How many SAT II's should I take?

Question

I took the SAT ii biology and I got a 790. So are most SAT ii's

really easy after you take an AP course for the subject?

When should I take the SAT ii?

Next year (junior year) I'm going to take

AP Spanish

AP English

AP US History (I heard the SAT ii was hard though)

pre-calc

physics hon.

Which SAT ii's should I take to make myself look best to colleges? I know I have to take Math Level 2. What else?

Answer 1

Well, you really only need three SAT Subject Test (formerly SAT II) scores total; I've never heard of any college asking for more than that.  Yes, taking Math 2 is a good idea.  On top of that, based on your course load, it looks like you'd be qualified to take Spanish, Literature, U.S. History, and Physics.  You could try taking all of them, but that'd be overkill in my opinion.  Ultimately, it's probably a good idea to visit the College Board website, where there are some practice questions for all of the SAT Subject Tests.  You should try them and take the test you're most comfortable with.  

A little personal experience, though: I took Literature, U.S. History, and Physics at the end of my junior year, and that was after AP English Language & Composition, Honors U.S. History (not AP; I took AP when I was a senior), and AP Physics B.  I got an 800, 790, and 800, respectively.  If you have a good critical reading score on the SAT Reasoning Test (formerly SAT I), Literature should also come relatively easy to you, even though they're not really the same thing (my critical reading score and my Literature score are the same, though).  Since you'll have AP US History under your belt, you'll probably do better than I did with just Honors, so if you study, that shouldn't be too hard (there's a lot of picky trend questions and specific facts on there).  Even my AP Physics class didn't cover all of the material on the SAT Physics test; I had to study independently for that one, so with just honors, unless your school has a very rigorous physics program, that's probably one you want to stay away from.  You already have a science one anyways.

Answer 2

I think you should take Spanish, Math II, and Literature, around June of next year, so that you will be prepared and also you will have a better knowledge of everything. You should take 3 SAT II's and choose the 2 that you did best on. Math II has pre-calc on it too, so June will be a good time to take it, and you can buy review books too, they are really helpful.

Answer 3

You should definitely show colleges that you are well-rounded. So in addition to Biology and Math Level 2, you should take US History, Spanish, or English Literature. I think you should take all of them and see which one you do best on. That way, you have a variety to choose from when you send them to colleges.

Hope this helps and good luck :)

Answer 4

I thought the Spanish SAT II was ridiculously easy. I took it after taking Spanish 3 (read: I hadn't even taken AP spanish yet, that was for the fourth year) and got a 770. And yes, the US SAT II is supposed to be just as hard as the Spanish one is easy... and I wouldn't bother with the English one, since it's so similar to what's already on the normal SAT. I agree with the person who said you should be well-rounded, so more science- and math-heavy subjects (like pre-calc and physics) aren't going to work in your favor. (And the Physics one is really hard!) So - not to be redundant - but definitely go for Spanish.