
Fri, 27 Jul 2007 17:18:53 +0000

Actually, the SAT II Chemistry wouldn’t earn you placement credits at most colleges. The AP Chemistry exam earns you placement credit depending on the AP Credit policies at each school.



In my field of work, an achievement test is a measure of how much of a subject you have learned. Often it is used to evaluate the system that is educating you. It is not something that you prepare for, beyond applying yourself at school. Maybe you “practice”, if your school want’s to look good.In the context of college admissions, or elite college admission perhaps, what does it mean when you prepare for weeks or more to score near 800?



I don’t agree with you there. What difference does it make applying yourself in a subject at school as opposed to applying yourself in a subject at home? What about homeschoolers? Often in the harder sciences such as chemistry, students may not fully digest the material in the short time allotted in a high school classroom setting and may need extra time to understand those concepts at home. What would be the point of homework then if students aren’t supposed to prepare outside of school? When I studied for my SAT IIs, I certainly wasn’t concerned with making my school look good. I was focused on doing the best I could and making sure my score honestly reflected my abilities. Sure, some schools may boast the credentials of their students, but that’s more like a by-product of a student’s own hardwork.



But isn’t the idea of the test to measure what you’ve learned in school? If you pretty much have to “self-study” for the SAT II’s, what is it really measuring?



The idea of the SAT II subject test is to measure your knowledge of a subject usually up to the introductory college level. Collegeboard isn’t so much concerned with how you’re learning the materials but more if you’re learning it or not. Again, what’s wrong with self-studying? In fact, sometimes you need to self-study because not all the materials tested on the SAT II tests are neccessarily covered in class. Some students are more independent and learn better teaching themselves the subject.