The SAT Tutor: How Do I Choose Which Subject Tests to Take?

SAT
templeton-solomon-imageKing Solomon tries to decide which SAT Subject Test to take.

It’s a glorious time of year for high school juniors, with SAT and ACT tests wrapping up and spring break right around the corner. But just as you’re are getting ready to breathe a deep sigh of relief over your vacations, you have to face yet another round of standardized tests for college admissions: SAT Subject tests.

Though not required everywhere, these tests remain an important requirement for top universities and liberal arts colleges nationwide, and thus an important step for ambitious teenagers everywhere. However, unlike the SAT or ACT, you get to choose your own topics, meaning you can customize the last step of your standardized testing experience to your own personal strengths. While this gives you more freedom than other standardized tests, it also leaves you without any guidance on how to choose among an overwhelming number of options.

Not only is important to pick a test that emphasizes your best qualities, there are a number of pitfalls to choosing the wrong test. If you pick an SAT subject test and then wish to cancel it, you have to cancel every single subject test you took that day—and there are only a handful of Subject test days. So, as a high school junior already juggling the SAT or ACT, classes at school, and the beginnings of college admissions, how do you choose which SAT subject test is right for you?

Rule 1: Check your college list

Most colleges that ask for SAT subject tests offer some guidance about what to take, but as a general rule they ask for two tests, one in the humanities and one in math or science. A very small number of colleges, like MIT, ask for specific tests, and an even smaller number, including Georgetown, ask for three tests. Your first step should be to check your college list and see what they want—and if they have made your decision for you!

Rule 2: Minimize your studying

Or, put another way, maximize the studying that you are already doing. There are several different opportunities to take the SAT Subject tests, but the best strategy is to pair both the timing and the test topics to AP tests, New York Regents or other state subject-specific exams, and final exams, so that your SAT Subject test compliments the prep you’re already doing in and out of school. This way you don’t have to pile on additional material, and you can tell what topics you feel more confident with based on your progress in individual topics you’ve made so far. You can find samples of SAT Subject tests here.

If you’re not taking any exams and you’re not sure what to do, you can also see how you did on the SAT and ACT tests. The Literature test is an extended version of the Critical Reading section on the SAT, but with poetry, play excerpts, and different kinds of reading comprehension that also resemble the ACT. The tests for Math 1 and Math 2 are similar to the math on the SAT but with more school-specific content, which also resembles the math on the ACT. If you’ve studied for either of these tests already and have built a foundation in either one, you can also consider Literature and Math 1 or Math 2.

Rule 3: Understand the score curve 

The score curve explains how your raw score—the total number of questions you answer correctly, incorrectly, and skip—converts to your scaled score out of 800. It’s different on every test, but each one tells you a lot about what the College Board expects of its test takers. For example, the US History SAT Subject test has 90 questions in just 60 minutes, which is an incredibly fast-paced test. However, the College Board publishes sample tests and score curves that show students can skip up to 10 questions and still get a perfect score—demonstrating that students do not have to work as quickly if they know the material well.

Understanding the score curves can be difficult, but Cambridge Coaching can help you make sense of them and choose the right test for you. To contact an SAT Subject test tutor or arrange for SAT tutoring in Boston, New York, or online, contact us at 617.714.5956, or email info@cambridgecoaching.com. 

For more relevant reading, check out these other blog posts, written by our private SAT tutorsCracking the Chemistry SAT Subject Test, Should I Take the Chinese SAT Subject Test?, Demystifying the Literature Subject Test.

Click here to sign up for a free SAT consultation!

Claire graduated with a BA in History and minor in Mathematics from Barnard College, where she won the the Ellen Davis Goldwater prize for excellence in History. Currently, she is a Graduate Writing Fellow at Barnard.

Comments

topicTopics
academics study skills MCAT medical school admissions SAT expository writing college admissions English MD/PhD admissions strategy writing LSAT GMAT GRE physics chemistry math biology graduate admissions academic advice ACT interview prep law school admissions test anxiety language learning premed MBA admissions career advice personal statements homework help AP exams creative writing MD study schedules test prep computer science Common Application summer activities history mathematics philosophy organic chemistry secondary applications economics supplements research 1L PSAT admissions coaching grammar law psychology statistics & probability legal studies ESL CARS SSAT covid-19 dental admissions logic games reading comprehension engineering USMLE calculus PhD admissions Spanish mentorship parents Latin biochemistry case coaching verbal reasoning DAT English literature STEM excel medical school political science skills AMCAS French Linguistics MBA coursework Tutoring Approaches academic integrity chinese letters of recommendation Anki DO Social Advocacy admissions advice algebra art history artificial intelligence astrophysics business cell biology classics diversity statement gap year genetics geometry kinematics linear algebra mechanical engineering mental health presentations quantitative reasoning study abroad technical interviews time management work and activities 2L DMD IB exams ISEE MD/PhD programs Sentence Correction adjusting to college algorithms amino acids analysis essay athletics business skills careers cold emails data science dental school finance first generation student functions graphing information sessions international students internships logic networking poetry resume revising science social sciences software engineering tech industry trigonometry writer's block 3L AAMC Academic Interest EMT FlexMed Fourier Series Greek Health Professional Shortage Area Italian Lagrange multipliers London MD vs PhD MMI Montessori National Health Service Corps Pythagorean Theorem Python Shakespeare Step 2 TMDSAS Taylor Series Truss Analysis Zoom acids and bases active learning architecture argumentative writing art art and design schools art portfolios bacteriology bibliographies biomedicine brain teaser campus visits cantonese capacitors capital markets central limit theorem centrifugal force chemical engineering chess chromatography class participation climate change clinical experience community service constitutional law consulting cover letters curriculum dementia demonstrated interest dimensional analysis distance learning econometrics electric engineering electricity and magnetism escape velocity evolution executive function freewriting genomics harmonics health policy history of medicine history of science hybrid vehicles hydrophobic effect ideal gas law immunology induction infinite institutional actions integrated reasoning intermolecular forces intern investing investment banking lab reports linear maps mandarin chinese matrices mba medical physics meiosis microeconomics mitosis mnemonics music music theory nervous system neurology neuroscience object-oriented programming office hours operating systems