Not necessarily!

In areas where more students attend private colleges as opposed to the publics, the high schools strongly encourage the kids to take the SAT 2 for a particular subject as soon as they finish the subject ( ie freshman year June for the Biology SAT 2) rather than waiting to knock out 3 in on sitting during sr yr if they are not going to take a more advanced version of the class later ie AP/IB. For the Math I, it is recommended to take the exam as soon as the 2 levels of Algebra plus one Geometry are completed. The Math Level 2 is for the kids having just completed Trig.

Very few kids from my Boston suburb went to UMass. It was assumed that we would all be at least applying to schools requiring subject exams. So I took the Chemistry (I had zero interest in AP Chem for later) and Math Level 1 as a sophomore and then Math II and English Composition as a junior.

When my oldest started high school, I asked about the SAT 2 classes. Living in Virginia which is blessed with an abundance of excellent public institutions (William and Mary, UVa and to a lesser extent VA Tech), the SAT 2s are not emphasized nearly as much. Consequently, the student ends up taking 3 subject exams at the end of jr yr and of those 3, may be taking one in a subject that was completed as a freshman or sophomore. I should have had my kid take these exams as she completed the coursework rather than following the advice of the guidance and college counselor.

That's me!!!! (I just saw this and got way too excited... I'm phamous on the interwebz!)

We were told to take the SAT IIs right after we took the corresponding AP exam. The only reason I took them was because Berkeley required them and Berkeley was my #2 choice until the fall of my senior year. If I had just stuck with the private schools, then I wouldn't have needed them. I had also taken the ACT.

You didn't need SAT 2's for your Ivies?

Nope. At the time of my application (November 1998), the ACT could be substituted for the SAT-II requirement. I still submitted them but that wasn't the reason why I took them. :)

In my day (early 80s), very few East Coast schools accepted the ACTs as a standardized test and certainly not for replacing the Achievement tests (the old name of the SAT IIs).

Since my time (early 80s also), we only needed the ACT everywhere in Michigan, private or public. I never knew the SAT IIs existed until hypoallergenic started researching schools. Most people here have never heard of them at all. She did take the US history right after she took the APUSH exam and she also took the English Lit one, but that one is more skill based than knowledge based anyway. She took Spanish right after finishing Spanish III in high school but, well, she didn't have those scores sent...lol. She said it was so hard that she just started putting the answer that sounded the prettiest. I shared that with her Spanish III teacher and he was really surprised because he thought she really knew her stuff. I think you really have to be fluent in Spanish to do well on that one!

I took French and Biology SAT II's for my application to Wellesley College (didn't get accepted, but it was my reach school) and my French scores were not great. I had taken 3.5 years of French at that point (the half year being my AP year) and it was just so hard. In high school you are not in an immersion environment and your exposure to the language is so limited that when tested like that it's like being thrown the the sharks. And even the grammar stuff I did know I didn't have the time to think through and fill in right. It's a hard test. But I did well in all my college French courses, up until the 400 levels when they got really hard. Go figure.

hypoallergenic has received her first college acceptance letter! Depaul- with a Dean's scholarship (academic merit based- $52K). She is very excited :)

Congrats!!!!:)

Wow, congratz!

That's excellent, Dee! Does that count against other financial aid (meaning you'll get less financial based because of the merit scholarship)? Sorry if this is an inappropriate question, I'm kind of interested in admissions and financial aid so just tell me to shut up if I ask for too much information.

Yes, I'm sure it will. I don't think it really change the required family contribution at all, but hopefully it would mean fewer student loans. She had applied there and U of Michigan early acceptance. We are supposed to hear from Michigan by Dec. 23rd and Depaul by Jan 15th, so this was pretty quick.

And her best friend since kindergarten found out today that she was accepted to Wellesley and will be swimming for them. It was her dream school and she was wait-listed because science scores on the ACT were a little low. She re-took the ACT and has gotten in.

I got super excited when I saw this thread, I knew that meant some kind of good news. Congrats!!! :)

Wow!!!! That is amazing! I remember how it felt when I opened up all of my acceptance letters and scholarship letters. I cried tears of joy when I found out :)